Sin yan

Policeman Don Lee (Nick Cheung) often works with informants but numerous too-close calls and failed missions cause him to see the world as one betrayal after another -- then he meets Guy, and is given a new chance to change his views.

I have to give credit to the folks at Well Go USA. I have been reviewing the films they distribute for a while now, and they have been consistently good. "Stool Pigeon" is no exception, adding the genre of police action to the martial arts stories they have delivered us in the past. I assume not all Asian films are this good (in fact, I know they are not), so whoever does acquisitions for Well Go needs a raise.

What is this film? A bit of mystery, a lot of action, a crime thriller. It really should appeal to a wide audience. If you like films like "French Connection" or "Snatch", I think this will be your film. While not quite a masterpiece, it really does tell a strong, interesting and emotional story. It is a film I am eager to watch a second time.

The DVD/BD (it comes as a combo pack) has some nice features on, most notably the variety of languages and subtitles. You might prefer Cantonese with English subtitles. Perhaps you prefer English dubbing. Then again, maybe you speak Cantonese and would rather watch it without dubbing or subs... you are able to do any of these.

First off, let me say that Nick Cheung's performance was great. He has a few scenes where he really needs to show emotion, and he shines. Sadly, I would say this film is a little forgettable. It's a tale that we have seen told similarly in movies such as "Infernal Affairs" and "City On Fire" (especially the latter, with the jewelry store robbery and the warehouse standoff) but isn't done quite as well. It has a few highlights, such as the car chase with "White Christmas" playing in the background, or the jewlery store robbery, or even the fight in the abandoned room filled with chairs and tables, but other than those memorable moments, the rest seems like filler. It also contains a few side plots that seemed a bit cliché and unnecessary. It's entertaining, sure, but in the end, it will blend in with many Hong Kong films with similar plots.

Dante Lam has found something of a creative muse in writer Jack Ng of late, and their latest "The Stool Pigeon" marks their fourth straight collaboration together. It is also crafted out of the same mould as their earlier "Beast Stalker", "Sniper" and "Fire of Conscience", and audiences who have enjoyed the morally ambiguous characters and their dilemmas in these male-driven films will certainly enjoy this latest.

Reuniting the duo of Nick Cheung and Nicolas Tse from "Beast Stalker", Lam reverses the good guy-bad guy roles played by Cheung and Tse earlier. In this film, Cheung is on the right side of the law- he plays Detective Don Lee, a cop with his conscience wracked by guilt from the fate of his last stool pigeon (or slang for 'informant'). Jabber (played by Lam regular Liu Kai-Chi) was almost slashed to death after his cover was blown, and Don counts himself responsible for making the executive decision that blew Jabber's cover.

Tse is the ex-convict Ghost, whom Don seeks out to be his new informant after police receive word that a wanted robber Barbarian (Lu Yi) is back in town for another heist. Ghost needs money to pay off his father's debt to a loanshark, and reluctantly agrees despite being fully aware of the risks. For a good first hour, Lam meticulously sketches out the relationship between Don and Ghost- opposites in the eye of the law, but forced by circumstance to befriend and even trust each other.

A scene where Don teaches his fellow officers how to manage their informants illustrates this conflict beautifully- he tells them they have to win the trust of their stool pigeons so they can get as much intel as possible, but not to get too friendly at the same time for they may have to make difficult decisions in the line of duty. It is an unenviable position that Don himself knows personally, and many of the film's most poignant scenes come from Don's regular visits to Jabber who has since become a vagabond.

Besides delineating the complex relationship between police and informant, Lam also takes care to develop his characters. Don's frequent visits to a dance studio hint of a personal tragedy that is only revealed later; and Ghost's feelings for Barbarian's girlfriend, Dee (Kwai Lun-mei), only make it more difficult for him to extricate himself later on. The characters in Lam's films have always been flawed in one way or another, but the attention that Lam pays this time round to his two central characters- Don and Ghost- ranks among one of his best.

Amply deserving of praise too are Cheung and Tse. Having won Best Actor at both the Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Awards for his role in "Beast Stalker", Cheung turns in a wonderfully subtle performance here that conveys his character's anguish both in his line of work and his personal life. Because Cheung's acting is more restrained here, Tse gets the chance to be in the spotlight- and he more than delivers in a nuanced portrayal that fleshes out Ghost's struggles tiptoeing on the fine line of the law.

Lam brings the intricately and impeccably plotted first half to a head in the next hour of the film, and audiences familiar with Lam's films may naturally be expecting big-scale action sequences like those in "Sniper"or even "Fire of Conscience". But perhaps surprisingly, he doesn't give his audience the kind of visceral gratification this time round, and some may find his unusual restraint a little frustrating.

Not to say that he has lost his flair- an exciting foot chase down the tight cramped aisles of Hong Kong's street markets culminating in a midday car chase will set to rest any such doubts- nor that this isn't a taut thriller. It is both, but Lam often ratchets up the tension before an impending action scene and then defuses it without his usual signature guns-and-bullets extravanganza.

It is still no reason why you should miss this thriller. While it doesn't feature as much by way of action as one would expect from a usual Dante Lam film, its strong character-driven drama still packs a solid punch. At a time when the Hong Kong film industry seems inundated by big-budget China co-productions, Dante has stuck to his guns to deliver a gritty true-blue Hong Kong cop thriller set entirely in the iconic streets of Kowloon. In a year of lean offerings from Hong Kong, this will probably go down as one of the year's best.

"In STALKER, Nicholas Tse plays a straight-arrow police sergeant, pitched against Nicky Cheung's ruthless, one-eyed kidnapper; whereas in PIGEON, the shoe is on the other foot, Cheung is a righteous police detective and Tse is the debt-ridden, ex-con stoolie he needs to protect from a dangerous gang of armed robbers. Both actors show confidence and versatility in their dual transitions. Cheung excels in a beastly, menacing presence in STALKER that the audience has never seen before, then morphs into a bespectacled, spiffy officer of the law whose reticent appearance dissembles his inner conflict; Tse is a single-minded redemption-seeking hot-head in STALKER, sometimes he can be schmaltzy, but goes low-key and quietly affecting in PIGEON where he really catches audience off guard for a maturer performance that elicits our commiserations."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks.

This is more like Beast Stalker… Beast Stalker was a great film, filled with tension, fine acting and incredible tension. Similarly, the latest venture from Dante Lam in Stool Pigeon is a lot like the aforementioned film. The good news is the tension is there, the acting is good and the film is well directed. The bad news is that Stool Pigeon does not reach the heights of Beast Stalker. Nick Cheung reverses role with Nicholas Tse this time around. Cheung is the cop and Nicholas Tse is the stool pigeon. Cheung is now an established actor and earns his paycheck here with a gritty and emotionally complex character. Tse on the other hand is excellent and almost carries the film on his shoulders. The best thing of the lot, is once again veteran Liu Kai Chi. Liu steals the show and the effect is seen in the opening scene when he screams for help.

Stool Pigeon is a good film, but not a great film. The reason is simple, it lacks the same amount of intensive tension of its predecessor and relies much on the acting of Tse and Cheung to take the film to the end. In say that, this is by a far a much superior effort to Fire of Conscience. Dante Lam is a capable director and he is at his best, when the characters in his films are allowed to express their truest potential or perhaps when they go crazy. Think Anthony Wong in Beast Cop and Nick Cheung in Beast Stalker. While both Tse and Cheung does fine turns, but neither are memorable. The film itself is not too memorable either. Instead what we got delivered to us is a film that entertains, some interesting chases, fine acting and positive direction. Easily a good film, but not great…(Neo 2010)

I rate it 7/10

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