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PTU: Police Tactical Unit
List Price: $19.97
Our Price: $17.99
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Manufacturer: Genius Products (TVN)
Starring: Maggie Shiu, Ruby Wong, Simon Yam, Jerome Fung, Ko Hung
Directed By: Johnny To
Average Customer Rating: Average rating of 2.5/5Average rating of 2.5/5Average rating of 2.5/5Average rating of 2.5/5Average rating of 2.5/5

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Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
EAN: 0796019806398
Format: Dubbed
Label: Genius Products (TVN)
Manufacturer: Genius Products (TVN)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Genius Products (TVN)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-03-25
Running Time: 85
Studio: Genius Products (TVN)
Theatrical Release Date: 2003

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Editorial Reviews:

Follows a police tactical unit during one dangerous night on the streets of Hong Kong. The tough, single-minded team has until dawn to recover a cop's stolen gun and clean up the accompanying mess, but things take a deadly twist when their mission intersects with a web of gangland crimes.


Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: Intense and subtle
Comment: Johnnie To's police drama/dark comedy about a night with Hong Kong's PTU is a taut, efficient piece of cinema.

The movie follows the events that transpired when a roguish anti-organized crime police officer loses his gun after a confrontation with some young gang members. A roving team of PTU chances upon him. Since he is up for promotion, he asks the PTU not to report the loss of the gun. Despite objections from other officers, the squad leader (Simon Yam) promises to help him find it. These set a chain of events that will lead to major repercussions in the Hong Kong underworld.

The joy of watching PTU is in the intense, dead-pan performance and the chuckles brought by the darkly-humorous situations, even if the movie's plot and resolution is highly reminiscent of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels with some elements of InterMission (although this came before the Irish movie).

A film about honor, duty, and commitment, PTU is well worth a watch, if not a purchase. It is not a "loud" movie, as compared to stereotypical HK police films. One of the best I've seen in the genre, the somewhat predictable ending notwithstanding.

What prevents me from giving this a perfect score is the VERY cheesy 80s era guitar/synth score. To think this film was made in 2003, Johnnie To could've used a less-grating/irritating musical score that would've accentuate the mood of the film. Normally, I wouldn't mind but the soundtrack was so intrusive and yes, I will say again, very cheesy, you cannot help but not notice it.

Although, not in the level of the first Infernal Affairs, PTU is still a solid addition to one's Asian movie collection.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: Actually, a pretty good flick...
Comment: First off, I got this DVD from the bargain bin of the local mega store and didn't place much high expectation on it.

I do have to agree that the title PTU (Police Tactical Unit) was misleading, since the majority of the police portrayed were what we termed `street' cops, walking their beats, not some special tactical units; throughout the movie, all the uniformed and plain-cloth polices were equipped with revolvers instead of the higher capacity automatics, thus no black-clad, helmeted SWAT members armed with submachine guns or assault rifles with limitless ammunition. Sorry to disappointed on that count.

If viewers were expecting some fast action, butt-kicking, Jet Li or Jackie Chan type action flicks, they would be highly disappointed. Though it could not be categorized as a thinking men's crime movie, it is nonetheless, a thought-provoking one, complete with anticipations of every next encounters... literally, around every corners. The whole movie revolved around events all happened within one fateful evening.

What makes this movie very different than others is the very `novel' and yet unique way that just about every character that came onto the screen had something, some part in the overall scheme of the plot! At the same time, there were a couple of red herrings threw in just to make it more interesting, making the viewers wondered just what parts these characters played only to find out they offered false leads.

This movie does raise the question of what makes a good cop, a by-the-book character or someone who is willing to bend some rules and rough up some baddies to get the job done. The `good guys' have been divided into four separate groups, the one plain-cloth detective who lost his service revolver, the two separate squads of uniformed police lead by two sergeants and the plain-cloth CID unit investigating possible wrong-doings by the others.

The final scene where everyone came together played out like so much fated happenstance, with the final showdown when everyone was in place.

I do recommend PTU to anyone who wanted a change of pace from all rest of the slapstick comedic or ultra-violent HK action flicks.


Customer Rating: Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5
Summary: A Dissapointing, Boring, Mess
Comment: I have been an avid fan of Asian Cinema for the past 10 years or so and I have collected literally hundreds of movies ranging from martial arts, to war, to cops/crime movies. P.T.U. may be the worst I've seen. I watched Exiled a couple of months ago and while that was slow moving it was very interesting and sylish. PTU is a complete wast of time. It is BORING in that worst way---I couldn't care less about the characters...any of them. Don't waste your time on this one....get City of Violence, Kill Zone or a Region free copy of 'The Warlords'. Anything but this terrible film.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5
Summary: WAKE ME UP WHEN IT'S OVER
Comment: When I say that PTU: Police Tactical Unit is a "sleeper", I don't mean it's an underrated hit. I mean it will literally put you to sleep. I watched this movie during the day and I had to force myself to stay awake. Dragon Dynasty has been really letting me down lately with flicks like this and Dog Bite Dog and Dragon Heat and Fatal Contact and... well you get the picture. Movies with a lot of dark and moody style and very little substance or even any good action. On the action front, PTU is definitely the worst. The whole plot is as follows: A fat, stupid cop loses his gun, which apparently is a hanging offense by the way everyone reacts. Then a bunch of other cops, who don't even like the fat, stupid cop, spend the whole night going around the city (on foot mind you) trying to track down the missing gun by talking to a bunch of people. Did I mention that this was supposed to be an "action" movie? Well here it is... after 90 minutes of intense talking there is suddenly a gun fight that lasts about 2 minutes... THE END. Wow! This flick should have just been called P.U., because it stunk! Do not make the same mistake I did. Save 90+ minutes of your life and skip this one. Trust me.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5
Summary: yawn
Comment: A slow-moving, confusing drama with something of a sort of payoff at the end. Don't believe the cover blurbs.


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