Product Description

A hard-hitting tale of deception violence and betrayal in new york citys chinatown. You cant play by the rules when there arent any. Features: audio commentary by director james foley music videos from the best selling soundtrack behind the scenes featurettes and in-depth cast and crew bios and more. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Chow Yun-fat Mark Wahlberg Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R Director: James Foley

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27265 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-09-14
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.com
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

From The New Yorker
A serviceable action film, directed by James Foley, that gets its spark from the pairing of its sexy leading men-soft-spoken, baby-faced Mark Wahlberg and quiet, graceful Hong Kong hunk Chow Yun-Fat. They're mismatched Chinatown cops (there's a lot of that going around) trying to vanquish evil and corruption at every turn of the well-worn crime-thriller plot. Foley is no John Woo, but he gets some fine performances from his leads and supporting players (particularly Ric Young as a gang leader and Brian Cox as Wahlberg's father, a disgraced ex-cop). -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A uniquely Chinese-focused American movie.
This film seems to better represent the Chinese, Chow Yun Fat especially, in American film. Recent efforts by HK film stars have resulted in the terrible stereotyping that always takes place in Hollywood. Rushhour and Lethal Weapon 4 both made objects of their Chinese stars, Chan and Li, respectively. The Corruptor shows the respect neccesary of an actor like Chow Yun Fat, one of the finest and most prolific actors that has ever lived. It deals with the Chinese in a more mature way, almost as if previous knowledge is helpful in fully understanding the movie. The only problem with this movie is that Fat is better than it. No one can expect Foley to provide the action neccesary to impress an American audience that knows Fat, but in American action standards he does fine. The opening to the film is a very intense shoot-out in a Chinese lamp shop and later in the film a Chinese song is actually played as the prominent background music. The film's mood is dark and dramatic. A very well done film.

Wow!
I was really surprised by how good this movie is. I figured a straight-forward shoot-'em-up and some exotic intrigue was about all it would have going for it. The cover had the usual fatuous nonsense on it: "You can't play by the rules when there aren't any." Why is it 90% of video covers have a reformulation of the same stupid subtitle? Apparently there is some lucky guy out there is employed writing new, yet indistinguishable ways to either deny the existence of Rules/Boundaries/etc. or at least deny their applicability to some beautiful, well-armed people. Good for him.

Anyway, this movie definitely exceeded my expectations. Great direction, but most of all great performances from Chow-Yun Fat and Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg's relationship with his father was fairly cliched, yet it still came across as believable. The various moral predicaments of the two cops were just as interesting and well-done as the fight scenes. There is one major chase scene, which I found silly after a while, since it gave the impression that there were absolutely no other police cars within ten miles of some maniac with an Uzi blowing away civilians.

But that is a nothing criticism. Really, the only sore spot was the FBI goonish guy, who was both tiresome and one-dimensional in comparison with the other characters. But on the main, an excellent action-thriller. Chow-Yun Fat wasn't limited by John Woo's formula this time around, and his chops definitel show as a result.

Chow Yun Fat's REAL US debut!!!
"The Replacement Killers" was terrible. It was like a Chow Yun Fat/John Woo movie by numbers and poses. Nothing to speak of in terms of storyline or compelling characters (apart from Chow's) that his best known HK work featured. This movie however features Chow Yun Fat as the sort of conflicted yet ultimately principled man he should play, but with tons of intrigue and a good performane by Mark Wahlberg as a rookie under Chow's wing. It's not very "Hollywood" which is a good thing. It definitely has a feeling closer to a foreign film and that is very welcome. This doesn't have as much action as "The Killer" or "The Replacement Killers" but it had a solid storyline. Hopefully with the success of the phenomenal "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Chow Yun Fat's other movies will get the look they deserve. This man shines whenever he's on the screen. He saved "Anna & The King" as well. I forgot to mention that for once New Line has SOME additional features, and they interesting.