THE CORRUPTOR A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
In order to remove any possible doubt about its approach, THE CORRUPTOR opens with an explosion loud enough to test the theater's audio system. With never a subtle moment and few believable ones, the movie in its next scene introduces us to the story's hero, a vicious cop named Nick Chen, played by Chinese action star Yun-Fat Chow. He kills a slew of bad guys but leaves one alive so he can warn the others. A cop on a mission, his gun serves as judge and jury for the criminals.
As a guy with nerdy looking glasses named Danny Wallace, Mark Wahlberg plays a cop assigned to work with Chen in fighting Chinese gangs in New York's Chinatown. Chen complains that Wallace is "worse than white, he's green." In his first firefight, Wallace freezes as machine guns blaze away at him. After this inauspicious beginning, he switches and becomes a wild man like Chen. This is but one of many times the movie requires a large suspension of disbelief. The macho cops, for example, engage the criminals in small wars but never bother wearing bulletproof vests.
The two leads demonstrate little chemistry, and their love/hate relationship is never believable. Like two gunslingers in the old West, they shoot off their weapons and their mouths without thinking.
Robert Pucci's script, involving gang warfare and police corruption, is an absolute mess. Director James Foley doesn't have a clue as to what he wants to do other than stage gunfights. Even if you forgive the story's incomprehensibility and its lack of credibility, the action is just a rehash of a hundred other movies. The director gives his actors big, noisy guns, puts them on opposite ends of the frame and lets them fire away. In one long, tedious car chase, in which scores of innocent bystanders are slaughtered in order to clear or block the speeding cars' path, your reaction is likely to be "Yeah, sure."
Excessive in every way imaginable, the movie feels more like a gory video game than a motion picture. With stupefying violence, the bad guys and what goes for good guys, annihilate each other. You may find yourself looking on the armrest for the joystick. And you may hope that your quarter will run out soon.
THE CORRUPTOR runs a long 1:51. It is rated R for strong violence, sex, nudity and profanity and would be acceptable only for older teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
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