I didn’t
have a chance to get in any Tony Leung Chiu-wai movies during Oscar season, so
this is the first A Little TLC(w) review in a couple months. This is a pretty decent one, I’d say, for getting
back into the swing of things – not a slam dunk but generally well-made, a
stylish action drama with some good acting.
Five
detectives get more than they bargained for during a drug bust one night. Chasing after one of the smugglers, the
captain discovers that it is in fact his former brother-in-law, Tung. Tung urges to be allowed the slip, offering a
briefcase full of money in exchange for his freedom. In the confusion that follows, he gets away,
but while the captain doesn’t make a grab for the money, two of his fellow
detectives do. But of course, taking
bribes from drug smugglers isn’t exactly hassle-free, and all five (those who share
the money as well as one who wants nothing to do with it) are quickly dragged
down trying to keep the secret from their superiors while combatting escalation
from the gangsters who threaten to talk.
On the
whole, it’s a pretty serviceable cop drama, with some well-shot action scenes
and fine acting in the inevitable “tense circle of conspiracy” conversations
behind closed doors. By having one of
the five detectives refuse a share of the money, but still not wanting his
buddies to go down for it, it ups the dramatic conflict and offers more places
for the story to go. The acting is good
across the board. I’m not familiar with
Ka-Yan Leung (the captain) or Felix Wong (the one who doesn’t take the money,)
but both of them do really nice work, and I always like Andy Lau, who plays “Thief,”
one of the initial two detectives to pocket the cash.
Leung
plays Thief’s partner (in both law enforcement and crime.) Like Thief, the subtitles only refer to him
by a nickname, “Dandruff.” He shares
Thief’s low level of scruples when it comes to crossing ethical lines in his
work, although you also get the sense that he follows Thief’s lead more so than
taking his own initiative. Whether he’s
along for the ride or an active participant, though, he’s in just as deep as
everyone else.
Dandruff
reminds me a bit of Jacky Cheung’s characters in As Tears Go By and Bullet in the Head, the cheerfully well-meaning screw-up who’s probably a little more
trouble than he’s worth to his friend.
Compared to those characters, Dandruff leans less on hotheaded and more
on blithely irresponsible, but it does have kind of the same effect, with
Dandruff occasionally bungling things and Thief bickering/sighing as he bails
Dandruff out.
Truth be
told, Dandruff’s presence creates a little tonal dissonance within the
film. The overall tone is fairly
serious, increasingly so as the film goes on, but Dandruff frequently acts like
he’s in a different movie. Not that
irrepressible jokers who aren’t good at reading a room never pop up in dramas,
but it’s not just how he acts – it’s how the whole movie frames him. Some of his early scenes especially border on
screwball or slapstick (there’s an amusingly-ridiculous scene in which he and
Thief keep accidentally slapping each other while roughing up a suspect,) which
stand out pretty jarringly compared to the rest of the film. Maybe it’s to lull the audience into ease so
they’re that much more surprised when things get so intense later on? I don’t know – either way, despite Leung
being entertaining in the role, it doesn’t quite work for me within the larger context
of the movie.
Recommend?
In
General
– A cautious maybe. It’s not a great
film, but it’s a decent one, and people who like dirty-cop dramas might enjoy it.
Tony
Leung Chiu-wai
– Not a must. If you want Leung’s comedic
chops, there are better examples out there.
Warnings
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