Corruptor, The (UK)

Nice little Action/Thriller that isn`t exactly a classic, but was unfairly ignored by critics and at the box office. Like the film, it`s also a great DVD package with about an hours worth of extras plus a director`s commentry (which for some reason is not mentioned on the cover) :)

Great print of a pedestrian thriller

Promoted as just another buddy-cop action film and made with zero originality, this is one of those films that knows its target audience and so aims the movie squarely in their direction (and happily excludes everyone else!).

I`m a kind of fair-weather friend of action movies and although I don`t watch them as a priority, I`m eager to see any of the really good ones. Unfortunately though, The Corruptor is quite an "empty" film and it manages to be very uninspiring despite some admittedly well-staged shoot-outs.

The problem doesn`t necessarily lie with the story itself and if anything the narrative is the strongest aspect of the production (on paper at least). The directors establishment of the plot is very incoherent though and I could understand anyone being confused 30 minutes in. Not because it`s a tricky set-up (it`s comparitively straight-forward), but because the motives and supposed enemies aren`t sensibly explained and the viewer is simply left to flounder and will probably lose interest altogether. I stuck with it though and in retrospect it`s an "okay" movie, it`s just that the story is very badly implemented.

The other major flaw is the cast. I don`t dislike Mark Wahlberg or Chow-Yun-Fat, but neither is suited to their role on this occasion. Chow is required to deliver a lot of dialogue here and his English obviously needs to improve somewhat if he wants to speak this many lines in a film again (I had to switch the subtitles on!). Wahlberg is mis-cast (for several reasons), but the other problem is that his performance here is quite patchy. He`s great towards the end actually, but in some of the early scenes his delivery is noticeably stilted and a bit wooden. I guess the average action movie fan won`t be overly concerned with the performances of the leads, so maybe this will be over-looked by the majority of viewers.

It`s not all bad anyway and as a "Pizza & six-pack" flick, it does its job fairly well. It`s just a shame that the plot isn`t conveyed more convincingly because the dramatic moments later on aren`t as effective as they should have been. I have a lot more positive things to say about it in retrospect though, because the issue of corruption and its implications/justifiability are worth examining and this movie has a genuinely worthwhile core (albeit a badly executed one).

There are lots of high-octane action scenes that will definitely push your home-cinema set-up to its limits. The audio is a very clear and dynamic DD5.1 and is thankfully equalled (quality-wise) by the picture. The image is simply stunning and the best description is "demonstration quality".

Basically then, a very moderate action movie that fails to involve the viewer and wastes one or two promising ideas.