Motorway (2012) (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3

This is why Motorway feels like a unique action film tailor-made for Hong Kong. Produced by Johnnie To and directed by Soi Cheang (Accident), Motorway is a tight action film designed with Hong Kong geography in mind. Running at just 89 minutes, the film has a remarkably simple story that makes it easy-to-consume entertainment for mainstream Hong Kong audiences. Its action sequences, however, are actually more intricately constructed than they appear to be at first glance.

Staying off highways and boulevards for most of its running time, the action of Motorway take place in Hong Kong's alleyways and parking lots. Instead of relying on souped-up engines and bursts of nitrous oxide, the key to beating your pursuers in the world of Motorway is a technique that makes the car turn sideways without moving forward. The mechanics and physics behind the technique would take too long to explain, but action director Chin Kar Lok makes sure that you see the real thing without any creative editing.

This is also the technique that sends our arrogant young hero Cheung (Shawn Yue) stumbling. Cheung is part of the film's other intriguing idea: an "invisible squad" in the police department whose members use high-performance cars to catch illegal racers on the road (such a squad really does exist in Hong Kong). After his arrogance gets him and his veteran partner Lo (Anthony Wong) temporarily suspended from the squad, the two get caught up in the pursuit of legendary getaway driver Jiang (Guo Xiaodong), who uses the aforementioned turning technique to outwit the police.

Cheang has said that the idea for the technique came from the many narrow alleyways near the Milkyway office. Even the parking lots of Hong Kong - often difficult to navigate due to tight turns and small spaces - become the stage for a tense final showdown that's more about maneuvers and strategy than speed. For this sequence, Cheang and Chin cleverly place the cameras on the cars' bumpers to emphasize the risk and the difficulty of each narrow turn. The cars may be moving at a glacial speed, but this sequence is even more exciting than seeing Vin Diesel and Paul Walker use racecars to drag a bank vault down the streets of Rio de Janeiro in Fast Five. The difference is simple: While Hollywood can make the impossible look possible, Soi Cheang and Chin Kar Lok can turn something conceptually boring into some of the best Hong Kong cinema car chases in recent years.