a5c7b9f00b Nick Chen is one of New York City's most martial police officers and the first Chinese-born immigrant on the force. Chen's job is to keep the peace in Chinatown from a turf war that has broken out between the Triads and the ruthless, and dangerous Fukienese Dragons. Chen teams up with Danny Wallace, who is terribly unaware of this situation. When the Tongs boldly attempt to bribe Wallace, Chen is forced to keep his faithfulness.
A New York police officer goes undercover in a dangerous crime scene to investigate abductions and drug-trafficking operations. He obtains backup with the help of another brave Hong Kong police officer who works for the NYPD. They partner up together to stop the operation before the city goes down. The criminal organization is called the "Fukanese Dragons" who are likely terrorists and illegal immigrants who are about to tear up Chinatown in New York City.
It doesn't begin with much promise. After the credits, an unexplained fireball slams into the camera. Near the end, there is the climactic shoot out aboard a freighter smuggling Chinese illegals into the country. In between, photographed in lurid colors suggesting grindhouse, there is a car chase through the streets of New York's Chinatown that slaughters innocent bystanders. More ammunition is expended than during the entirety of World War II and a Chinese girl wearing no knickers licks Mark Wahlberg's naked back.<br/><br/>The story itself has Wahlberg as an NYPD detective assigned to 15 precinct, Chinatown, and forced to work under the supervision of Chow Yun-Fat. It's a complicated narrative full of characters and twists and I don't think I'll describe it much further because there is a surprisingly successful element of suspense built into it.<br/><br/>Initially, when Wahlberg shows up at the precinct, it begins to look like very familiar stuff. Wahlberg is the only white guy on the roster and the Chinese cops taunt him and ridicule him. When Wahlberg says he goes by the book, the others scoff. It appears to be still another story of the veteran showing the naive rookie how the cow at the cabbage.<br/><br/>But then it gets into far more interesting stuff and in a way that involves the viewer. The crosses and double identities are so thick that I lost track of them at time but they gradually became clearer as the story unfolded.<br/><br/>Both the principles do well by their roles and the director helps by avoiding contemporary clichés -- the zap of instant editing, the whirling camera held by the drunken photographer, the glitz and whams on the sound track. It's all done neatly, in classical style.<br/><br/>You may find yourself getting into it, and the kids will enjoy the furious action sequences.
As far as buddy-buddy cop movies go, this is one of the worst that I have seen. This kind of film works only if the two leads work well together and you care for their relationship. Mark Wahlberg and Chow Yun-Fat did have good chemistry but the barriers placed in their way by the plot worked against them. After this film was over I felt empty, I had gained nothing from watching. However the film did keep my attention for the whole 110 minutes but only because I was waiting for something amazing to happen. Which didn't! Thankfully the two leads went on to do far better things for which I am more grateful for.<br/><br/>4/10
Though Foley is adept at handling the action, the film is a grim washout peppered with too many earnest, good-cop/bad-cop conundrums and not enough solid police work.