CYF in THE CORRUPTOR. Promo pic pilfered from Eddie's Hong Kong Heroes TC site...
Having hit the theaters worldwide in the spring of 1999, this Oliver Stone production has just been released on DVD and (rental) VHS.
CYF in THE CORRUPTOR. Promo pic pilfered from Eddie's
Hong Kong Heroes TC site...
Having hit the theaters worldwide in the spring of 1999, this Oliver Stone production has just been released on DVD and (rental) VHS.
Sections below: Recent Changes, TC For Sale, Release Notes, Plot Details, Cast and Crew, Cast & Crew Bios and News, Reviews, Rumours from the Set, Other TC Sites, and The Credits.
In addition, selected articles concerning TC may be online at my CYF media site, The World is Read. Additional information concerning Chow Yun-Fat may be found at my main Chow Yun-Fat site, God of Actors.
Also of interest: the HKMDb TC Gala Pix site! Go Ryan Go!
The Soundtrack, The Score: Both are now available, I'm glad to say! Carter Burwell's score is available, according to Cassie, on Varese Sarabande. The soundtrack, which is mostly hip-hop, is available from Jive, and features such titles as "More Money More Cash More Hoes," "Be My Dirty Love," and "Slap Somebody". (And many thanks to Cassie and Kent for keeping me posted with this info!) You can also pick these up online: one fan (Thanks Ray!) recommends Total E.
And missing from the sound track ... Many people have e-mailed me about the Chinese songs in the movie. (1) The gorgeous erhu theme that played during the opening credits is apparently (Thanks to Son Hoang & Storm Chen!) actually Carter Burwell's theme for TC, and *is* available on the soundtrack (last track) and score (the first track). Whoohoo! (2) The song that played during montage where Wahlberg & CYF were at the gambling table was (Thanks to Kelly and Zee!) Alex To's "Never Meant to Hurt You" (Mandarin: "Wu Xin Shang Hai"). The song is on his album "Timeless Classics 1998" and according to one fan is also for sale at Hkmusic.com (search for Alex To & then go to the one with '1998' in the title). (And thanks to Arthur, Byron Hon, and Storm Chen for the tips!) (3) Finally, as Cassie instantly noticed, our first intro to CYF is of him singing the New Year's song from PoF: an old Teresa Tang song "My Secret Sweetness" (Cant: 'tim mut mut'; Man: 'tian mi mi'). No, I have no idea where you can find it, though I hear rumours on a.a-m that it's on her recent 'best of' album. There is a fabulous website for Ms. Teng here, btw.
More Thoughts on the Official Site: They've added some interviews again to the official site, as Ben was cool enough to draw to my attention. The James Foley interview is interesting, though he seems stunningly inarticulate, and alarmingly frank about his ignorance of HK film, Chinese culture, and so on ("What the hell do I know about Chinese people? What do I know about Chinatown?"). One comment that struck me positively was that apparently each test-screening of TC resulted in a longer film: he claims they added scenes, instead of cutting them. Muahahahahahaha! The CYF interview is deeply bland, however, and likewise the Wahlberg write-up.
Promo pic for TC, from the Dec 17th, 1998, issue of Apple Daily. (And many thanks to Sanney and John Charles for forwarding the pic!)
Scene from the HK press conference for TC, from the Apple Daily of February 7th, 1999.
A detailed plot summary for TC was published in the Rumor Bin at Thunder. According to Thunder, early promos for TC run as follows:
By most people's definition Nick Chen (Chow Yun-Fat) is a good cop. The first Chinese American to become a detective on the mean streets of Chinatown, Nick is at the top of his game - a tough man in a tough place. But Nick's got a secret - a secret big enough to destroy him. A gambler by nature, Nick's vice has led him into the clutches of 'The Corruptor' - Henry Lee, a man who delights in stealing innocence. Nick's on the take, the Corruptor pays him to look the other way. Drugs, prostitution, gambling - Nick must ignore them to survive.
Trapped, with no way out, Nick is annoyed when he's assigned a new partner, young idealistic Danny Wallace. Soon, though, Nick sees a glimmer of the cop he used to be and takes the rookie under his wing.
But Danny wants to clean up Chinatown, and to keep his vile boss happy, Nick has to stop him. Danny, though, has secrets of his own and before long he and Nick are caught in an unholy alliance - puppets, with the Corruptor pulling all the strings.
Pitted against each other by the Corruptor, Nick and Danny must unite one last time in a final battle against the vicious gangs that threaten to destroy both their city and their lives.
(And many, many thanks to Thunder for bringing us this detailed info ... and to Khanh Hoang, Giant Robot, Dan Century, Gordon Chan, and Lisa R-R, for their previous Corruptor news!)
Many cheers to all the crew & cast contributing to CYF's latest exercise in glory! (And thanks to Jeff Koga (of BITW fame) for passing on this data, from the Hollywood Reporter!)
Short Cast & Crew Bios & News:
The preliminary version of the poster ... and much thanks to Thunder for the image!
The full-length reviews that people sent me or I archived will still be available here, on a new Fan Reviews of TC page. When people send me new FL reviews, I'll add them to that page.
Meanwhile, I'll also be compiling statistics based on this new rating form. The stats (overall ratings, distributions) will be summarized on this page, in this section, but the full rating (including comments) will also be reposted on the TC Reviews page.
Note: The TC Fan Reviews page currently contains 15 fan reviews and 57 fan ratings. It was last updated December 19th, 1999.
05|** Warning: If you liked this film, you're going to feel upset after reading my review. In my view, TC is a big disappointment.
It's embarassingly bad.
I had hoped, based on the hype, for an intelligent, character-driven film. I unwisely recommended it to my friends, before it came out. My hopes were dashed. My friends were bored, irritated, and mystified that I had misled them. I had to apologize. I actually delayed posting my review, here, because I didn't want to decrease people's motivation to see the film and further ruin its chances at the box office. (My self-restraint apparently had no effect. However, many people liked the film a lot more than me -- you can read their comments on the TC Fan Reviews page, or find links below.) And now that I've set the mood ... :P
The Corruptor has a few interesting characters, & a few great scenes -- but these are interspersed with cringe-inducing macho dialogue ("You're not man enough to kill me!"), hilariously cheesy clichés ("It's my job"), and 30-second clips of loud rap music, seemingly inserted at random into the film. The problem is that unlike TRK, where you could just turn your brain off and enjoy the action, TC alternates gratuitous machismo & unrealistic violence with interesting scenes exploring the nature of evil. Result: if you turn your brain off you'll be bored by the long dialogue-driven sequences and perhaps confused by the plot twists; if you turn your brain on you'll be driven to distraction by the stupidity of the action sequences and the unbelievably banal male posturing (lesson from TC: racial harmony can be achieved by bonding over dick jokes & sharing prostitutes). There are, as I say, a few great scenes, and CYF himself lifts the film with the calibre of his acting. Also I enjoyed the film a lot more the second time around. But this is by no means a good flick, in my opinion. My Rating: 6/10. (Arthouse Rating: 3/5. Entertainment Value: 3/5.)
The Plot? Rookie cop (Wahlberg) & veteran Nick Chen (CYF) try to control an escalating gang war. The established triad, led by ubiquitous "Uncle Benny" (Kim Chan) and his lieutenant Henry Lee (Ric Young), faces off against the usurping Fukienese Dragons led by Bobby Vu (Byron Mann). Meanwhile Chen himself is suspected of corruption by FBI and Internal Affairs agents ...
Why Would I Like This Movie? There are a lot of really interesting scenes in TC, and some really fine acting, particularly from CYF & Ric Young. It's a relief to see CYF moving beyond the mute stiffness of TRK: he seems far more relaxed, and mostly comfortable with English. (However, the best CYF moments are still non-verbal -- the peanuts, the breathing -- partly because of the language problem and partly because the script was just *so* clichéd.) Ric Young, the titular "Corruptor", manages to transcend the limits of the 'oily oriental' role thrust upon him: he's truly great in his too-short time on the screen. Byron Mann is also fun to watch as manic killer Bobby Vu, and I was also impressed by Jon Kit Lee, who has a small part as a Dragon blackmailed by Chen. Finally, although the rap soundtrack bored me, I thought the score (by Carter Burwell) was great -- lovely, haunting music, that fits the sombre atmosphere perfectly.
Foley's main shtick seems to be the father-son dynamic, and sometimes I was interested in the psychology that he presents around that issue. But most of the time the characters are shallow, and act rashly and stupidly -- that is, they act normally for an action film! -- so the few compelling scenes just exacerbated my negative reaction to the rest.
Why Wouldn't I Like This Movie? Well, it's mediocre as a smart film, and it's mediocre as a dumb one. The action scenes were a disappointment, to me at least -- they are *not* in the realistic tradition of THE FRENCH CONNECTION, despite the hype; they're just standard Americana, with a slightly higher than average body count. I totally failed to get into the car chase, which had been praised by a lot of other viewers.
In addition, the gender and race stereotypes are extremely stupid. The only woman on the Asian Gang Unit (Elizabeth Lindsey) is virtually ignored, after the opening scene, and after that it's whores dead and alive as far as the eye can see. Meanwhile, you apparently can't just take it for granted that some New York cops are Asian -- it has to be labouriously explained. It's a source of conflict for the characters, and cheap laughs for the audience ("To be Chinese, you've got to eat the nasty stuff"). The view of Chinatown propounded in the film is hilarious, also -- apparently, New York's Chinatown is a neighbourhood where you're constantly likely to be shot at, if not by gang members (totally indifferent to 10s of witnesses) then by police (totally indifferent to bystander safety).
Of course this kind of silliness would be par for the course, and easily ignored, in most action movies -- what makes it particularly stupid and offensive in THE CORRUPTOR are the studio claims that TC is trying to be a "realistic" film "based on a true story". Both in the marketing and in the editing of TC, expectations make the mediocre reality much, much more painful.
In short... Low expectations are the key to satisfaction with TC .... And if you go into it focused on CYF, you're most likely to have a good time.
The Coolness of CYF
I love this story! Many thanks to Steff from Toronto for writing in.
An Autograph's Tale Speaking of autographs, Brad S. wrote in in April '98 and Feb '99 describing his meetings with CYF on the TC set in Toronto -- yet more confirmation of CYF's essential awesomeness, excerpted here:
Aug '98: I got a personal introduction and was brought onto a vacant part of the set with a friend of mine. I don't want to write too much for you to have to read [never worry about this, please. - WL] so I'll just give you some of the highlights. First he signed multiple autographs for both of us, then he took pictures with us insisting on two each which we appreciated. Then I got to talk with him for a while. I asked him about the status of King's Ransom and he said he's not sure but the strike may push it back until next year.... he is a verrrrrry nice guy.
Feb '99: I've decided to write in again, partially to fill in some more details on my
meeting with "The Man" on the set, as well as the night of the wrap party in Toronto. When I saw Yun-Fat on the set I asked him what I could call him, since only a few nights before I had seen him on Jay Leno talking about his nicknames. He said "you can call me Fat-boy or Fatty if you want" and I said "no, I don't think I'll call you that!" He is very humble and makes you
feel at ease.
As for the wrap party, my friends and I were waiting outside only about 20 minutes when he showed up. He was very friendly and accomodating as usual. He asked me "which of the movies is
your favourite?" I wanted to be a bit different than everyone else and not say a John Woo film said I said Full Contact, which I did really like. He laughed a little and then I remembered that he wasn't particularily proud of it. I asked Jasmine what they thought of Replacement Killers, she said "the script wasn't very strong", and she also said "we have enjoyed our time in Toronto."
I had a total of 3 meetings with Chow Yun-Fat, ended up with 5 photos with him and about 7 autographs. Didn't hear a single negative thing about him from anyone, he truly appreciates his fans and shows it, unlike another Hong Kong superstar-Jackie Chan.
And many thanks to Brad for taking the time to write in (twice!)...
Jesse Tse: Extra Extra-ordinaire A huge round of applause to Jesse Tse, who not only was successfully hired on as an extra in the Toronto shooting of TC (May 3-4), but was cool enough to write at length about it. Straight from the set, therefore:
Chow was a great guy. Although that scene took almost two days, because of some inexperienced stunt man(bad guys), Chow offered advice and encouragment to them. Often patting them on the back.
On the second night of that shoot, it was raining quite hard, and I was the only extra chosen to work. So I stood out in the rain and ran across the store for about 50 times. In some takes, I even took my water bottle w/ me! Do look out for that sneak.
CYF is very approachable. When I asked the crew for their opinon on the MAN, they ALL loved him. The artillery person said he was the nicest movie star he'd ever worked w/, unlike Bruce Willis or Tom Arnold. No wonder their movies were box office bombs! I shook CYF's hand the first night as he left the set. Interestingly, CYF shakes EVERYBODY's hand and say good bye when he leaves the set. I really began to talk to CYF the second night when he finished dinner and was just hanging around. I've met a few celebrities before, but CYF is really a star, and I was star struck. I could not even think of an intellegent topic to say, nor did I ask for his autograph or a picture w/ him. I guess I just wanted to hide my excitement. What was I thinking.
Such good opputunities wasted.
Jasmine was as usual, by CYF's side, chatting w/ the crew. They seem to get along really well.
.... I have a copy of their New York Schedule. Looks like they are leaving May 9th. There will be car scenes, helicopter scenes, police plaza, aerial shoots.....
Ain't-It-Cool News Ain't-It-Cool News, the unofficial Hollywood news site, also had a spy report in from TC:
Please feel free to contact me if you know of another URL to add!
Many thanks to the following people for courteously helping me keep this site up to date and filled with info!
If he read English, & surfed the net, CYF would doubtless wish to say to his online community of fans, "Don't you have a life?" Recent Updates:
TC For Sale
The DVD and rental VHS are due to hit the stands September 14th. The rental VHS is us$100+; the DVD is selling for us$25 or less (e.g., us$15 last time I checked Amazon.com.) The DVD also has some nifty bonus materials, including a commentary track by Foley; the trailers; a behind-the-scenes Featurette: "From the (Under)Ground Up: The Making of 'The Corruptor'"; and as a DVD-ROM Feature, the original screenplay. Why, it's practically enough to motivate me to buy a DVD player! (And thanks to Cassie, Cyndy, Steven G, and Darryl for misc info on the DVD and rental releases!)
Release Notes
THEATRE RUN FOR THE CORRUPTOR
COUNTRY:
Release Date:
Box Office (Opening weekend; then by week -- if I can find the info!):
Notes:
Hong Kong
February 6th
Week 1: HK$7.08m (US$916k) on 29 screens (#3)
Week 2: HK$5.14m (US$662k) on 29 screens (#3)
Week 3: HK$1.53m (US$198k) on 23 screens (#4)
Week 4: HK$530k (US$68.6k) on 10 screens (#8)
Final run: 49 days, HK$14.36 million
The box office figures for HK are from Wolverine's HKSAR Top 10. In the Lunar New Year competition, Stephen Chow's KING OF COMEDY has emerged a decisive winner, followed by Jackie Chan's GORGEOUS and then TC, with Andy Lau's FASCINATION AMOUR trailing behind. See details in the March media archive. In its 4-week run in HK, TC accumulated a box office of HK$14.3m (US$1.8m).
Singapore
February 6th
Week 1: S$660,648 (about US$400k) (#3)
In it's first week, TC apparently was 3rd, behind the Singapore comedy LiangPoPo: THE MOVIE and the Jackie Chan flick GORGEOUS. Additional details here. (Many thanks to Jeffrey Omk for the box office info posted in a.a-m.!)
Malaysia
February 16th
I don't know ... Anyone?
If anyone has details of the box office from Malaysia, please contact me!
United States
March 12th
Week 1: US$7.8m on 2k screens (#4)
Week 2: US$3.7m on 1804 screens (#8)
Week 3: US$2.2m (#12)
C. Gross as of May 16th: $15.2mAccording to the "Spring Box Office Roundup" in the Entertainment Weekly of May 7th (#484), TC was 25th out of 30 films. Number 1 was The Matrix and #30 was In Dreams. (Thanks Cyndy!)
Canada
March 12th
Who knows
I understand the Canadian figures are printed in the Toronto Star on Fridays -- if anyone reads the Star, I would appreciate being posted on the results!
UK
May 21st
Opening weekend: £140k (127 screens)
C. Gross as of May 30th: £282,919
Box office info snaffled from the IMDb. Thanks to Melanie for an early tip re: the release date.
The plot?
In this explosive tale of double-cross and revenge, two extraordinary men push the limits of their loyalty to each other in the ultimate test of friendship. Produced by Oliver Stone and Dan Halsted and featuring internationally renowned Hong Kong star Chow Yun-Fat, The Corruptor is a non-stop action, thrill-a-minute adventure set against the exotic locale of New York City's Chinatown. [As opposed to the banality of the rest of NYC, no doubt. - WL]
Cast and Crew:
The Corruptor (Action/Drama)
Alex Entertainment, 175 Queens Quay E., 2nd Floor, Toronto, M5A 1B6
Filming in Toronto (March 2 - 8 May 1998) and New York (May 9 -31?) now completed
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Chow Yun-Fat, Elizabeth Lindsey, Ric Young.
ExPrd: Bill Carraro; Prd., Oliver Stone, Dan Halsted; CoPrd., Jon
Krauss; Dir., James Foley; Scr., Robert Pucci; Cam., Juan Ruiz-
Anchia; Ed., Howard Smith; UPM, Mathew Hart; AD, Jeff Authors;
PrdDsgn., David Brisbin, Art, Paul Austerberry; Set, Jaro Dick;
PrdCoord., Lori Greenberg; Snd., Douglas Ganton; Cstg., Mary
Vernieu; U.S. Dstrb, New Line
Reviews
Introductory Note: Now that TC is playing (in Asia and North America) I hope and expect that many readers will be getting a chance to see the film themselves. So, after thinking about it, I decided to try a new system.
TC Ratings:
06|**
07|*************
08|*********************
09|***********
10|********
The mean rating for TC is 8.08/10, with a median and mode of 8 and a standard deviation of 1.20. For comparative purposes: the last time I checked the IMDb TC page, the mean rating there was 6.3/10 (based on 468 votes).
Other Online Reviews:
From the Malaysian Star of February 13th.
Why THE CORRUPTOR Bored Me
You might consider taking it that I didn't enjoy TC, and leave it at that. A lot of the things that annoyed me are more at an intellectual level, and sometimes people are just in the mood to be entertained. Ignorance is bliss. :P
Rumours from the Set
As usual, everyone apparently loves CYF ... he's been bowling over all the crew with his usual charm. A variety of TC-related articles are featured over at East-Side Story. In addition: The Coolness of CYF, An Autograph's Tale, Jesse Tse: Extra Extra-ordinaire, and Ain't-It-Cool News (various visits to the Toronto set for TC). Meanwhile, according to John Lee the Sing Tao of May 14th and 16th ran articles about the filming in New York, describing the 100s of fans who turned up to ask for CYF's autograph, who were not turned away empty-handed. What a guy!
I was also an extra on TC when it was filming in Toronto. I spent two days filming as a waitress in a restaurant that Fat-gor frequents in the movie. If they don't cut out the scenes, you'll see him pasting by me and grabbing me while whispering something in my left ear. The audience won't get to hear what he says but I'll let you in on what he said. He said in Cantonese, "Lets go to the movies tonight". Trust me, even to this day, I can't believe he actually touched me. Another scene consists of Fat-gor, Ric Young and me sitting around a table at the restaurant. Basically, they are negotiating about somethings while I put food in Ric's plate and feeding him at times. What a role eh? Anyhow, everything that all the other extras wrote about Fat-gor is true. He is very down-to-earth and respects everyone. I didn't really want to talk to him as I didn't want to disturb his concentration so instead, he talked to me and asked me about my background, what I'm studying etc. That was really impressive! I can't
wait till the movie comes out and by the sound of it, TC should prove some of the many talents of Fat-gor!
Located at Dundas & Lansdown, the movie ($40 mil budget) blocked off the whole block, took out 6 actual stores & turned them into props room, extra holing, and a three store set. The movie required a few pedestrians for a scene in which a couple mean looking Fukinese gang members walk into a chinese lamp store, fire a few shots w/ AK47, get beat up by CYF in his long coat-like leather jacket, & flies through the window dead. I walked
by the store right after the bad guys entered, so maybe you can catch a few glimpse. I also ran across the store when gun fire started. Talk about lack of continuity. The director said it doesn't matter, I'd only be a blob. CYF ends up walking out the store w/ a lamp singing. Quite comical, a lot lighter than Replacement Killer (at least for that scene).
(...) and I were in Toronto yesterday on a real movie set. Did I ever tell you about (...)'s (relative) that is a Director of
Photography? He has been a camera operator in the past, but was recently promoted and now actually "controls" all the aspects
of filming the action. Movies that he worked in that I can think of off the top of my head were: 12 Monkeys, Jacob's Ladder,
G.I. Jane, The Fisher King, The Last Boyscout, Nothing But Trouble, etc... He's been in the industry for 30 years, so he has
done lots of them, but I can't remember everything. Anyway, he was in Toronto working on this movie called "The
Corrupters" with Chow Yun-Fat and Mark Wahlberg. He was working with the 2nd unit yesterday and they were doing what,
in the film, will be a 9 block long car chase with lots of shooting and crashes. It was pretty amazing -- in fact I was blown away by the whole thing. They were doing a shot where a guy leaning out his window shooting at a car following them gets
rammed into a van that is backing up and smushed. It was so cool how they did all these different shots and then finally did it with a dummy and really rammed the van and the dummy got obliterated.
Other TC Sites
The Credits
.... I mean, would doubtless wish to thank his online fans for their support.
IN THE BACKGROUND: CYF, looking cool ... Newline promo pic for TC available at Kevin's Chow Yun-Fat Realvideo Interview Archive.
Note: In case you were wondering, the 'mean' is the average rating obtained by adding up the rating scores and dividing by the number of people who filled in the form. The 'median' is the rating which divides the sample in half -- e.g. with a median of 8, half the people gave a rating of 8 or higher and half a rating of 8 or lower. The 'mode' is the most popular rating -- the one that the most people endorsed. The 'standard deviation' is a measure of dispersion -- a measure of how much variation there is in the ratings. About 66% of the ratings are normally within 1 standard deviation of the mean.
You are probably the only person who has ever accessed this web page, while I myself have logged on Back to Chow Yun-Fat: God of Actors, or over to my page of CYF movie reviews, pix, and links
By the way, I am not Chow Yun-Fat. This is a
fan page, and I have no official connection to Mr. Chow whatsoever.
The last time I decided to officially note the fact that I modified this page was 17 December 2001. I created this page in October 1998, with help from the
NCSA's Beginner's Guide to HTML.
Copyright 1998-2001 Winnifred Louis
times since October 7, 1998.
