Fans get a taste of Johnnie To's Vengeance as new film trailer sneaks onto the internet

Nothing gets by savvy bloggers, especially those online cinephiles with a special affinity for Asian cinema. One of the cool pieces of news spreading among movie sites is the discovery that a theatrical trailer for Johnnie To Kei-fung's new movie, Vengeance, has surfaced on the Web. This is the project starring French music legend Johnny Hallyday - who took over from French film legend Alain Delon when he dropped out - about a retired killer who comes to Hong Kong to avenge the murder of his daughter and Chinese son-in-law.

The 90-second clip is typical To. There's lot of noir lighting, guns blasting and Anthony Wong Chau-sang and Simon Yam Tat-wah looking glum and serious. The unsettling montage also alternates between shiny neon lights in the rain and foreboding Macau colonial architecture.

The one unusual aspect of the trailer, which features Hallyday's character speaking English, is it includes French subtitles, most likely because the clip is meant for French audiences. The movie is being released in France before Hong Kong. It has a tentative release date there of May 20.

The movie poster is not bad either. To see the trailer, search for 'Vengeance (2009) Trailer' at YouTube.