Vengeance - Way Too Showy.

 (2009) ★★☆☆☆

Another highlight of HK Director Johnnie To's iconography, full of his hallmark stylish scenes of shootouts but yet lack of impressive insights into the characters and an in-depth story. Centering on Francis Costello (Johnny Hallyday), a man losing his memories due to a bullet left in his head, who is determined to avenge his gravely wounded daughter and her family's deaths before he finally forgets everything, 'Vengeance' tries to distinguish itself as a hybrid of 'Memento' (2000) and 'Exile' (2006), but it seems to have failed to accomplish that since Johnnie prefers gunfire a lot to dialogues and story structure. Would a man still want to revenge if he has lost all of his memories? Would he opt to remember and revenge, or to forget and forgive if he's offered a choice? These questions are raised in the film, which is good; which is what seems to draw me in, but the problem is, I don't feel any pain or struggle of Mr. Costello throughout. Nor do I have any idea why those hit men only appear to kill and get killed!