PTU
PTU is about a detective who has lost his gun, and now must recover it; he decides to take a chance by not reporting it, and therefore putting everything on the line to find that gun. He has people helping him, including the Police Tactical Unit.
(Initial)
Award at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards 2003:
Best Original Screenplay (Yau Nai Hoi & Au Kin Yee)
Nominations at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards 2003:
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor (Simon Yam)
Best Supporting Actor (Lam Suet)
Best Cinematography (Cheng Siu-Keung)
Best Editing
Best Make-Up & Costume Design
Best Original Film Score
Best Visual Effects
Best Sound Effects
(Movie)
PTU is about a detective who has lost his gun, and now must recover it; he decides to take a chance by not reporting it, and therefore putting everything on the line to find that gun. He has people helping him, including the Police Tactical Unit (PTU), but also has other detectives on his back, trying to find out his connection to seemingly strange events.
First of all let me say, PTU is a very good film. It’s very riveting, enthralling and tense at the same time. This is story telling at its best, not an overly complicated story, told simply and with honesty. It does this by being intriguing and yet never having a boring moment. The whole film smacks quality from the acting, to the film-noir settings and feelings. Throw in an effective soundtrack, and you have one of the better movies of last year.
Johnie To, whose film Fulltime Killer I reviewed, is back on form. I critiqued , Fulltime Killer for being an exercise in style over substance, but have no doubt PTU has style and substance. One of the best things To did was not to be sloppy in any scene, you can see in each shot how much care has been taken, and this means each shot oozes class. The acting, especially from Simon Yam and Lam Suet, is top notch too; just for the fact they are believable in everything they do.
Any complaints? Unfortunately yes, the film is 88 minutes, which is just too short, the result being that you never get to know the characters that well. So by the end, you’re only intrigued on how the story finishes, and you don’t really care what happens to each of the characters. If the film had been 2 hours, with the necessary characterizations, this could quite possibly been in my top 10 films of 2003. With that said its still a very good atmospheric movie, and deserves viewing.
(Sound)
You get the choice between 5.1 and DTS of the original soundtracks. This means there is no dub (for the lazy people), and has English subtitles. The DTS is tops, it is very forceful and has good thuds of the woofer at times. The surround is used quite often, but the dialogue and superb soundtrack is still heard clearly. The subtitles are very good, and there were no noticeable spelling mistakes.
(Picture)
As would be expected for this brand new film, it comes in a very clear anamorphic presentation. The film being very noir, there are no bold colours, just quite a bit of dark. The transfer does a good job of keeping the noir effect, but not going over board by showing just a lot of black. On the whole the film is scratches and grain free, and everything holds up well enough
(Extras)
Oh darn Mei Ah have skimped on the extras. We get a couple of trailers, one for PTU and the other for 20.30 Dictionary. There are 2 short interviews with Simon Yam, and Johnnie To, but unfortunately they’re not subtitled. We also get a list of cast and crew, but with no details on any of their previous work. The only nice little thing, is a slip cover on the DVD – shame that happens to be the highlight of the extras. There is nothing else, which is unfortunate, as a commentary with cast, director and composer would have been really interesting.
(Overall)
This is a must for fans for HK fans, and to be honest a good purchase for any casual fans. Everything about the movie is riveting from the story to the soundtrack, making PTU a film that has to be watched.
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