Hei jin

ISLAND OF GREED (Hei Jin)

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Anamorphic)

Sound format: Dolby Digital

A Taiwanese special agent (Andy Lau) goes on the trail of a Triad gang leader (Tony Leung) who attempts to bribe his way into political office.

Large-scale blockbuster from director Michael Mak, unusual for its up-front exploration of Triad involvement in Taiwanese politics. Stand-out action set-pieces include a chaotic shoot-out in a crowded marketplace between Lau's men and a group of would-be assassins, and a large-scale riot on the streets of Taipei as taxi drivers stage a huge strike commissioned by Leung for nefarious purposes. Look out, too, for an audacious sequence in which Lau and his cohorts struggle to prevent a character from being attacked by snapping Alsatians, though this scene is compromised by images of horrific animal cruelty (chickens are dragged behind speeding vehicles and savaged by the rampaging dogs, for real), resulting in this scene being completely removed from British prints.

The narrative unfolds at such a breakneck pace, it's often difficult to keep tabs on proceedings, and the film will leave some viewers trailing in its headlong wake. Leung is terrific as the vicious gangster stifled by circumstances beyond his control, and weary of his arrogant superiors, and Pauline Suen ("Love and Sex of the Eastern Hollywood") is equally strong as his sexy but ill-bred wife, all too aware of her intellectual limitations but desperate to support her husband's political ambitions. Sadly, Lau is rather anonymous in a role which gives him virtually nothing to do, and his character barely registers as a presence. Given its setting, the film was recorded in sync-sound Mandarin and dubbed into Cantonese for its Hong Kong theatrical release - stick with the original.

(Mandarin dialogue)

Don't even bother watching this movie. I watched it at a theatre and wanted to leave half way through it but decided against it since I'd already spent my money on this worthless movie anyway. The plot is predictable, the action scenes worse than a home-made movie, and even a film school freshman could have done a better job on the editing.

Island of Greed is a pretty ruthless and gritty chronicling of corruption in the government of China and their occupation of Taiwan. Although it's much more of a political thriller using current affairs as a backdrop to tell the life of a triad boss in his attempts to seize power and the opposition he faces from both political rivals and an ever-persistent police detective. A lot of the movie is carried by the charisma of its two leading men, nice direction from Michael Mak, a haunting score by Raymond Wong & Landy Wei and some decent action set pieces that are too few and far between. However, the story relies so heavily on viewers knowing the ins and outs of Taiwan like the back of their hand, so I was extremely lost on most things that would more than likely have a deeper meaning to those who have grown up there. Nothing special but still worthwhile for the action and performances if you can get invested in all the political talk.

As much as I enjoy Hong Kong cinema, then every now and then I do happen to come across a movie that is far below what is the usual level of production value and entertainment value, even for a Hong Kong movie. And "Island of Greed" ("Hak Gam") was one such movie. Not even Andy Lau or Tony Leung Ka Fai could manage to pull this movie up.

The storyline in "Island of Greed" is fairly predictable, and actually becoming uninteresting and irritating at moments. There is just something fundamentally incoherent to the storyline, which makes it a very poor experience. The characters are well enough fleshed out, but the story is suffering from predictability and an uninspiring story told. And as for the action in the movie, well it was alright - just don't expect it to be up to John Woo's level of action.

There are far better action movies from Hong Kong than this one, and this is far from being among the top movies by either of the two major Hong Kong actors here (Andy Lau and Tony Leung Ka Fai). And there is absolutely nothing here to justify or even spur you on to want to watch the movie a second time, because just getting through it the first time was a big enough struggle.

This was a swing and a miss...

A likeable hero and an awesome villain. A great plot with a satisfying ending.