Cops & Triads

Infernal Affairs (Wu jian dao)

Two men have trouble maintaining their identities as one works undercover as a cop for a crime lord, and the other works as a cop, undercover as a criminal.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 2-AUG-2005
Media Type: DVD

With Infernal Affairs, Hong Kong filmmakers Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak have successfully taken a smart script and a great cast, added some stylistic cinematography, and dual-fistedly given a new twist to a formulaic genre. Lau Kin Ming (Andy Lau), a young, loyal gangster, is ordered by his Triad boss Sam (Eric Tsang) to join the police force. While on the inside the young mole can keep a close eye on police activity, ensuring the gang's activities will not be interrupted. Police Superintendent Wong (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang) has a similar plan. He takes a bright, ambitious police cadet Yan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and makes him an undercover cop with plans to get him inside the Triads. Years pass and both are now deep into their assigned roles. Undercover cop Yan, more or less living the life of a gangster, is now a member of Boss Sam's group, and "Officer" Lau has all the appearance of a good cop trying to bust up the Triads' drug ring. During a bust that could finally bring down Boss Sam, the moles inadvertently become aware of each other's existence, and each is left wondering who is on the inside. What follows is a unique and exciting twist on the classic cat and mouse chase in which each man is not fighting for his life, but for his anonymity. In addition to its plot twists, what lifts Infernal Affairs above the standard cop story is its subtle exploration of the relative nature of good and evil. Part action, part psychological examination, Infernal Affairs is a sharp and fresh take on the classic crime story, and the inspiration for a 2006 Martin Scorsese remake (The Departed). Not to be missed. --Rob Bracco

The Killer - Criterion Collection

This 1989 rouser is apocalyptic pulp--the bloodiest, showiest, most shamelessly sentimental specimen of Hong Kong's gangster melodramas. A torch singer named Jennie (Sally Yeh) is accidentally blinded during a slaying in a night club, and Chow Yun-fat's sad-eyed Jeff, a self-lacerating assassin, drags himself out of retirement to take on one last job--rubbing out a major mobster for major bucks--so he can pay for the singer's cornea transplant operation. But Jeff pauses to ferry a wounded child to the hospital during this final outing, and because of this a cop finally gets a good look at him: "He was seen on the job," snarls a saturnine Mr. Big, "and I want him wasted." Armies of thugs converge on the saintly slayer. Some of writer-director John Woo's flourishes are kitsch classics (doves flying upward in a candlelit church), while the action sequences are rapturous. "Life's cheap," a character opines. "It only takes one bullet," but in this case it actually takes about a dozen spewing bullet hits to kill anyone, as soulful triads in mirror shades and duster overcoats blaze away with high-tech weaponry. (A favorite trick involves grasping an enemy by the lapels, pulling him into a waltz embrace, and pumping several slugs into his duodenum.) Danny Lee, Chow's costar in City on Fire, is the intense, young officer who fixates on the killer's contradictory personality. --David Chute

Hong Kong's preeminent director John Woo transforms genres from both the East and the West to create this explosive and masterful action film. Featuring Hong Kong's greatest star, Chow Yun-fat, as a killer with a conscience, the film is an exquisite dissection of morals in a corrupt society, highlighted with slow-motion sequences of brilliantly choreographed gun battles on the streets of Hong Kong.

The Killer

This 1989 rouser is apocalyptic pulp--the bloodiest, showiest, most shamelessly sentimental specimen of Hong Kong's gangster melodramas. A torch singer named Jennie (Sally Yeh) is accidentally blinded during a slaying in a night club, and Chow Yun-fat's sad-eyed Jeff, a self-lacerating assassin, drags himself out of retirement to take on one last job--rubbing out a major mobster for major bucks--so he can pay for the singer's cornea transplant operation. But Jeff pauses to ferry a wounded child to the hospital during this final outing, and because of this a cop finally gets a good look at him: "He was seen on the job," snarls a saturnine Mr. Big, "and I want him wasted." Armies of thugs converge on the saintly slayer. Some of writer-director John Woo's flourishes are kitsch classics (doves flying upward in a candlelit church), while the action sequences are rapturous. "Life's cheap," a character opines. "It only takes one bullet," but in this case it actually takes about a dozen spewing bullet hits to kill anyone, as soulful triads in mirror shades and duster overcoats blaze away with high-tech weaponry. (A favorite trick involves grasping an enemy by the lapels, pulling him into a waltz embrace, and pumping several slugs into his duodenum.) Danny Lee, Chow's costar in City on Fire, is the intense, young officer who fixates on the killer's contradictory personality. --David Chute

Contract Killer

Hard Boiled - Criterion Collection

Masterful Hong Kong action director John Woo (The Killer, Face/Off) turns in this exciting and pyrotechnic tale of warring gangsters and shifting loyalties. Chow Yun-fat (The Replacement Killers) plays a take-no-prisoners cop on the trail of the triad, the Hong Kong Mafia, when his partner is killed during a gun battle. His guilt propels him into an all-out war against the gang, including an up-and-coming soldier in the mob (Tony Leung) who turns out to be an undercover cop. The two men must come to terms with their allegiance to the force and their loyalty to each other as they try to take down the gangsters. A stunning feast of hyperbolic action sequences (including a climactic sequence in an entire hospital taken hostage), Hard-Boiled is a rare treat for fans of the action genre, with sequences as thrilling and intense as any ever committed to film. --Robert Lane

Violence as poetry, rendered by a master-brilliant and passionate, John Woo's Hard Boiled tells the story of jaded detective "Tequila" Yuen (played with controlled fury by Chow Yun-fat). Woo's dizzying odyssey through the world of Hong Kong Triads, undercover agents, and frenzied police raids culminates unforgettably in the breathless hospital sequence. More than a cops-and-bad-guys story, Hard Boiled continually startles with its originality and dark humor.

A Better Tomorrow

The John Woo gangster classic that started it all, a romantic, violent, swirlingly stylish melodrama about dueling brothers--with a mesmerizing lead performance by Hong Kong's favorite actor, Chow Yun-Fat. In repose, Chow's sleepy magnetism recalls the glory days of Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen, and Takakura Ken; when he's stepping high, Chow has a unique, ebullient star presence, a man who embraces life so unselfconsciously that he becomes vulnerable to all kinds of suffering and heartache (he endures masochistic megadoses of violence here). The sequence in which Chow's Mark avenges his betrayed best friend---by blasting his way into, and then out of, a Chinese restaurant, twin .45s blazing---is a swashbuckling standout. Woo's film technique may have been more polished in later efforts, but Tomorrow has a direct emotional power that is still unique. Kung fu star of the 1970s, Ti Lung is also terrific here as the 40ish established mobster, relied upon by all, who allows conflicting loyalties toward Mark and toward his younger brother, now a cop, to undermine the stability of his position. --David Chute

Supercop

High-octane gas, pumped out by the buoyant maestro of Hong Kong action, Jackie Chan. In this outing, the irrepressible Chan plays a Hong Kong cop teamed up (gloriously) with a Chinese inspector played by Michelle Yeoh (a.k.a. Michelle Khan). The plot ranges all over Southeast Asia, culminating with Jackie hanging from a helicopter ladder high over the streets of Kuala Lumpur. This one's notable for the ingenuity of the stunts, and for allowing two of Asia's top female stars to do their bad thing. The great Maggie Cheung (Chinese Box) plays Chan's girlfriend, who has a tendency to pop up at the most inopportune moments; and Yeoh executes a hair-raising motorcycle jump onto a moving train--an absolute jaw-dropper. Originally released as Police Story III, the picture was rereleased in America as Supercop in 1996, after Chan's U.S. breakthrough with Rumble in the Bronx. The new version is slightly shorter than the original, and features a new soundtrack of English-language dialogue (awkwardly dubbed, but that's par for the course) and blaring rock music. Great fun any way you slice it, and--for the uninitiated--a terrific introduction to the humorous, high-kicking world of Jackie Chan. --Robert Horton

Once a Thief

Action film maestro John Woo (Mission: Impossible 2 Windtalkers) directs this lightning-paced caper of stolen art and broken hearts starring Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). Over-the-top action sequences and mind-blowing gunplay get mixed with comedy and romance in this thrilling crowd-pleaser. Joe (Chow) Jim (Leslie Cheung Happy Together) and Cherie (Cherie Chung) have been partners in crime ever since their childhoods spent on the streets stealing to survive. Now world-class art thieves their relationships and lives are put on the line when they agree to one last mission: steal a multi-million dollar painting for a mysterious client who's bent on revenge.System Requirements:Running Time: 108 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 043396084254 Manufacturer No: 08425

A romantic art-heist comedy, far lighter in tone than most of director John Woo's work, and in places much sillier. As kids, Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, and Leslie Cheung (A Chinese Ghost Story) were starving street urchins together. They are rescued from the law and trained by a Fagin-like older crook, who transforms them into glossy international cat burglars. The best sections (especially the opening and closing heists) are as masterfully smooth as any action set pieces in the Woo canon. But the tone wavers alarmingly, from the sophisticated (Chow as Cary Grant) to the savage to the sentimental and back again, with a disastrous slapstick coda set in the states, in which the baby food hits the fan. The busy plotting distracts us from a strong theme: the struggle between good and bad father figures (the other is a stalwart cop played by Chu Kong) for the souls of these noble criminals. Not to be confused with the rather limp 1995 remake, produced by Woo for Canadian TV in 1995, with The X-Files' sinister Krycek, Nicholas Lea, surprisingly effective in the Chow part. --David Chute

My Lucky Stars

No Description Available.
Genre: Foreign Film - Chinese
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 30-DEC-2003
Media Type: DVD

An enjoyable sequel to the 1984 gag-fest Winners and Sinners. Jackie Chan and an assortment of his pals (martial artists and comedians) make like the Rat Pack in this knockabout kung fu romp filmed in Japan in 1985. Undercover cop Chan, with partner Yuen Biao, has been stranded in Nippon, and Sammo Hung's gang of slapstick cutthroats, the Lucky Stars, is sprung from the pokey to get them back. The middle hour is all lame comedy, including a lewd and decidedly un-politically correct routine in a hotel room in which the boys fall all over each trying to catch a glimpse of girl in the shower. At one point the horse-faced veteran comic Richard Ng (from the Mr. Vampire films) tries to hypnotize a duck. Toward the end there's finally some effective, body-slamming action, the high point of which is Sammo's face-off with the eye-popping female body builder Michiko Nishiwaki. --David Chute

City on Fire

Although many Hong Kong action fans have criticized Quentin Tarantino for stealing the premise of Reservoir Dogs from Ringo Lam's 1987 hit City on Fire, those accusations do a disservice not only to Tarantino--who vastly improved upon every scene he "borrowed"--but also to Lam and his charismatic star, Chow Yun-fat, whose talents were evident long before they were lured to Hollywood. City on Fire may seem overly familiar now, with its standard undercover-cop-befriending-the-bad-guys scenario, but it remains a first-rate example of Hong Kong urban-action drama, and as a star vehicle for Chow it's a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. The shootouts and chase scenes are as good as anything Hollywood offered in the late '80s, and the chaotic environs of Hong Kong provide an exotic backdrop that further enhances the routine plot line.

Chow plays the undercover cop, still agonizing over his betrayal of a criminal friend during a previous case; when he's asked to infiltrate a gang of violent thieves, his rapport with one of the gangsters threatens the integrity of his assignment. While his superiors battle among themselves (one protects Chow, the other pursues him), director Lam keeps it all ticking along with surefire pacing and an amusing subplot involving Chow's dissatisfied fiancée. The film is fascinating to watch for its obvious precedents to Reservoir Dogs (including a climactic "Mexican standoff" between the untrusting criminals), but it's best appreciated as a showcase for Chow, who's instantly captivating from the moment he appears onscreen. (Note: Disney's DVD release of City on Fire greatly improves upon the poorly translated subtitles of all previous DVD releases.) --Jeff Shannon

Internationally renowned superstar Chow Yun-Fat (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON; THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS) delivers an electrifying performance in this hard-hitting big-screen thrill ride! An undercover cop sent to infiltrate a notorious crime ring, Ko Chow (Chow Yun-Fat) must replace a fellow officer who was killed in a violent confrontation. But, as he earns the trust of the syndicate, he develops a tight friendship with one of the thieves. Then, when a planned heist turns into a bloody shoot-out with police, suspicions arise about who the informant could be. As friendship and loyalty clash with duty and honor, you'll be riveted by the explosive power of this intensely entertaining motion picutre!