Runtime: 110 minutes
Directed by: James Foley
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Mark Wahlberg, Ric Young, Paul Ben-Victor, Jon Kit Lee
From: New Line Cinema
Yes, messageboard discussion steered me this way. Someone gave positive praise so I was going to view it on Prime before it expired at the end of February… only for one night recently, suddenly it wasn’t on Prime any longer, only there was a message stating that it was coming to Prime in March, then it is leaving a few hours after this review is posted. No, I don’t get it either. Easier for me to comprehend is how Hollywood couldn’t get Chow Yun-Fat right and he wasn’t able to become a big star in the West as he was in the East.
I see it won’t be a popular opinion when I finally revisit the third Pirates of the Caribbean and eviscerate that awful movie; his small supporting role wasn’t the reason for me hating the film in 2007. Back in ’99 I was still a teenager & did not go to the cinema often; that said, something like this would have been a better theatrical experience than a stupid blockbuster. Corruptor starts off fine; there’s a big shootout in NYC’s Chinatown and much to my delight, Fat fires two handguns at the same time. Yes, he also smokes cigarettes. Chow and neophyte fellow cop Marky Mark team up; the latter doesn’t realize that the former is the one who’s corrupt.
No comment on Mark Wahlberg’s current beliefs, or how the dirty secret is that in the late 80’s, Wahlberg used to have some horrid opinions of both Blacks and Vietnamese, and he acted out on those prejudices. That has no bearing on my saying that he did a fine job here, and the movie was a pretty good time. Of course, the shootouts weren’t directed w/ the flair of John Woo or another talented action director from Hong Kong. That doesn’t mean the action was bad by any means; director James Foley decided to shoot this w/ a deliberate exaggerated style which perhaps was inspired by Hong Kong; how effective that was is up to you.
The film is not an upbeat tale; the topic is not only feuding gangs in Chinatown, the murder of prostitutes and the importation of drugs, but Marky Mark’s character is offered bribes. For those that like dark crime dramas featuring a cast of familiar faces both white and Pacific Rim Asian, a soundtrack featuring both jazz and late 90’s tunes (there’s more than one Third Eye Blind song!) and a big car chase w/ plenty of collateral damage, this Western take on a Hong Kong heroic bloodshed drama might be better for you than its general reputation would suggest.
Fat was allowed to shine here and show off his charisma; as he also spoke English fine, Chow Yun-Fat really had his talents squandered in Hollywood, for the most part.
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