Member DiP Posted April 13, 2011 Author Member Share Posted April 13, 2011 Review by The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/punished-film-review-177472 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted April 25, 2011 Author Member Share Posted April 25, 2011 Review from LoveHKFilm (not by Kozo). http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/punished.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted August 20, 2011 Author Member Share Posted August 20, 2011 Johnnie To returns to home field after the past two years spent on making romance-oriented movies. Here, he's the producer and let one of his long-time students and frequent ADs (Law Wing-Cheong) take the task of helming the movie. And this time, they took the opportunity to subject the themes of kidnapping and ransom to envision familiarity in new angles. First things first, I must say that this is possibly the most powerful movie to have been made from Milkyway Image to date. It's clear to me that To wanted to make big changes with his new output, for which he has successfully accomplished. To and co attempted something new and daring here in that they hit the stride big-time in terms of reaching viewers emotionally through a story and its' characters. It's very seldom you get to sympathize with characters of this scale in Milkyway movies, due to To and co usually being in high favor of visualized and stylized storytelling. Punished changes that and marks a new era which may probably be made into a tradition from here on. The movie is strictly story/character-driven without any need to excess the narrative. Apart from the main antagonist (whoever the actor is), whose intention behind the kidnapping and ransom he got and his decision to take someone's life remained unclear and left his characterization less fleshed out, every other central character is well-written and given enough screen-time to clear their emotional states and further motivate their actions. There's even hints of character development in other characters that are aren't crucial to the story, such as the tycoon's manager (Charlie Cho, most famous for portraying the annoying lawyer in Police Story 1 and 2) and the tycoon's son (played by Anthony Wong's real-life son, Wong Yat-Yat). But most importantly is the underlying message of everything which is impulsiveness and determination in people: it asks you what these can cause, how you can prevent things from happening, and whether or not it's a good or bad thing. As we follow the currents of the tycoon (Anthony Wong), the bodyguard (Richie Ren), the tycoon's daughter (Janice Man) and wife (Maggie Cheung Hoh-Yee), the bodyguard's shady assistant (Candy Lo), and the kidnapper's accomplices, you will see how all this is told and resolved. Overall, these instances show a significant makeover in choices being made to produce a Milkyway movie that I hope will continue in the future. Two things stood out the most to me though and what makes Punished totally worth seeing. The first is the acting. Props to everyone that got casted in the movie but my attention was turned to Anthony Wong and Richie Ren. Ren is someone I came to admire in Breaking News and he has since grown into a fine actor in his own right. But I think it wasn't until Accident that he started to show major improvements and here he keeps that up playing Wong's loyal bodyguard who will do anything to get things done fast while keeping up with his own private life outside the job. But the icing of the cake is none other than Wong himself. I haven't really been a fan of his roles in recent movies because I feel he always plays the same cool, calm character with very little variety of acting. But he seemed to really give insanely more effort in this movie than any other ones I've ever seen from him - here portraying a hot-headed character who goes through alot to decide what to do and what he will gain out of the messy situation - which shows in every single scene he appears in. Big bravura for both! The second is the soundtrack. Punished marks a step further when it comes to the music composing (done by Guy Zerafa, Dave Klotz and Chung Chi-Wing) in Milkyway movies as well. Usually in Milkyway movies, the soundtracks consist of various instruments that wholeheartedly reflects the quirkiness/peculiars of To's personal storytelling (the reason why I love the music in his work) but as far as conjugating the music within the emotional context of the story/characters it's mostly non-existent because it was always about the beauty of the narrative. For Punished, To made sure that story/characters were main priority so he decided to use different instruments for more intensified and gripping effect. The music ends up somewhat conventional compared to other soundtracks but it's highly serviceable and pays off having a new sound to it still and fitting perfectly in the movie's dramatic scenes. After seeing alot of changes and evolution with To and co in not just film styling but also them growing big balls of their favorite actors (first Lau Ching-Wan in Mad Detective, Simon Yam in Sparrow, now Anthony Wong in Punished), it's really incredible to see that Hong Kong still got talented people who can produce great movies and keep the HK style of film-making away from declining. 10/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mpm74 Posted August 20, 2011 Member Share Posted August 20, 2011 Great review. I was wondering about this one. Sounds like a sure bet. Glad to hear Milkyway is making stuff as good as their late 90's catalogue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted August 20, 2011 Author Member Share Posted August 20, 2011 Thanks. Yeah, it's really up there with the classic Milkyway movies of the late 90s but more refined and better constructed imo. I really dig the new style To is aiming for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sheng Posted August 20, 2011 Member Share Posted August 20, 2011 Most euphoric review I read about PUNISHED so far. Thanks a lot for your finely detailed opinion on this. And, damn', you're fast, this just got released the other day, wasn't it? Anyway, can't wait for my own BD to arrive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted August 20, 2011 Author Member Share Posted August 20, 2011 You're welcome. I seldom make detailed reviews of movies but I thoroughly enjoyed Punished and thought it was worth doing a long review of such a great movie. Haha, yeah. DVD/BD was out on the shelves in HK this Thursday and was uploaded at ADC yesterday. The Bluray is pretty much flawless except it comes with an non-subbed making-of which looks very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member D1 Ma Posted August 21, 2011 Member Share Posted August 21, 2011 I liked the movie a lot! Enjoyed almost every minute of it. That's how you do a revenge film. Not that crappy Korean torture porn, like the recent I Saw The Devil and many others. Richie Ren really grows as an actor, I liked his somewhat subdued performance here. It was also great to see some older actors, like Charlie Cho. It may not break any new ground, like some critics complained, but still, it's a VERY good movie, IMO. Highly recommended Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted August 21, 2011 Author Member Share Posted August 21, 2011 Nice thoughts on the movie. I also agree with you on Korean crimes/thrillers. While they are certainly well-made, something about them just makes me wonder why they often oversaturate the overall content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Travis Posted October 13, 2011 Member Share Posted October 13, 2011 Guy Zerafa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted March 8, 2012 Member Share Posted March 8, 2012 Didn't realize until now you are Beat TG as well . I'm a little surprised on how low the IMDB rating is of this film. I quite enjoyed it. But some of the reviews tend to knock the film mainly because it is not a Johnnie To movie. Expectations can hurt one's opinion on something regardless whether it is a good reason or not (in this case no). I do wonder how much did Johnnie To's input is in this film? Did he give Law Wing-cheong free reign? When watching it I was thinking on how glad that they are still making "Hong Kong" films. Would we see complex characters (as in combinating both evil and good) like this from the Mainland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted March 9, 2012 Author Member Share Posted March 9, 2012 Yeah, that's me at HKMDB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member CatNap Posted April 29, 2012 Member Share Posted April 29, 2012 Punished is now available via streaming - in Cantonese, thank God, with English subs. Watching it now and really loving it. Anthony Wong is fantastic as always..... Laura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member CatNap Posted April 29, 2012 Member Share Posted April 29, 2012 Very well done. I'm delighted Netflix had it in the original Cantonese so I could watch it finally. Hope to see more in the future - very well acted, strong story, realistic end. Laura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted April 30, 2012 Author Member Share Posted April 30, 2012 Not really similar to Punished but look out for Motorway. It's an upcoming realistic car-chasing film with the same producer and directed by Soi Cheang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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