The Corruptor

For other uses, see Corruptor (disambiguation).

The Corruptor
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	James Foley
Written by	Robert Pucci
Produced by	Dan Halsted
Starring	Chow Yun-Fat Mark Wahlberg
Cinematography	Juan Ruiz Anchía
Edited by	Howard E. Smith
Music by	Carter Burwell Junior Cyrus Baron
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	March 5, 1999 (1999-03-05)
Running time	110 minutes
Languages	English Cantonese
Budget	$25,000,000
Box office	$15,156,200

The Corruptor is a 1999 American thriller film directed by James Foley, starring Chow Yun-fat and Mark Wahlberg. The film was released in the United States on March 5, 1999.

Plot

New York City Police Department Lieutenant Nick Chen (Chow) is head of the Asian Gang Unit. His job is to keep the peace in Chinatown from a turf war that has broken out between the Triads and the Fukienese Dragons, a problem complicated by the fact that he is also an informant for the Tongs under "uncle" Benny Chan (Chan) and his lieutenant Henry Lee (Young). After a bombing in downtown Chinatown in broad daylight, Chen is reluctantly teamed up with Danny Wallace (Wahlberg), who is unaware of this situation. Wallace was also secretly tasked by Internal Affairs to monitor Chen for corruption. Danny lied to Chen and the Asian Gang Unit by claiming that he took the job as a means to gain his Detective shield the fastest.

During a police raid on a Fukienese whorehouse, Chen saves Danny's life. Danny, knowing that his life is now in the hands of Chen, then promptly initiates a bust on a drug operation, not knowing that there was an undercover FBI agent as well. After being berated by the FBI for interfering one of their ongoing investigations, Danny is introduced to Henry. Henry then discusses the potential value of having another cop in the Asian Gang Unit on the Tong payroll, which Uncle Benny allows. Benny is able to lure Danny into working for him by tipping him off to an underground prostitution ring. Danny, after stopping the operation, is then given a commendation for valor, but Chen now suspects that Danny, like him, is working for the Tongs.

Eventually, Wallace begins to work for Henry Lee of the Tongs after discovering that Chen has been doing the same. They inadvertently cross paths while doing this, throwing their initial trust for each other out the window as well as putting the intentions of Henry Lee into question. Chen hates the Fukienese with a passion, but neither he nor Wallace know that Henry Lee is secretly forming a partnership with their head leader Bobby Vu (Mann), a relationship that will result in them ousting Uncle Benny after tipping off their Hong Kong associates that he is cooperating with the FBI. By this time, both Henry and Bobby know that there is an FBI agent undercover in their drug operations and despite Nick's idea to 'leak' the operation and have him pulled, decide to simply assassinate him.

While monitoring a drug operation, Danny and Nick witness a Tong hit squad and it leads to a violent confrontation that leads to Nick getting berated for botching the FBI investigation. After the incident, both Danny and Nick swear not to talk to the FBI without talking to each other first, further cementing their relationship. However, the FBI find out Danny's real reason for his position in the AGU and threaten to expose him unless he is willing to spy on Nick. When one of Nick's informants witnesses firsthand the assassination of Uncle Benny at the hands of Bobby under authorization from Henry, he alerts Nick who then alerts the District Attorney because she is looking to indict the Tongs under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The DA, the FBI, and both Wallace and Chen decide that they want to catch Bobby in the act and decide to hold off on the arrests.

Henry chooses to alert Chen of Wallace's real identity and job, leaving him deciding whether or not to kill Wallace to prevent getting arrested. During the nighttime operation, Wallace is injured and while trying to protect an elderly woman, is left vulnerable to be killed by Bobby. Nick pushes Danny out of the way and is hit by the bullet originally meant for Danny, while Danny shoots kills Bobby. While at the hospital, the FBI is furious that Danny did not reveal Chen's corruption due to the fact that his leaking of information led directly to the death of an undercover FBI agent. Danny refused to withdraw his original statement telling them that Nick died a good cop, but Nick dies due to his injuries. Sometime later, Danny is seen leading the arrest of Henry under the information Nick's informant gave them. Nick is then given a hero's funeral and Wallace is seen in the procession.

Cast

• Chow Yun-fat - Lieutenant Nicholas "Nick" Chen
• Mark Wahlberg - Detective Danny Wallace
• Byron Mann - Bobby Vu
• Kim Chan - Benny Wong
• Ric Young - Henry Lee
• Paul Ben-Victor - Schabacker
• Jon Kit Lee - Jack
• Andrew Pang - Willy Ung
• Elizabeth Lindsey - Louise Deng
• Brian Cox - Sean Wallace
• Bill MacDonald - Vince Kirkpatrick
• Susie Trinh - Amy San
• Ho Chow - Black Eyes
• Olivia Yap - Tai
• Lynda Chiu - Kim

Reception

The movie received mixed reviews from critics and audience. It currently has the ranking of 49% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said, "Even when it's transplanted to the streets of New York's Chinatown, as The Corruptor is, the Hong Kong action genre has certain obligatory requirements. Low-angle shots of bad guys looming over the camera, for example. And the sound of a metallic whoosh when there's a quick cut from one scene to the next. And what seems like more dialogue during action scenes than before and after them.... Director James Foley is obviously not right for this material. It's a shame, actually, that he's even working in the genre, since his gift is with the intense study of human behavior..."

Soundtrack

Main article: The Corruptor (soundtrack)

The soundtrack of The Corruptor features underground hip hop songs by artists including Mobb Deep, Spice 1 and Mystikal. The original score for The Corruptor contains music composed by Carter Burwell.

See also

• Chow Yun-fat filmography

External links

• The Corruptor at IMDb
• The Corruptor at AllMovie
• The Corruptor at the TCM Movie Database