A drug cartel boss who is arrested in a raid is coerced into betraying his former accomplices as part of an undercover operation.A drug cartel boss who is arrested in a raid is coerced into betraying his former accomplices as part of an undercover operation.A drug cartel boss who is arrested in a raid is coerced into betraying his former accomplices as part of an undercover operation.
- Awards
- 10 wins & 28 nominations
Honglei Sun
- Captain Zhang
- (as Sun Honglei)
Yi Huang
- Yang Xiaobei
- (as Huang Yi)
Yunxiang Gao
- Xu Guoxiang
- (as Gao Yunxiang)
Guangjie Li
- Chen Shixong
- (as Li Guangjie)
Tao Guo
- Senior Dumb
- (as Guo Tao)
Hoi-Pang Lo
- Birdie
- (as Lo Hoi Pang)
Eddie Cheung
- Su
- (as Cheung Siu Fai)
Ka-Tung Lam
- East Lee
- (as Lam Ka Tung)
Ting Yip Ng
- Hatred
- (as Ng Yuk San)
Philip Keung
- Darkie
- (as Keung Hon Man)
Taishen Cheng
- Captain Liu (Erzhou)
- (as Cheng Taishen)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMarks the tenth time director Johnnie To and actor Louis Koo collaborated in a director / actor relation.
- GoofsIn the opening scene when Timmy is driving erratically he vomits on the driver side window. After he crashes the vomit is gone. It is still missing when Captain Zhang arrives on the scene shortly after.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Boundless (2013)
Featured review
I have to confess here in Canada I have no previous exposure to films by Hong Kong directors Johnnie To. Obviously he has done good work before but I just did not have the chance to see them. 'Drug War' was shown in a local art-house cinema and my like-minded friend alerted me to it.
Well, this was an interesting film experience - a Hong Kong director doing a police/drug dealer drama based in mainland China. Although other fictitious names were used for the cities, it is obvious the final, major shootout took place in a main street in Tianjin, a large city not far from Beijing. And much has been said about the long, protracted shoot-out scene toward the end, done in the John-Woo-ish manner.
I do not know if the version shown in mainland China - apparently the film did well in the box office there - is the same version that I saw in Canada. However, I suspected the China version has to be slightly edited. Still, (Spoiler Alert!) Johnnie To managed to get a film approved for the Chinese audience despite breaking one important rules: four desperadoes gunning down a large number of police officers, male and female. Now this used to be a big no-no in China. The police had to come up on top and the bad guys punished. The mass killing of cops was never presented to any screen in Chinese cinema. And then there is the lesser scene of RMB (Chinese currency) bills being burnt in place of 'ghost money' to honour the dead. Now this may just be part of drama but one can also argue about its possible political significance.
All in all, for a cops-against-bad-guys film this is well directed, with action scenes well staged and the cops and criminals well portrayed. There are also finer moments exploring humanity - e.g. a drug dealer's wife, fatally shot, still struggled to put her high-heel boots back on while dodging bullets. The ending is a tad depressing but is mostly likely closer to reality.
Well, this was an interesting film experience - a Hong Kong director doing a police/drug dealer drama based in mainland China. Although other fictitious names were used for the cities, it is obvious the final, major shootout took place in a main street in Tianjin, a large city not far from Beijing. And much has been said about the long, protracted shoot-out scene toward the end, done in the John-Woo-ish manner.
I do not know if the version shown in mainland China - apparently the film did well in the box office there - is the same version that I saw in Canada. However, I suspected the China version has to be slightly edited. Still, (Spoiler Alert!) Johnnie To managed to get a film approved for the Chinese audience despite breaking one important rules: four desperadoes gunning down a large number of police officers, male and female. Now this used to be a big no-no in China. The police had to come up on top and the bad guys punished. The mass killing of cops was never presented to any screen in Chinese cinema. And then there is the lesser scene of RMB (Chinese currency) bills being burnt in place of 'ghost money' to honour the dead. Now this may just be part of drama but one can also argue about its possible political significance.
All in all, for a cops-against-bad-guys film this is well directed, with action scenes well staged and the cops and criminals well portrayed. There are also finer moments exploring humanity - e.g. a drug dealer's wife, fatally shot, still struggled to put her high-heel boots back on while dodging bullets. The ending is a tad depressing but is mostly likely closer to reality.
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Cuộc Chiến Á Phiện
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- CN¥100,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $128,195
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,926
- Jul 28, 2013
- Gross worldwide
- $24,676,341
- Runtime1 hour 47 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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