Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Yun-Fat Chow | ... | Nick Chen (as Chow Yun-Fat) | |
Mark Wahlberg | ... | Danny Wallace | |
Ric Young | ... | Henry Lee | |
Paul Ben-Victor | ... | Schabacker | |
Jon Kit Lee | ... | Jack | |
Andrew Pang | ... | Willy Ung | |
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Elizabeth Lindsey | ... | Louise Deng |
Brian Cox | ... | Sean Wallace | |
Byron Mann | ... | Bobby Vu | |
Kim Chan | ... | Benny Wong | |
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Bill MacDonald | ... | Vince Kirkpatrick |
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Susie Trinh | ... | Amy San |
Ho Chow | ... | Black Eyes | |
Olivia Yap | ... | Tai | |
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Lynda Chiu | ... | Kim |
Nick Chen is one of New York City's most martial police officers and the first Chinese-born immigrant on the force. Chen's job is to keep the peace in Chinatown from a turf war that has broken out between the Triads and the ruthless, and dangerous Fukienese Dragons. Chen teams up with Danny Wallace, who is terribly unaware of this situation. When the Tongs boldly attempt to bribe Wallace, Chen is forced to keep his faithfulness. Written by Anonymous
"The Corruptor" is a movie that can't quite decide what it wants to be. For a long time I couldn't figure out why I didn't like this movie as much as some of Chow Yun-Fat's earlier work. Unlike many, I enjoyed "The Replacement Killers," and I was looking forward to this one, his second American effort. Upon seeing it for a second time, I think I have it figured out.
The classic Chow/Woo collaborations that came out of Hong Kong in the late '80s and early '90s worked so well because the storylines were fairly simple, and the emphasis was on mind-blowing action. Themes such as brotherhood, loyalty and redemption were strongly emphasized. In short, they were myths. And they worked exceptionally well.
Then, when all the Asian stars came to Hollywood, starting with Jackie Chan and followed by Chow, Woo, Jet Li, etc. this classic formula was imitated, but American film makers just haven't got it right yet. "The Replacement Killers" tried, and I think succeeded in a limited sense. The action was good, but Chow's acting ability was not fully used. Still, it stayed successfully away from the "American phenomenon." Too often, American film makers take successful film concepts, then throw a bunch of sex and profanity in, seemingly at random, to make it "grittier," or "more realistic." Unfortunately, this just makes a good concept confused and reduces its impact. "The Replacement Killers" remained focused on action at all times and thus succeeded to a point.
Other times one genre is unsuccessfully grafted on to another. Thus we have "The Corruptor." It takes the Hong Kong "heroic bloodshed," format and for some reason tries to make it into "L.A. Confidential." The excessive violence so popular in the HK films seems out of place and gratuitous here, because it is presented in the same context and the same world as where illegal immigrants are tortured and killed and corruption works its way throughout the NYPD. Somehow, both legitimate genres are denigrated as a result. The action seems anemic if you take the movie as heroic bloodshed, and if it's taken as film noir, the violence seems unrealistic and stupid. So it fails on both accounts.
Still, its great to see Chow acting in an American movie, and he has an undeniable screen presence here, as always, while Wahlberg is competent enough and the supporting cast is pretty good.
So, to summarize: The story is a little too convoluted and remains somewhat unconvincing; the action, such as it is, is good, especially the chase scene, but doesn't work in context because it is presented in a framework of gritty realism. Finally, at the end of the movie, there seems to be no clear point to the film; unlike with the HK films, the viewer is left with no understanding of what the whole thing was really about. Add to that the rather unsympathetic main characters, who more often than not come across as pathetic losers than anti-heroes, and the movie really doesn't work.
Rating: 6.8/10, but it would be less if it didn't have Chow Yun-Fat, my favourite actor, who does his best to try and save the film.