Koruptor

I found this nineties movie more entertaining now than I did back then. With a decent screenplay and a couple of breakneck twists, Chow Yun-Fat and a young Wahlberg keep its head above water. Foley doesn’t show off much here. Nudity and rivers of blood, as expected, action not good not bad, but a couple of moments are really satisfying. Old school. (22.02.2019)

Compared to his Hollywood debut, The Replacement Killers, Chow Yun-fat’s second American film is an enjoyable step in the right direction, but it’s still not the real deal. Whereas The Replacement Killers was spectacularly filmed fluff, The Corruptor has a real screenplay and the story of the complicated friendship between an honest rookie cop (Mark Wahlberg) and a ruthless dirty cop (Yun-fat) is compelling. Though the plot is full of holes, the bleak atmosphere of the dirty big-city streets and the dramatic potential successfully pull it together. Training Day, a later thriller paradoxically made by the director of The Replacement Killers, has an essentially identical subject, but polished to perfection. (22.04.2002)