DVD | Breaking News

Breaking News is a very smart crime thriller, directed by Hong Kong veteran Johnnie To. The film starts with pace and never really lets up – there’s plenty of action – the running gun battle with the police at the start is the best I’ve seen since Heat.

But if this was just another Hong Kong action flick, it would be pretty disappointing. Luckily Breaking News has an original story line to base the action around:

When a violent criminal gang is intercepted by police a gun battle ensues, but they manage to elude the police and cause the police a lot of public embarrassment. So when they are tracked down holed up in a large residential apartment block, the police decide to fight back by sending edited images of the siege to the media to make the police look good again.

But the criminals decide to fight back, using video and pictures taken on their cell phones they feed the media their versions of events.

The tension builds up as both sides battle for public profile while running gun battles ensure around them.

With many clever plot twists, and a very tongue in cheek finish, Breaking News is a solid action/thriller.

DVD release is slated for July 20th.