Drug War (2012)
7.4
A Hong Kong drug lord and a mainlander cop form a tenuous alliance in this tense, subtle crime thriller
Movie
China, Hong Kong
Cantonese, Mandarin
Action, Crime, Drama
2012
JOHNNIE TO, JOHNNIE TO KEI-FUNG
Berg Ng Ting-Yip, Cheng Taishen, Eddie Cheung Siu-Fai
107 min
TLDR
I’m actually surprised this went past the censors.
What it's about
After being taken into custody by Police Captain Zhang Lei, drug lord Choi Tin-ming reluctantly agrees to team up with him in an undercover operation to betray his former accomplices in his methamphetamine ring.
The take
At first glance, Drug War is basically just what it says on the tin– cops crack down on kingpins, lords, and lackeys to save regular people from illegal addictive substances. Even the drug lord-cop dynamic would be a familiar plotline for crime thriller fans. But through this familiar plotline, Hong Kong director Johnnie To takes his first mainland China production to subtly comment on the dynamics between his native region and the larger country, taking the contrast to craft simmering tension each time Choi Tin-ming lies to his allies to save his skin. It’s less action-packed than To’s usual, but the subtext and the shift in style makes Drug War a surprisingly dynamic take on the crime thriller scene.
What stands out
Louis Koo and Sun Honglei were such good choices for the leads because there’s just something so unscrutable about their faces here. Usually, we seek out the opposite, but for a film with a plot twist like this? They help make the plot twist feel believable, as well as making it fun to observe their reactions upon rewatch.
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