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EYE IN THE SKY
***1/2 out of ***** Reviewed by Tobias Screening in the 2007 New Zealand International Film Festival
Back to KP's Film Fest Coverage  Genres
Crime
Gangsters
Thriller
2007
Directed by
Yau Nai-hoi
Written by
Yau Nai-hoi
Au Kin-yee
Cast
Simon Yam - Dog Head (Captain Wong)
Tony Leung - Shan
Kate Tsui - Piggy
Lam Suet - Fatman I got one, a true story;
One day, a dog is walking.
He sees a clerk recruitment ad, with equal opportunities.
So he grips the ad and meets the boss.
The boss says: “Sorry, we don't hire a dog.”
The dog protests at the words “equal opportunities.”
So the Boss unwittingly let him have an interview. The boss asks if he knows typing.
The dog finishes typing a document promptly.
The boss also asks he knows computer.
The dog jumps onto the computer at once and quickly finishes writing a program.
The boss says that he is sorry for unable to hire him.
He wants someone who is bilingual.
The dog then...
Rather than spoil the joke, a punchline delivered by Captain Wong, I'll leave it for you to roll your eyes at the cinema (For the uninterested you can read it at the end of this review). The movie revolves  around Captain Wong (Simon Yam), codename Dog Head and his droll sense of humour alongside new recruit 'Piggy' as part of the Hong Kong 'SU' - Surveillance Unit. At the displeasure of not being able to choose her own codename, Bobo (Kate Tsui) is brought into the action under Dog Head's wing and despite being the newest addition to the SU, Piggie's introduction does not lead to the purpose of back-story narration – a refreshing change from the all-too-worn 'new guy schooled by the old hand' scenario. Instead, we see her struggle to meet the demands of her new role and watch as she tries to establish the impartiality her job demands – in one scene torn between the team's current objectives and intervening with a seemingly commonplace back-alley beating. The plot involves the Surveillance Unit hot on the trail of their latest mark, codename 'Fatman', a member of a gang pulling off well-timed heists on downtown jewellery stores. Upon review of sercurity tape they establish Fatman acts as a look-out and ensures that if the police do interfere, they are taken down quickly. Using their resources at hand, they quickly identify the suburb he dwells in. The SU field team establish round-the-clock  surveillance and when they finally discover the gang's elusive leader, 'Brother Shan', the chase begins. The film often employs a zooming camera effect to generate the feeling that surveillance is not just being undertaken by the 'SU', but the the viewer is also spying on the action. Once again, the common pitfall of overuse has been avoided and instead serves to tighten the action throughout the movie. A lot of originality throughout the feature is evident too; such as the passage of time indicated by Fatman: initially eating dumplings on a stick and then upon returning to him, snacking on some other food, for example. Eye in the Sky's soundtrack complemented well – a strong but not overwhelming score of the usual spy music (excuse my genre ignorance). Disappointingly, there were some characters that begged for more development, namingly Brother Shan's Master and assistant. It is quite likely I'm the only one that'll be bothered by that but nonetheless Eye in the Sky remains an enjoyable thriller and gains a lot of originality points for using many ideas that are now cliché without overusing them. This film will screen in Wellington at The Paramount on July 27 at 5:45pm and on July 31 at 4:00pm.
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P.S. The dog then says, “Meeeow. Woof. Meeeow. Woof Woof” |
