Recreational sex with friendly Chinatown women and wads of cash are too much of a temptation for a "green" cop in NYPD's Asian Gang Unit, while the veteran leader of the small force is one smooth corruptionist, chummy with the Triads while winning commendations for bravery in his day job.
Flat, repetitious and nominally involving, New Line's "The Corruptor" is bloody, soulless pulp fireworks, primed for a respectable opening but fated to rake in only modest amounts of payola overall.
Killing the movie's chances once they embark on a rocky partnership, prolific action-movie star Chow Yun-Fat ("The Replacement Killers") and Mark Wahlberg ("Boogie Nights") have no chemistry, and director James Foley rather feebly imitates Hong Kong-style action, with many desperate departures from reality to heighten the mayhem.
Not your run-of-the-mill "bag man," seen-it-all cop Nick Chen (Yun-Fat) knows the score: "You don't change Chinatown. It changes you." With violence in the precinct increasing, he resents the arrival of white boy Danny Wallace (Wahlberg) into his intimate group that includes outspoken Willy (Andrew Pang) and Louise (Elizabeth Lindsey). Crusader Wallace just wants to see justice prevail but Willy jokes about "yellow fever." Fatalistic Chen is out-and-out antagonistic.
Luckily, everyone is kept busy shooting up the Fukienese Dragons, who are led by humorless young sociopath Bobby Vu (Byron Mann). Vu and his killers are gunning for Chen's gangster pals, with the cops and a never-revealed undercover FBI agent caught up in the volatile situation.
Heavy on plots, subplots, twists and double crosses, the film nonetheless plods along in characterization.
Chen starts to care about May (Marie Matiko), a whore at the beck and call of underworld boss Henry Lee (Ric Young), who has his sights set on turning Wallace into a collaborator. Chen tries to prevent this, but soon Wallace is getting crime-stopping tips from Lee and enjoying intimate massages. The next minute Wallace is saving dozens of innocent victims and putting a stop to a serial killer who preys on prostitutes. Eventually, Wallace and Chen have reasons to distrust and fear each other in this tediously moody film.
Trying to mix a few dashes of dark comedy with his trademark tough-guy persona, Yun-Fat routinely plays a hardened law enforcer who lives for rough shakedowns and busting bad guys. Wahlberg couldn't be blander, although his character has a whopping interior conflict, not to mention the lurking presence of Wallace's sonofabitch father (Brian Cox), a former dirty cop who owes money to bad guys.
The long-winded story never comes into focus or feels authentic despite the efforts of Foley and the performers to breathe some life into it. Rounding out the cast are Paul Ben-Victor as a menacing FBI agent and Jon Kit Lee as a Fukienese foot soldier who cooperates with Chen
THE CORRUPTOR
New Line Cinema
An Illusion Entertainment Group production
Director: James Foley
Screenwriter: Robert Pucci
Producer: Dan Halsted
Executive producers: Oliver Stone, Terence Chang, Bill Carraro, Jay Stern
Director of photography: Juan Ruiz-Anchia
Production designer: David Brisbin
Editor: Howard E. Smith
Costume designer: Doug Hall
Music: Carter Burwell
Casting: Mary Vernieu, Anne McCarthy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nick Chen: Chow Yun-Fat
Danny Wallace: Mark Wahlberg
Henry Lee: Ric Young
Schabacker: Paul Ben-Victor
Louise Deng: Elizabeth Lindsey
Sean Wallace: Brian Cox
Bobby Vu: Byron Mann
Willy: Andrew Pang
Jack: Jon Kit Lee
May: Marie Matiko
Running time -- 111 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Flat, repetitious and nominally involving, New Line's "The Corruptor" is bloody, soulless pulp fireworks, primed for a respectable opening but fated to rake in only modest amounts of payola overall.
Killing the movie's chances once they embark on a rocky partnership, prolific action-movie star Chow Yun-Fat ("The Replacement Killers") and Mark Wahlberg ("Boogie Nights") have no chemistry, and director James Foley rather feebly imitates Hong Kong-style action, with many desperate departures from reality to heighten the mayhem.
Not your run-of-the-mill "bag man," seen-it-all cop Nick Chen (Yun-Fat) knows the score: "You don't change Chinatown. It changes you." With violence in the precinct increasing, he resents the arrival of white boy Danny Wallace (Wahlberg) into his intimate group that includes outspoken Willy (Andrew Pang) and Louise (Elizabeth Lindsey). Crusader Wallace just wants to see justice prevail but Willy jokes about "yellow fever." Fatalistic Chen is out-and-out antagonistic.
Luckily, everyone is kept busy shooting up the Fukienese Dragons, who are led by humorless young sociopath Bobby Vu (Byron Mann). Vu and his killers are gunning for Chen's gangster pals, with the cops and a never-revealed undercover FBI agent caught up in the volatile situation.
Heavy on plots, subplots, twists and double crosses, the film nonetheless plods along in characterization.
Chen starts to care about May (Marie Matiko), a whore at the beck and call of underworld boss Henry Lee (Ric Young), who has his sights set on turning Wallace into a collaborator. Chen tries to prevent this, but soon Wallace is getting crime-stopping tips from Lee and enjoying intimate massages. The next minute Wallace is saving dozens of innocent victims and putting a stop to a serial killer who preys on prostitutes. Eventually, Wallace and Chen have reasons to distrust and fear each other in this tediously moody film.
Trying to mix a few dashes of dark comedy with his trademark tough-guy persona, Yun-Fat routinely plays a hardened law enforcer who lives for rough shakedowns and busting bad guys. Wahlberg couldn't be blander, although his character has a whopping interior conflict, not to mention the lurking presence of Wallace's sonofabitch father (Brian Cox), a former dirty cop who owes money to bad guys.
The long-winded story never comes into focus or feels authentic despite the efforts of Foley and the performers to breathe some life into it. Rounding out the cast are Paul Ben-Victor as a menacing FBI agent and Jon Kit Lee as a Fukienese foot soldier who cooperates with Chen
THE CORRUPTOR
New Line Cinema
An Illusion Entertainment Group production
Director: James Foley
Screenwriter: Robert Pucci
Producer: Dan Halsted
Executive producers: Oliver Stone, Terence Chang, Bill Carraro, Jay Stern
Director of photography: Juan Ruiz-Anchia
Production designer: David Brisbin
Editor: Howard E. Smith
Costume designer: Doug Hall
Music: Carter Burwell
Casting: Mary Vernieu, Anne McCarthy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nick Chen: Chow Yun-Fat
Danny Wallace: Mark Wahlberg
Henry Lee: Ric Young
Schabacker: Paul Ben-Victor
Louise Deng: Elizabeth Lindsey
Sean Wallace: Brian Cox
Bobby Vu: Byron Mann
Willy: Andrew Pang
Jack: Jon Kit Lee
May: Marie Matiko
Running time -- 111 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 3/12/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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