The Mission is a Hong Kong Triad thriller from Johnnie To - an uneven director who's nonetheless provided more than his share of essential movies across the years and within multiple genres. This one's near the top of those.
When a Triad boss (Eddie Ko) narrowly escapes an assassination in a bar, his brother (Simon Yam) puts together a crack team of enforcers; their mission, should they accept it, is to protect him from any further assassination attempts, and if possible to work out who's ordered the hit.
In one of the movies brilliant touches, we've already seen the members of the team before they're properly introduced - shown as the camera roved the streets in introductory scenes, each one in his place of business ('his' being the key word here- this is very much the type of lad's film where women are only ever an inconvenience.)
There's Curtis (Anthony Wong), cool as a cucumber, the experienced leader.
James (Suet Lam), the weapons expert, whose defining trait is, unfortunately, being fat(-ter than the others) and eating all the time. He's still given the opportunity to be very cool and professional, though- not at all a comic relief character.
Roy (Francis Ng), the hot-headed one.
Mike (Roy Cheung), the pretty one, an ex-pimp. Suave and eager to move up in the world.
And Shin (Jackie Lui,) the necessary rookie in the team, puppy-like. Roy's protégé.
The film's considerable pleasures mostly stem from watching this team of likeable badasses come together and deal with situations both professional (there are multiple action sequences, a couple of which are stellar) and interpersonal. The script cleverly arranges for us to get to know the characters at the same time as they get to know each other, and lets us watch as they build ties of respect and affection for each other.
The action is, as you'd expect from Johnnie To, impeccable. It's all gun violence, but it diverges from, say, John Woo by focusing more on suspense than on action beats. Here we also get to see the protagonists function as a team, all of them highly professional and coordinated - a shootout at a mall should be listed up there with the best HK action scenes, and it clearly shows off To's sensibilities.
A couple of the gunfights consist a bit too much of people just emptying clips at each other, but there are plenty of cool moments and maneuvers so that it never gets boring. Great stuff, and especially impressive given the amount of money they're working with.
Because it's very low budget, there aren't a lot of fireworks, and everything is kept mostly low-key. The director makes it work in the film's favour - this is a crime film that makes time for an absolutely joyful scene consisting of an extended take of a bunch of hitmen kicking around a crumpled ball of paper in an office while they wait for their boss to finish his business.
And the filmmaking is immaculate and extremely atmospheric; Johnnie To had already been making films for almost two decades when he made this, and his talent and experience shine through the rough patches.
The soundtrack is cheesy as all hell, but it's so insistent it's almost ingratiating. By the end of the movie it kind of grew on me; A weak point, but certainly memorable.
The main problem with the movie is that, like so many of its brethren, it's criminally hard to get a hold of a decent copy here in the UK. It's on youtube in its entirety, but it's not a great transfer of the DVD; I'd been holding off watching it for years, waiting for a proper disc release until I finally caved in. It's not ideal, but I'm so glad I did.
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