Guy THE MISSION is an HK film about men with guns. In this case they're hired shooters, chosen as bodyguards for a Triad boss after an assassination attempt. Their job is to keep him safe and work out who in his organisation was behind the failed hit. Basically this means a film of two halves. One half is a gentle comedy about (a very unusual) workplace, as the gunmen get bored and do things like covertly play football with a scrunched up piece of paper. The other half is a stylish action film, with it's standout scene being an ultra-cool shootout in a deserted shopping mall after hours; it's all angles and mirrors as the two sides try to outmaneuver and kill each other. It's short, unpretentious and not especially incident-packed but it makes up for that with some wry smiles and clever gunfights.

chaos-rampant I've seen a couple of To films before this one so I kind of knew what I was getting into. This may be a HK action film but it's nothing like the more loud and workmanlike fare that has come from there in the past 15 years.Five men are called to protect a Triad boss who is repeatedly attacked by gunmen. The plotting is as simple as that. What matters here, as in any other To film I've seen, is the style and the contemplative pacing. Sure there are shootouts galore to quench the thirst for lead of the action fanatics but they're not all out bloodbaths or elaborate stuntwork. They're carefully choreographed and subtle in execution. The pacing might appear slow to people used to the spastic editing of Hollywood action fare like Bourne Ultimatum but therein lies the power of The Mission. You get to spend time with the characters, observe the camaraderie that develops between them, share the mundane parts of their job - it's not all glamour and glitz in the work of the bodyguard. In that aspect, I believe Johnnie To to be equal parts Howard Hawks circa Rio Bravo and Jean-Pierre Melville, albeit with a slick layer of HK style on top; nice suits, fancy cars, cool glasses et al.The cast deserves a mention though. Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Rony Leung, Simon Yam, they're all great in their respective roles, understating things enough to fit with the contemplative pace of the movie. The score deserves one as well; it's cheese-tastic in all its casiotone synth glory. I laughed the first couple of times the music cue played but then warmed up to it until I realized it's an integral part of The Mission's peculiar charm. If anything it lends character.All in all this is a subtle action film, but thoroughly enjoyable. For a much superior execution of the same idea check out Johnny To's Exiled from 2006.

Nelson Carvajal "The Mission" steers away from the usual plot types of the Hong Kong Cinema New Wave and does not rely on martial arts for thrills. Instead, what we have here is a sort of marginal "Reservoir Dogs" since there is a sense of comradery between the five assigned hit men (though a cigarette prank isn't as charming as its played to be). Consider the scene where a sniper catches the five hit men off guard as they escort their boss to a car. One of the hit men veers off and is left behind on the conscience decision of the lead hit-man. When this left behind man returns to base, he slaps the lead man in the most offending manner for minutes. The lead man, a tough guy named "Ice," allows himself to be beaten. Why? Because in their world of corrupt organizations and tight hit groups, one does not leave a man behind. This sense of loyalty arises to a full extent in the third act, where the men must question what is the "right" thing to do.The film also contains a couple of shoot out scenes. But don't be fooled; you are not gonna watch "The Matrix." Instead, look for the wide angle lense shots of various suited hit men standing in very specific places, barely moving their feet, but the sequences are very exciting because if you step back, it's orchestrated skillfully and cued beautifully to the--music.From the opening scroll a sort of 'laughable' techno beat pumps, and all sorts of upbeat synthesized sounds fill the soundtrack to an unexpected result: an acceptance. After a while, you look forward to hearing what kind of sound matches up with what sort of scene. This type of tough, nitty genre relies on music, and the setting of the film calls for this amped up sound.

jebiga Mainly because of the technical issues of the DVD = the captions last for 3 microseconds so it is almost impossible to know (unless you understand one of 2 versions of Chinese)what are they saying. And they are forunatelly not talking too much. I rented this DVD because of the comments here on IMDB. Damn, pleople! What the hell did you see inthis movie. Every half-drunk drama/film student can shoot 88 minutes of this thing in 44 minutes. With lunch break included!!!Scenes are slow so without any loss you can watch it on fast-forward. I'm not kidding.