2016, Media Asia Film/iQiyi Motion Pictures/Milkyway Image (HK) Ltd.
Director:
Johnnie To
Producers:
Johnnie To
Yau Nan-Hoi
Writers:
Yau Nan-Hoi
Lau Ho-Leung
Mak Tin-Shu
Cinematography:
Cheng Siu-Keung
To Hung-Mo
Brian Cheung
Editing:
David Richardson
Allen Leung
Cast:
Vicki Zhao (Dr. Tong Qian)
Louis Koo (Inspector Ken Chan)
Wallace Chung (Sun)
Lo Hoi-Pang (Chung)
Eddie Cheung (Dr. Fok)
Lam Suet (Fatty)
Timmy Hung (Chak)
Michael Tse (Gangster)
Raymond Ho-Yin Wong (Gangster)
Stephen Au (Sgt. Tong)
Mickey Chu (Dr. Steven Chow)
Jonathan Wong (Hung)
How far will a doctor, a cop, and a criminal go to make sure their jobs get done and at what cost? The answer lies in this action-drama from the legendary Johnnie To.
When Sun, a local criminal boss, finds himself surrounded by the police, he decides to take the high road by shooting himself in the head. Forcing himself to be taken to the hospital, inspector Ken Chan is assigned to the case. At the hospital, Dr. Tong Qian, a workaholic, has been under fire from her superiors after her last operation left the patient paralyzed. When Sun is taken in, Tong is in charge of making sure the patient will be taken care of, much to the chagrin of Ken.
While in recovery, Sun decides to play mind games with Ken in an attempt to make sure his gang will plan a rescue mission for him. Ken can see through Sun’s methods and attempts to make sure Sun has no chance and even goes as far as mistreating him, which angers Dr. Tong. Sun and Ken are in constant disagreement over Sun as she feels Ken is not helping matters as she attempts to help the criminal recover with the bullet in his head. However, as this trio slowly go to extremes to get their job, what will happen if the gang does well on their promise to rescue Sun?
Johnnie To is truly a master when it comes to crafting films that blend action and drama extremely smooth. The filmmaker tends to either make the drama so tense that it leads to action or make the action lead to extreme tension. In the case of this film, it becomes a case of action leading to tension leading to action. That’s right. To has unleashed a triple (no pun intended) in meshing action and drama with this film and it is not only the layout of the story, but the title revolves around a trio who in their own manners, can be viewed as extremists in their professions.
Vicki Zhao is the extremist and workaholic doctor who will do what it takes, even if she has to deal with the backlash from the failure of her last surgery, to redeem herself when it comes to taking care of our villainous Sun, played with extreme slyness by Wallace Chung. Chung’s criminal mastermind goes to extremes and even keeps his injury in hopes for his gang to come rescue him. He goes as far as not only keeping the injury he sustained but uses it to his advantage to play mind games with the cop assigned to the case, played by the millennial version of Simon Yam, Louis Koo. Koo’s Ken Chan goes to the extreme as well in order to make sure Sun is brought to justice but when he realizes what he has planned, he decides to do the extreme and plays along in hopes to capture the whole gang and this all culminates in one of the most shocking and well shot long take, slow motion action sequences that all presents the results of the extreme methods of these three.
Johnnie To’s Three starts out with action, then some slow moving yet pivotal drama that shows the methods of the titular trio, and culminates in a shocking action sequence that only someone with To’s caliber can pull off. If you are a fan of Johnnie To, then add this to your list of his films to see.
WFG RATING: A
Well Go USA Home Entertainment will be releasing this film on DVD and Blu-Ray on April 4 and is currently available on Digital HD. To pre-order your copy, click the image below:
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