Red Corner

Red Corner is quite obviously a comment on the current situation in Red China. Being a good friend of the Dalai Lama and Tibet in general, the "the Chinese government and army are all bad people" argument is what keeps this film going. It could almost be considered a crash course on what is still going on in China today. Don't get me wrong, the film is actually quite well done and has a good story to go with it which makes it more than a two hour CBS special.

The whole plot centers around the Gere character being framed for a murder of a Chinese girl. The girl just happens to be the daughter of an important general which makes Gere's chances of survival all the less. Sure, all of the cliches are built into this film, especially the wrongfully imprisoned man (haven't the 90's been a real haven to these kinds of films ever since "The Fugitive?"). But the plot is still interesting the film throughout and other than a few twists that seemed unnecessary, keeps focus until the end. I never will understand why Gere didn't just stay at the embassy, he must have been somewhat crazy.

The bond between the two main characters starts off very cold and warms until the end with an airport scene that was very fitting. After watching the film you'll know what I mean. The chase scene through the city is very exciting although at times farfetched, but still makes for some good action in between a few dramatic scenes. Even without on screen violence ala American History X or Saving Private Ryan, this film still manages to invoke fear simply knowing that the Chinese will do whatever they please, regardless of human life.

This film only helps to show China as an unhumanitary state with archaic laws and traditions. When one is forced to plead guilty in order to have leaniency directed towards them, something is really wrong. Hopefully this film will open some eyes to the situation and be a catalyst to future change.

7/10 stars.

I thought this was wonderful - and can't for the life of me understand the criticisms.

Some seem to be attacking the movie on the basis that it is too hard on China - REALLY?

Ask any North Korean refugee who's been captured in China -

Ask any member of the harmless Falun Gong religious sect -

Ask anyone connected by family ties with those identified as having participated in the Tianenmen Square protests (the protests were actually in quite a number of cities - but television covered just the tens of thousands assembled in Beijing).

No, it's not an "art house" kind of movie - don't expect the slow pace and strange story of something like Farewell My Concubine.

Instead, it's a wonderful Hitchcock-type story transplanted to Communist China - and voila - a wonderful movie that should have been remembered at Oscar time!

It's far better than, say, Hitchcock's Torn Curtain or Topaz - both set in repressive Communist regimes. It's more like a combination of The Wrong Man and North by Northwest - but sexier than either.

Our Welsh friend from beautiful Aberystwyth, Philip Davies, has it about right in his review printed beneath mine.

This is beautifully shot, with wonderful acting in a riveting Hitchcock type movie. Richard Gere is excellent - the politics and scenes of a changing China are fascinating.

I strongly recommend this one.

This is very exciting, suspenseful, romantic - and its depiction of China rings true.

For about a dozen years, it was hard to find too many films Richard Gere made which weren't interesting and well-made. This was no exception. Once again, he "delivers the goods" and is involved in an interesting story.

Gere, a follower, I believe, of the Dalai Lama whom the Communists forced out of Tibet, uses this film to get his shots in at his mentor's enemy. Anyone who thinks this is just a coincidence is pretty naive. Nonetheless, the facts support the film's stark, brutal portrayal of Communist China's leadership. At the very least, it shows a regime unwilling to hear both sides of a story. (Hollywood has often given the same treatment to the U.S. government, showing it more often in a corrupt light, which is ludicrous compared to restrictive Communist China.)

Anyway, Gere really dominates this film, being in almost every scene. This is your basic frame-up-then-prove-your-innocence-in-court story. It keeps your attention throughout although I thought the ending was a bit confusing because things happened almost too fast for the viewer to take in. At two hours, the film could have been trimmed a tad but the lulls in here were not much.

Overall, an underrated film and unjustly criticized by the national critics, most of whom don't like it when communism is bashed.

Rambling drama about a US salesman arrested for a murder he did not commit, Red Corner has actual footage of Beijing convincingly mixed with the main shooting which gives the impression that the movie was actually made in China - and presumably with the approval of the Chinese authorities. Unfortunately, this is not really true, and the main Chinese lead - Ling Bai, whose name means 'white light' or 'white spirit' - was at Tiananmen in 1989 and emigrated to the US shortly thereafter. I've met students who lived in China at the time who absolutely refuse to discuss the situation back home; that Ling Bai does is testimony to her 'white spirit', and she really does steal the show from Gere here, in a kind of reverse Casablanca 'hill of beans' role. Whether the depiction of conditions in the Chinese judicial system is accurate or not, the movie does succeed in making the viewer understand that there are two views to almost anything, and that in China, as anywhere, power corrupts. Stacking the deck against consular officials is a nice touch, for these people are truly the cowards and turncoats the movie makes them out to be. The plot swerves from the inexplicable to the Orwellian to a love story (which does, it is true, sort of come out of nowhere), but the final scene on the tarmac does much to salvage that. Maybe Gere wanted to make the Chinese look bad, but they certainly don't need his help. Based on an incident that happened not in China but in Italy, Red Corner is viewable without ever coming close to being a great film. Its one claim to greatness is Ling Bai - she's absolutely fabulous.

Overall, this isn't a bad movie. It's a pretty decent courtroom drama - sort of "Law & Order Beijing." It's got a lot of suspense, and it provides a fascinating glimpse of the inner workings of the Chinese justice system. I offer that last point with the proviso, of course, that the star of this movie is Richard Gere, and Gere is known for having a somewhat anti-Chinese (or, more accurately, anti-People's Republic of China) outlook. The view of China presented here is an ominous one - and that's not entirely fabricated. I travelled to China a few years ago. I never got in trouble with the law (thank goodness!) but still when you're walking through Tienanmen Square and a column of Chinese soldiers suddenly comes marching right toward you shouting at you, you know that the basic message (even though you don't speak Chinese) is "get out of the way or we'll trample you!" So, yes, even in completely unthreatening circumstances, there are vaguely threatening elements to being in China.

In this movie, Gere plays Jack Moore, an American businessman trying to close a deal in China, who picks up a girl at a nightclub. She ends up being murdered in his hotel room, he's the prime suspect and it's clear that "the system" has decided he's guilty before he even goes on trial and the court flat out refuses to hear any evidence that supports him and challenges the obviously pre-arranged verdict. How Moore can triumph over this system is the issue.

All that's pretty good. Gere's performance is good. The problem is the "one American man takes on the entire People's Republic of China" scenario. Yes, Moore had a court appointed defence lawyer (played by a young U.S. based Chinese actress named Ling Bai) who becomes increasingly sympathetic to him and wants to prove his innocence, but essentially Moore does it all himself. Even in the courtroom, he essentially takes over the case, questioning witnesses - even when his lawyer is there. That all was a bit too much, and it strained the movie's credibility too far. Still, it's an entertaining and suspenseful if perhaps implausible couple of hours.