Protege: Movie Review
Rating: 6/10
Cast: Daniel Wu, Andy Lau, Louis Koo, Anita Yuen, Zhang
Jingchu
Director: Derek Yee
Playing as part of the first ever Hong Kong Film
Festival in Auckland, Protégé is the tale of undercover officer
Nick - played by Daniel Wu.
Nick has spent the last seven years working undercover, trying to crack the
drugs supply line which has slowly been ravaging his city.
Working for the kingpin, Quin (Andy Lau) Nick has worked his way to the top
from the very bottom - and is poised to take over the empire.
But at the pivotal point where the end is in sight, Nick ends up involved
with his heroin addled neighbour Jane (Zhang Jingchu) - and desperate to try and
save her and her young child from the clutches of the drug, he teeters
precariously between the police officer he's supposed to be and the life he's
led for the past seven years.
Protégé is an at times, gripping look at the lengths undercover officers go
to and how their day to day lives with the criminal underworld causes the lines
to blur and judgments to become impaired as they walk a fine line between right
and wrong.
Wu does excellently at conveying this dilemma as he tries to do the right
thing by his neighbour - and as he battles with wanting to see what effect the
drug would have on himself, the feeling of self loathing and loss over his
identity sets up a good conflict.
Unfortunately, director (and writer) Derek Yee (who directed Shinjuku
Incident with Jackie Chan earlier this year) manages to muddy the waters a bit
with some heavy handed direction - at each moment of real conflict and emotional
turbulence, we cut to scenes of rolling storm clouds - a stock tactic which is
too oft employed during the film's duration.
Protégé works best when it concentrates simply on the drama - the scenes
between Quin and Nick are tense as Quin's distrust and uncertainty starts to
breakthrough - particularly in one scene set in the heroin plantations of the
Golden Triangle.
It's when the direction and script are pared back to their most simplistic
that they are the most effective.
However, it's Jane who humanises the whole piece. Played by Zhang Jingchu,
her descent as a junkie is nothing short of horrifying - a reminder of the
reality of the worlds skated between by Nick - and as he desperately tries to
save her, it becomes clear there are very real human costs involved in this
ongoing war.
Protégé is an intriguing film - it's
a gritty portrait of moral conflict and harrowing in places; as a character
study of conflict with a social message, it does manage to feel slightly
overlong in places, but there's plenty here to immerse yourself in.
Also playing at the Hong Kong Film Festival are: The Way We Are,
True Women For Sale, The Beast Stalker, and The Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of
The Dragon - full details of times can be found on the official Hong Kong Film
Festival website.
At Darren's World of Entertainment - a movie, DVD and game review blog. The latest movie and DVD reviews - plus game reviews as well. And cool stuff thrown in when I see it.
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