Eye in the Sky 2007

“Former Johnny To writer Yau Nai-hoi makes an astonishing debut with Eye in the Sky. Slick, fast and at times even furious, it introduces a new directorial talent with considerable mastery of film language who should go far… The focus is on the special police outfit known as Surveillance Unit (SU). Its officers dress as civilians, pass strenuous tests and use the latest gadgetry… Dog Head (Simon Yam), one of the more experienced SU field agents, is tutoring a relative newcomer he nicknames Piggy (Kate Tsui) when they are called on to help chase a ruthless gang masterminded by the fiercely cold Shau (Tony Leung Ka-fai)… In the hands of other directors, such a set-up might become a paranoid parable on the loss of privacy and the threat of a police state. Not here, where Yau Nai-hoi crafts a crime story in which good and bad are defined by the genre, not theological treatises. The veteran cast are strong. Yam looks adequately disheveled… Tony Leung Ka-fai is suitably threatening; and Kate Tsui has the right blend of innocence and mischievousness.” — Dan Fainaru, Screen International