Anyway, over the past few years, there's also a good chance that the production came from Milkyway. So it should come as no surprise that their new release, Eye in the Sky, spotlights yet another facet of the HKPD. This time, it's the Surveillance Unit, or simply SU.

The film follows a new recruit named Piggy (Kate Tsui) as she joins her faction of the SU, which is led by the veteran Dog Head (Simon Yam). Their mission is to try and track down a criminal named Fathead (Lam Suet), who holds the connection to finding a group of brash robbers led by Hollowman (Tony Leung Ka-Fai). As the SU is a clandestine operation (even fellow officers don't know who they are), Piggy must try to keep her emotions in check and not blow the unit's cover, which grows more difficult as the robbers begin attacking cops.

Fans of Milkyway productions will feel right at home here, which is not really surprising, since first-time director Yau Nai-Hoi previously worked as a writer on over two dozen Milkyway films. It has all of the earmarks of the best Milkyway films; it looks stylish, the soundtrack is very evocative, and there is plenty of quirkiness to go around. But that is perhaps Eye in the Sky's biggest problem. It does everything compentently, but doesn't go anywhere that viewers (especially if they are well-versed in HK crime pictures) haven't been before.

That's not to say that Eye in the Sky is a bad film. Well, except perhaps for the ending. One of the problems of the new wave of crime movies (and this is something not localized to HK films) is that everything is a bit too clean and slick. Hidden cameras and DNA tests have replaced the gritty detective work which highlighted many of the classics of the genre. This sort of thing, of course, in omnipresent in a movie about a group of cops that depend on stealth and trickery, and it can be forgiven to a point.

But the ending is so full of ridiculous coincidences that it left a bad taste in this reviewer's mouth. I won't spoil anything, but in a city as densely populated as Hong Kong, the fact that one particular person could be found at a particular time right after a pouring rainstorm magically disappears is more of Lifetime movie of the week fodder, rather than a serious cops-and-robbers drama. It's a shame, because for most of its' running time, Eye in the Sky is solid stuff. One would hope that with his next film, Yau Nai-Hoi can learn from some of the mis-steps he took here.

After having a hand in writing what seems like every Milkyway Image movie since the late 90s, awards and nominations have been showered over the production house's writing team of Yau Nai-Hoi, Yip Tin-Shing and Au Kin-Yee. But the former one who jumped on the train early, even at the stage where Johnnie To made The Barefoot Kid, first got/wanted his chance to direct on his own. Yau Nai-Hoi may have been involved in the lighter output by Milkyway as well but his debut Eye In The Sky is a beast with its roots in cops and robbers-territory, albeit with a direction of his own as he dedicates a feature to the inner workings of the Surveillance Unit that often times merely get a sequence per film. Deciding partly against characters and for the thrill of the ride instead, Eye In The Sky makes its choices well and is to boot to be considered rather fresh by the time the quick 90 minutes are over.

A high-tech story sounding and looking like it yet it really is quite basic when looking at its template, Yau along with co-writer Au Kin-Yee make matters straightforward, simple and the synopsis could almost fill a large chunk of the script. Very much a compliment that, Yau goes to work by planting us in what turns out to be real circumstances AND exercise. Without any hints at which is which until a bit into the opening sequence, he intrigues by treating the city like a playing field and cinematography expectedly goes overhead on us sometimes. It must be a well-oiled machinery from both cops and robbers standpoint and creating a story of a rookie being mentored by our senior, it's quite fitting that the debut filmmaker isn't out to squeeze the unexpected out of these proceedings. No one minds if the expected sweeps you away and Eye In The Sky has those qualities, even though it's most often times a medium-speed ride.

Utilizing an at times headache inducing camera style that rocks back and forth in tune with the surveillance twists and turns, music is suitably hip and coolness-factor is conjured via use of such commercial and even lazy elements. But Yau Nai-Hoi has decided to believe in his tools and to put forth a challenge to himself to make sure he nails his mild intentions with this story. In many ways he does, giving us scattered but sufficient character depth too. This unit is often spread out but closely knit, apparently getting no time of, growing their beards but there's also always the light moment where everyone can stop to listen to a story told over the commsystem. Often the team member to convey one such, Simon Yam is for once playing something of a reversal of his screen persona here. Bering a veteran and a senior with an appetite, Yam running around with a disturbingly fake belly doesn't detract in fact and he may be sleepwalking his way through the beats but is still a suitable performer for the role. All due to belief trickling down to him and that the film won't turn conventions on its head...yet. Same with Tony Leung who is called upon to be cool and explode into fierce behaviour as this is a murderer by heart and it's at no times less than immersing to see Leung eat celluloid for breakfast while still operating within the range he's supposed to. Even newcomer Kate Tsui is seemingly a simple casting choice as a new kid is meant to play a new kid but within the simplicity factor of the film that again aims for a dead on paced exercise in action-thriller esthetics, Tsui is very much integral to the trio.

Add on to that familiar faces to Milkyway productions such as Lam Suet, Eddie Cheung and Maggie Shaw (possibly cursing a lot more colourfully than the English subtitles let us know) and all above would've marked a pass in director Yau Nai-Hoi's directing debut. A big pass with a gold star attached to it even but when approaching the end, Yau isn't even fooled into making the story twist illogically till everyone's heads pops. He instead offers up an ending that won't play favourably all over the place but is strangely true to at least life as Milkyway Image sees it. Yau couldn't resist a bit of irony but it makes Eye In The Sky take a leap into great acceptance as well as being one of many injections for Hong Kong cinema that will add up to competing power in the whole scheme of things. Now someone else besides Johnnie To knows how to make these flicks and differently too!