O Corruptor

Fans of Chow Yun Fat can finally exhale; he has made a decent Hollywood movie at last.

I went to see "The Corruptor" this past Saturday in HK. While it's not an especially good film, it's a solid piece of entertainment. Most importantly, it allows Chow Yun Fat to be Chow Yun Fat. Whereas he was stiff and tentative in "The Replacement Killers", in "The Corruptor" Chow burns up the screen. From the very first few seconds of his appearance in the movie you can see that "The Coolest Actor in the World" is back in form.

In fact, it's the acting that saves the movie. The story is a tired one, but Mark Wahlberg and especially Chow are charismatic and make their characters sympathetic. Chow also develops an onscreen chemistry w/ Wahlberg that was completely absent in his partnership w/ Mira Sorvino.

Because of it's uninspiring storyline, however, "The Corruptor" will probably still not make Chow a household name in America. But it will win him lots of new fans. Let's hope this upward trend in Chow's career continues w/ "Anna and the King".

A young Caucasian cop , Danny Wallace (Mark Wahlberg) , is assigned to New York's Chinatown precinct and partenered with a shrewd veteran , Nick Chen (Chow Yun Fat) . The expert policeman attempts to eliminate drug-trafficking , illegal immigrant and corruption at whatever cost and he'll stop at nothing to get it , but two Chinese bands confronting each other . Then things get complicated when the Triads try to bribe the cop . Both , Danny and Chen are drawn into a cobweb of treason and deception. If you have a secret , he knows it. If you have a weakness, he exploits it. If you have anything good in you, he destroys it...You can't play by the rules when there aren't any. Geen recht. Geen regels. Geen gerechtigheid. No law. No rules. No justice.

Nail-biting action movie with thrills , action-packed , violence , betrayal and bloodletting shoot'em up . The movie has a John Woo style , there are amount of shoot-outs , frenetic action and running men while they are shooting . The thrilling script and interpretation are top-drawer , and there's crossfire enough to satisfy the average appetite for destruction. Chow Yun-Fat finally receives a Hollywood stardom that already had before internationally in Asia . Nevertheless , the action segments suffer in comparison to his work in John Woo films . While Mark Wahlberg is fine as the tough cop and he showcases the talents that previously showed in other movies . A good starring duo , Chow Yun-Fat as Nick Chen and Mark Wahlberg as Danny Wallace giving acceptable performances , being well accompanied by an appropriate support cast , such as : Ric Young , Paul Ben-Victor , Byron Mann, Jon Kit Lee , Andrew Pang , Frank Pellegrino , Tovah Feldshuh, Elizabeth Lindsey and special appearance by the veteran Brit actor Brian Cox as Mark Wahlberg's father who get into trouble .

It contains an adequate and evocative cinematography by the Spanish Juan Ruiz Anchia who has photographed various James Foley's films . The motion picture was competently directed by James Foley , providing from his standout cast some top-drawer interpretations . Foley originally did not want to do John Woo's trademark "Mexican Standoff" in this film , but producers begged him to include these kinds of rip-roaring scenes . Foley is a fine craftsman ; however , he got two Razzie Nominations for Worst Director , as in 1988, he was nominated for Who's That Girl? (1987). Then in 2018, he was nominated again for Fifty Shades Darker (2017). Foley is a good director who has made movies in all kinds of genres with penchant for dramas . As Foley has directed important and some successful movies , such as : ¨Reckless¨ , ¨At Close Range¨ , ¨After Dark my Sweet¨ , ¨Two Bits¨ , ¨Fear¨ , ¨The Chamber¨ , ¨The Corruptor¨, ¨Confidence¨ , and directed one Oscar-nominated performance: Al Pacino in ¨Glengarry Glen Ross¨ . Rating : 6/ 10 . Acceptable and decent movie ; it will appeal to action fanatic enthusiasts and fans of the phenomenal duo of main actors : Chow Yun-Fat and Mark Wahlberg.

Nick Chen is a tough as nails New York cop who works on both sides of the law. When a new rookie cop is assigned to his unit he sees how the local crime boss tries to corrupt him and Chen reconsiders his ethics. All the while a few twists and turns show who is really playing who.

This is by no means a very original movie, especially for Chow Yun-Fat. His first American film, 'The Replacement Killers,' also was kind of a re-run, but what is there to say? He's good at this type of stuff.

Just like 'The Replacement Killers' this film was also a flop at the box office and it is probably through its gritty and uncompromising tone. Yeah, there's action and intense shootouts, but it is not like 'Die Hard' or anything. Innocent people die, the ending isn't happy, but what matters is that the film isn't cheesy - it pulls no sucker punches or cheap thrills. It sticks to the characters while keeping the action secondary, but no less intense. The plot too is also pretty interesting and is a little more intricate than 'The Replacement Killers' or Chow Yun-Fat's cult hits from Hong Kong like 'Hard Boiled.' It is not quite a masterpiece of genre, but remains a solid crime thriller nonetheless. 8/10

Rated R: strong violence, and profanity

This is a Hong Kong action flick with a distinct taste of the west. The movie starts off with a bombing and small store shoot-out that is right out of John Woo's stylebook but then it under goes a change. The story starts taking over and it is one of intrigue within intrigue. There are great moments of action with two guns blazing and an unbelievable amount of bullets but the story becomes the main thing. This works as glue that a lot of Hong Kong movies don't have. There are long pauses of plot developments between double crossing bad guys that are a real change to what is a typical Hong Kong action flick.

The director John Foley likes to place people in positions where they have to make critical decisions under pressure (At Close Range and Fear) and this is no exception. A caring cop caught up in a situation of corruption is under constant pressure to decide what is right. You are kept guessing as to his ultimate decision but the pressure is there under a dozen different situations. The sub-plots add to the texture of this movie and add to its richness. These side stories of the bad cop father in trouble, the interaction of rival Chinese gangs and his love of Asian culture are all parts of the puzzle that is Danny Wallace played by Mark Wahlberg. Foley knows Wahlberg from the direction of his acting breakthrough in Fear and uses him at what he does best, the confused tough guy with the sensitive agenda. (His latest movie `The Yards' is an example of what I mean). Nick Chen the experienced street cop played by Chow Yun-Fat is the perfect slightly crazy hard-hitting loner, who has embedded himself in the struggle of rival gangs in New York's Chinatown. There is no black and white here, only shades of gray, in a world of who is doing what to whom but like the cultural differences between East and West the relationships between individuals overcomes the hard facts of doing business on the street.

A very good blend of the Hong Kong actions movie that was brought in by Chow Yun-Fat (if you hear the commentary that Foley never saw a Woo movie) and what Foley's image is for street life in New York. Coming from New York and living and working in Asia gives me insight into the homework that went into the making of this movie and I will say they did a very good job.

The Corrupter is beset by expectations of Yun-Fat Chow in another John Woo flick. This isn't a John Woo flick (and I mean the old John Woo pre-American Studio), but it does evoke moments that are very John Woo/Yun-Fat Chow esque ala The Killer and the blind girl.

This film is a character study of Nick Chen and Danny Wallace (played very well by Mark Wahlberg) as cops that must make decisions that may compromise their professional and personal integrity, but the lines drawn are not as simple as that. The film really asks people under what circumstances is it okay to bend the rules in order to achieve results that otherwise would not be possible? Would it be okay to let one guilty person go in order to catch ten more in the future? Would it be okay to convict one innocent person in order to catch a thousand guilty in the future?

Danny Wallace joins Nick Chen in the Chinatown task group. Danny is forced to ask himself whether the short term actions, and their moral implications, are worth the long term good of the force, himself, and his family.