Although Johnny Hallyday was once the French Elvis, lately he’s become that country’s Charles Bronson. In Hong Kong director Johnnie To’s Vengeance (out on DVD), Hallyday plays Costello, a rather mysterious Paris restaurateur who arrives in Macau to find his daughter left paralyzed after the Triads murdered her Chinese husband and their children. Costello has only one thought: “I’ll find them,” he promises her in the hospital. And kill them.
Hallyday makes a pretty good Bronson with his stony face and narrowed, tired eyes. He is laconic in any language. To fulfill his vow of vengeance, he hires three rogue mobsters with whom he establishes bonds of loyalty. Oh, there’s an odd twist: Costello already has a bullet in his brain that will eventually cause him to forget everything. Will he continue his vengeance quest even after he no longer remembers the reason?
Perhaps there’s a hint in the screenplay on the dead end of violence, but To is on more familiar ground by endeavoring to stage violence in visually novel ways. Tarantino has probably watched Vengeance several times and taken notes. Macau is at least a less seen setting for Asian crime drama and Hallyday is always interesting to watch, especially when he issues a rare smile.
