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Director: James Foley Screenplay: Robert Pucci Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Mark Wahlberg, Ric Young, Paul Ben-Victor, Jon Kit Lee, Willy Ung, Byron Mann Running Time: 110 minutes Studio: New Line MPAA Rating: R |
Chow Yun-Fat's second American feature, The Corruptor, is slightly better than his 1998 American debut, The Replacement Killers, with Mira Sorvino. It's still a formulaic action picture, though. Yun-Fat's Nick Chen is a decorated New York cop whose pleas for more help brings a white face to his Chinatown unit -- greenhorn Danny Wallace, played by Mark Wahlberg in his first feature since The Big Hit.
Chen shows Wallace the ropes in dealing with New York's Chinatown -- mostly, keep the streets safe for tourists and don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. He figures Wallace's idealism will either get him killed or transferred. Complicating matters is an established gang, the Fong Tongs, fighting off an encroaching gang called the Fukinese Dragons. Chen is in Tong leader Benny Wong's (Kim Chan) pocket, and taking out rival leader, Bobby Vu (Byron Mann), proves harder than expected. The FBI, Internal Affairs, Benny's second-in-command Henry Lee (Ric Young), and the cops become entangled in illegal aliens, underground porn, slavery, and underage prostitution.
Don't look for a lot of Hong Kong action transplanted to U.S. soil. It's all strictly American guns and cars stuff, with little else. Two betrayal plots and Yun-Fat's feet of clay hero give the story the most of its texture, and there are some nice scenes showing Wallace's seemingly preordained fall from innocence into corruption. The final scenes give the audience a satisfactory character payoff. Of recent American/Hong Kong pairings (Yun-Fat/Sorvino, Chris Tucker/Jackie Chan, Mel Gibson/Danny Glover/Jet Li), Yun-Fat and Wahlberg have been the most effective.
RATING: ***
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