Saturday, March 17, 2018

A Little TLC(w): The Tigers (1991)

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

Violence, sexual content, language, drinking/smoking, drug references, and thematic elements.

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