Three (Johnnie To)

[Stay Puft]

THREE
Dir. J-To



IMDb page

[Stay Puft]

I'm always excited when I see a new J-To joint has actually opened at a local theatre, but alas this one left me with only disappointment.

Not much to say as it's not of much interest, just a typical HK cops and robbers drama stapled to a wobbly hospital drama, featuring lots of sloppy writing, and a poorly judged visual effects sequence for an action climax. I can kinda see what he was going for in that sequence, it has a couple good moments (especially the opening shot) but it's just so badly executed on the whole. A few good moments here and there, certainly the J-To diehards among us can find something of merit, and yet I can't shake the feeling this could have been largely directed by anybody else (lots of standard coverage, flat cinematography and just an all around cheap digital look, and the aforementioned visual effects sequence looks like something that fell out of a digital artist's college portfolio, a proof of concept to land a paying gig somewhere else).

[Irish]

Nooooooooooooooo say it aint so, Puft!