“Organized Crime & Triad Bureau” DVD Cover
Director: Kirk Wong
Cast: Danny Lee, Anthony Wong, Cecilia Yip, Roy Cheung, Parkman Wong, Ricky Yi, Fan Siu Wong, Lee Fai, Louis Koo, Stephen Chan, Eric Kee
Running Time: 100 min.
By Woody
It’s been months since I’ve watched a Hong Kong film. After discovering the intelligent cinema of countries like Japan and Korea, it’s hard for me to go back to simple minded action films and lame-brained humor. Save a few choice directors and stars (Wong Kar-wai, Leung Chui Wai, Fruit Chan), Hong Kong cinema is all but dead to me. But there was a point in time when great films were made in Hong Kong. That point, for the most part, has passed. The talent well, as far as directors are concerned, has dried up. The Asian economic crisis has really taken it’s toll on the films in another way. People don’t want to go to the movies to think. That’s always been a problem with Hong Kong movies…or a good thing, depending on why you watch them. People in Hong kong want escapist entertainment. When they are asked to think about something in a film, they will often do it subconsciously, as open discussion of politics in an unspoken no-no in the world of HK film. And after the said crisis, it’s gotten even worse. Whatever complexity or intelligence was once in the movies has all but given way to Wong Jingery and sub-Hollywood crap.
So I wasn’t too enthusiastic when I bought “Organized Crime and Triad Bureau”. No, it’s not a recent Hong Kong film, but my impression of Hong Kong movies has been at an all time low. I want films that are challenging. That make you think. That don’t supply easy answers. OCTB, as it will be referred to throughout the remainder of this review, is one such film.
Inspector San (Danny Lee) is a man obsessed. Head of a squad within the Organized Crime Bureau, San is your typical Dirty Harry, a man who will get justice, no matter what the cost. San and his squad repeatedly beat and torture suspects, and are always on the look out for the CAPO, who are there to make sure such things do not happen. At the present moment, San is obsessing over the capture of Tung (Anthony Wong), a gun-running gangster on the run with with gun-toting mistress (Cecilia Yip). Tung is not your typical gangster. A violent gangster on the outside, inside Tung is a caring father, and deeply loves his mistress, whom he has promised to protect when she was violently raped years earlier.
The scene that I think shows the greatness of this film comes later on. Tung has escaped the clutches of San and his men in a hospital, and is trapped in an operating room, where a young boy is being operated on. There is a stand-off. The doctors are unable to operate. Tung looks at the boy’s mother and then at the boy, who is covered in burnt flesh. He gives himself up, telling to the doctors to finish operating. This comes only minutes after a scene in which we are shown the graphic details of Tung’s crimes, including cutting off one ma’s arms, legs, and genitals. There are no easy answers in this film. Tung and San are both in that grey area. You root for Tung to escape, but know he is a ruthless killer. You want San to lose, but know he is fighting for justice.
What is different here than most Hong Kong films is that this film has characters and not characters. Tung and San are both humanized. We feel empathy for both of them. We feel for Tung and his mistress, you deeply love eachother. We feel for San, whose ex-wife is cruelly used against him. Who cares about victim’s rights over the rights of a killer. Very few films, Hong Kong or otherwise, get that deep, and that alone makes this worth checking out.
On the action front, as this is an action movie, you will not be disappointed. Kirk Wong brings his usual flair to the action scenes, which, though often intricate or unlogical, feel realistic due to the depth of the proceedings. There is some great guerrilla filmmaking on display here, with a gunfight taking place in Kowloon towards the end that just had to have been shot without permits.
The performances are what make this film great. Danny Lee essentially reprises his character in Woo’s “The Killer” here, only making him less honorable and noble. Lee plays San as a man who could care less about Miranda Rights. A man obsessed with justice, no matter what the cost. Cecilia Yip is haunting as Tung’s mistress. After being rescued years before by Tung following a brutal rape, she devotes her life to the troubled man, even when he repeatedly cheats on her.
But more than anything, this film belongs to Anthony Wong. It’s astounding to see him go from the previous year’s over-the-top performance in “The Untold Story” to a restained and stoic one here. Wong plays Tung as a man of contradictions. He’s a honorable, loyal friend…who kills people. He loves his mistress…but sleeps with other women. He is a devoted father…but has no problem with killing the fathers of others. He is a good man…and an evil one. Wong shows that Tung is an bad man who wants to do the right things. He doesn’t want to do wrong, but it’s in his nature.
This is the best Hong Kong film I have seen in a long, long while. It is action packed, but intelligent. It doesn’t give you any easy answers. You have to make up your own mind about what is right and wrong. It does something the average Hong Kong film wouldn’t dream of doing. It makes you think.
Woody’s Rating: 9/10
