The Corruptor
By: Shaun
When a film is not one of the best I have ever seen, excels in its presentation, when it
has potential and does not take advantage of that high aspect, or when it is just plain
good, I look for a scapegoat someone to blame for not making this movie better then it
could have been. So far this year I have seen "Varsity Blues" take a slope to
mediocre, "8MM" get bashed from greatness by it’s sloppy director, and
"Cruel Intentions" loose all hopes of being great with it’s preposterous
ending. Well in "The Corruptor" I put most of the blame on the writer and a
minor proportion goes to Mark Wahlberg for acting like he is oblivious to how bad a
situation is. Again this movie could have been a "Face/Off" but these aspects of
silly predicaments and some pointless dialogue prevented this from actually being above
good. For this is not "The Replacement Killers" which was insipid and hollow,
even though the action scenes were plenty. This is a film with a ambiguous plot and
complex characters, nothing is what it seems. Sure one can contradict by saying we’ve
seen this buddy cop movie before, but this is Chinatown and sure the relationship between
new cop partners has not changed, there is a twist in this one. What I loved about it is
how it never let you sleep, the action was fierce, fast and booming, it flashed from one
scene to the next in a spectacular zoom, a thrill a minute high octane action thriller,
then it got deep into business of the evil and corruption that goes on in Chinatown in New
York. Chow Yun - Fat was actually given the chance to act here, he was talking jumping and
not acting like a god damn robot, as he did in "The Replacement Killers", the
chemistry between Wahlberg and Yun - fat worked as well, unlike it did with Mira Sorvino
in his debut film. What was also interesting was the subplots between Whalberg and his
father Sean Wallace (Brian Cox), a ex crooked cop who is in a large debt, and Chow Yun -
Fat’s relationship with a hooker who he actually feels for named May. For a high
testosterone film it is shrewd and witty, very entertaining and fun, the film actually
dwells at the problem of corruption before it does the solution, it doesn’t bewilder
you into a point where you have no idea what is going on, although Chow’s speaking
scenes are just a tad hard to understand, but he did improve since last year.
Nick Chen (Chow Yun - Fat) is working the 5-0 in the New York police force, he is trying
to bust up all the Asian gang units, one in particular are called The Faukeneise, they
blow up buildings, kill tourists and basically cause large quantities of trouble, which
cause his force loads of work, well you do the math. Now Chen is not exactly the epidomy
of integrity and honesty, there are times when he turns his head the other way, a nice and
kind corrupt cop. The first action scene of the film is reminiscent to "The
Killer" which has Chow making all his gun tricks and prevailing the battle, it is
still great to watch him do that after all his films, the spark is still there. Daniel
Wallace (Mark Wahlberg) is a white cop who is brought into Chen’s unit, the explosion
which killed a few tourists upset the chief and the state, so they say a white cop in the
Asian unit will make them happy , hence Danny. The basic plot is to bring down these
Faukenese, there are like missions which these boy’s must complete in order to reach
the big chief of the gang, these Faukenese bring in slaves from China, these slaves need
to work up their debts as hookers, once they get tired of that and refuse to go on their
body is found in a dumpster. Chen and Danny later form a bond and a deep trust and
relationship with each other, of course they have their disputes at first but they
certainly are later on setteled, it is good chemistry that keeps this movie alive, well
that and all the impressive action sequences. There is one in particular that will blow
you away, a fifteen minute car chase through Chinatown filled with innocent casualties and
several gun shots, it is truly one of the best action scenes ever filmed. I do not want to
get deep into the plot, for I am one of those critics who leave in up to the reader to go
see the film, over all this one is a piece of very enjoyable entertainment, but not
mindless, the plot gets a little complex but it is still understandable. If you are a fan
of action movies with brains then this flick is for you, I am not praising it because a
few of the situations were a little silly and unbelievable. I am sure though you guys will
enjoy it.
On a side note, "Cruel Intentions" was a good film, very good as a matter of
fact, it is just that the ending to me was disappointing, just didn’t want to
discourage you guys.
GRADE: B
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