The Thieves - Kim Yoon-seok (2012) - (A version of) Avenida da Praia Grande, Macau

I mentioned in earlier posts about how many scenes have been digitally manipulated, some subtly, some not so. Here's an example of the rather more severe end of the spectrum.

The scene is of Chen's (Simon Yam) car crash following his shootout and high speed car chase. The building he has crashed into is the "Tribunal Judicial de Base" (Macau's Law Courts) on Avenida da Praia Grande. The right hand side of the image below seems okay, at least to a point. However, the other elements of the image simply don't exist at this location. On the left is the facade of the Fortuna Casino Hotel, which is located 600 metres and several blocks away, and in the far distance (more or less south) you can just make out the Grand Lisboa and HSBC buildings - in an area where they do not exist. There are other elements in the image that I haven't even been able to identify and could be located anywhere.

Anyway, I just find it a bit weird that the filmmakers felt the need to do this on a couple of occasions, although I commend their ability to do it quite convincingly. These days it's hard to know what is real anymore. 

I've just noticed that another shot from the film shows what this area actually looks likes. So this is the real view down Avenida da Praia Grande. The Tribunal Judicial de Base is immediately out of frame to the right.