Cast: Chow Yun-Fat, Mark Wahlberg, Ric Young, Jon Kit Lee, Elizabeth Lindsey, Byron Mann
Director: James Foley
Producer: Dan Halsted
Screenplay: Robert Pucci
Cinematography: Juan Ruiz Anchía
Music: Carter Burwell
U.S. Distributor: New Line Cinema
An interesting plot element or two and a stylish visual approach can't save James Foley's The Corruptor from coming across as a run-of-the-mill cop movie. As pleasant as it is to see Chow Yun-Fat (Hard Boiled, The Replacement Killers) making inroads into the American market, his talents are largely wasted here, where little more is expected from him than that he stand around looking alternatively menacing and cool, and that he be able to fire a gun with aplomb. Chow is an actor of some skill and reputation, but, aside from two or three nice scenes, he's stuck in a thankless role.
Chow plays Nick Chen, the head of the NYPD's Asian Gang Unit. Despite being crooked and on the payroll of gangster Henry Lee (Ric Young), Nick is really a good guy. He genuinely cares for the prostitute who occasionally shares his bed, and he aspires to make Chinatown a better place. He has principles, which is more than can be said for most dirty cops. When a crime wave started by a group called the Fukienese Dragons sweeps through his territory, he vows to put an end to it by bringing the leader, Henry Vu (Byron Mann), to justice. When he asks his captain for more manpower, he is given an unlikely partner - Danny Wallace (Mark Wahlberg), a caucasian guy. Of course, it's not the color of Danny's skin that Nick's worried about, it's his inexperience. As he puts it, "He's worse than white - he's green." Soon, however, as in all cop/buddy films, the two develop a bond. But there is a twist, and all is not as it seems.
For those who enjoy this sort of guns & mayhem movie, The Corruptor delivers an adequate portion of the necessary ingredients. It runs a little too long and is prone to repetition, but those are hardly unusual traits for this type of motion picture. It has the advantage of transpiring in an unusual setting. Chinatown isn't just thrown in to provide a little background color. The culture (real or imagined) of the Chinese underground is a crucial element of The Corruptor. In fact, it's intriguing and pervasive enough to enliven the proceedings in a way that a more traditional location might not have.
On more than one occasion, director James Foley appears to be imitating John Woo. That's not surprising, considering that, back in their Hong Kong days, Chow was one of Woo's favorite actors. However, Foley, who is perhaps best known for directing the movie version of Glengarry Glenn Ross, lacks Woo's kinetic visual style. So, while he gets his share of interesting shots (including a nice bird's-eye view of Chinatown), there's no moment in this film that causes audiences to sit up and take notice. To be memorable, this kind of movie needs to grab the viewer; The Corruptor lacks the arresting quality crucial to accomplishing that task.
In addition to being given a limited role, Chow is saddled with Mark Wahlberg as a partner. Wahlberg, who showed promise in Boogie Nights, is in his second outing with Foley (their previous project being 1996's Fear). Unfortunately, this is largely a one-note performance. Danny comes across as completely lacking a personality. He's supposed to be a champion for truth, justice, and the American way, but Wahlberg fails to make his sanctimonious speeches sound heartfelt or believable. In fact, the character as a whole is fuzzy and out-of-focus.
The Corruptor, like so many movies occupying the same genre, represents undemanding, non-compelling entertainment. It's hard to become involved in a movie like this. For all the gunfights, chases, and backstabbing, there's not a lot of tension, and these aren't the kind of original, brilliantly rendered individuals who immediately capture our interest. I didn't hate The Corruptor - in fact, there were some things I liked about it - but, as I walked out of the theater, I realized there was nothing memorable or lasting about anything I had seen in the last 110 minutes, and that's far from a praiseworthy observation.
© 1999 James Berardinelli