The Corruptor (1999)

Nick Chen (Chow Yun-Fat) is not your average New York cop. Working in Chinatown has its multifarious cultural nuances and its fair share of ubiquitous enticement, both of which are reflected in detective Chen's weary face. He had to get into bed with the highest echleons of the Chinese Mafia as a way of augmenting his own career, while maintaining a semblance of control over the dime-a-dozen hoods who proliferate on this turf. To make matters worse, he now has to break in rookie detective Danny Wallace (Mark Wahlberg), who has asked to be assigned to the Chinatown division. Apparently Wallace is infatuated with all things Chinese, or is suffering from "Yellow Fever," as his fellow colleagues would have us believe. Chen, not one to suffer fools gladly, takes young Wallace under his protective wing, oft-warning the shady powers of the neighborhood not to sink Danny into their sordid pool of corruption. But before he knows it, both he and Wallace are caught in a deadly ring of double-crosses, shady-dealings, murders, and car chases. And all of this under the suspicious eye of Internal Affairs.

Part Serpico and part Hard Boiled, this film seems at first to be a major departure from director James Foley's previous work. However, Foley has frequently revealed a keen eye and understanding for emotionally complex relationships, especially between teacher and pupil (Glengarry Glen Ross) or father and son (At Close Range). This movie is no different. In fact, Foley's meticulous attention to the relationship between the wise, morally burdened Chen, and the naïve, innocent Wallace morphs this otherwise tedious plot into a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Hats off to Chow Yun-Fat and Mark Wahlberg, whose sympathetic chemistry creates an authentic and deeply personal connection, a factor that proves crucial to the film's poignant, disturbing finale. --Jeremy Storey Amazon.com

Great movie

I bought this movie recently because am a Mark Walberg fan(am collect his movies)and I didn't expect it to be that good. boy was i wrong. I knew my boy Chow was going to die, I just knew it. June 16, 2008

Not that great

I bought this movie because of all the great reviews about it. When i got it and watch it, i was completly lost. I didnt get the point of the movie,and it really wasnt all that great. That sucks becasue i really like mark wahlberg. I just didnt like this move. I didnt even finsih watching it, thats how not interseting it was. Im glad it was cheap, cuz it really wasn't a total waste of money. In my opinion, not really worth wathcing. April 25, 2008

High hopes wre shot down

I had high hopes for The Corruptor as I thought a movie with Yun-Fat and Walhberg would be decent but I was wrong. The direction by James Foley is very slow paced and the action seqeunces are long and drawn out. I say if you're a die hard fan of Yun-Fat check this out other wise avoid it. March 26, 2008

Don't buy from here!!!

I waited forever for them to send it. The due date has come and gone, and it's still not arrived. I will never buy from this seller again, and reccomend you don't either. I had to give them 1 star, but truthfully I would give them no stars. January 23, 2008

Yellow Fever, ha ha ha.

I initially got this movie because I remember watching it some years ago when I lived in Germany and there was a time when my father and I decided to make up the time to swing by faster by renting movies almost every day or every week at least and watching them through; movies I'd never even really heard or seen. Usually they were kung fu movies and such, but every now and then we'd pick up a movie that would seem to pass the entertainment radars for us (when you're an American in Germany, it's REALLY hard to find American movies or their debuts to hit overseas as it takes at least 6 months, if you're lucky, to almost 2 years just for an American movie to come out... can you imagine? While you read on the news that somewhere in California the Matrix has started, you'd have to wait an extra few months just to watch, or something like that-- I just use the Matrix as an example.)

The Corruptor was one of those movies and sadly, we'd ended up watching the movie on DVD because it just never showed up in the bigscreens there. So anyway, I remember watching this movie and thought about how insanely deep this movie was. All the stuff about Chinese gangs, crime, the asian-flare of a metropolis society and how everyone seems not to care-- plus it has Mark Wahlberg who's one of my most favorite hollywood actors. More importantly, it also houses CHOW YUN FAT!!! Not only does it have a favorite actor of mine but has an amazing chinese kung fu actor! Performances from both these actors really stock you in for the vicious ride and twists this movie has for a plot and the action that befits it isn't over the top since the setting is basically China Town.

In a way I wanna say this is like Law & Order meets Shaft, but that's a disheartening comparison except to say that it has the crime story scene with the heart-pounding action of the latter but intensified ten fold. The cinematography is astounding, the characters, protagonist and antagonists, all are a great bunch to watch intermingle with and against one another and it's a really good movie worth the watch; the least to say, own.

Really, if you dig cop movies, this is your hit.

If you dig drama, this movie's your bag.

If you dig action, this movie's your well-given shot.

Seriously top notch stuff and glad I came across it years ago. The fond memory of it being the thing that pulled me back to watch and own it now. January 21, 2007

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