''Drug War'' () is a 2012
action thriller film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
[ directed and produced by ]Johnnie To
Johnnie To Kei-fung (born 22 April 1955) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter and film producer. Popular in his native Hong Kong, To has also found acclaim overseas. Intensely prolific, To has made films in a variety of genres, though in ...
. The film stars Sun Honglei
Sun Honglei (; born 16 August 1970) is a Chinese actor.
Early life
Sun was born in Harbin, Heilongjiang, on 16 August 1970. Sun developed an interest in acting and performances at a young age. He often skipped school to learn breakdancing on the ...
as Police Captain Zhang, who partners with a drug lord named Timmy Choi (Louis Koo
Louis Koo Tin-lok ( zh, t=古天樂; born 21 October 1970) is a Hong Kong actor, singer and film producer. He began his professional career as an actor in local television series, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 and 2001. After 2001, he f ...
) after Choi is arrested. To avoid the death penalty, Choi agrees to reveal information about his partners' methamphetamine
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...
ring. Zhang starts to harbor doubts about Choi's honesty as the police begin to take on the drug ring.
The film premiered at the Rome Film Festival
International Rome Film Fest is a film festival that takes place in Rome during the month of October. The name in Italian is Festa del Cinema di Roma.
Sections
The Rome Film Festival official program is divided into several sections:
Cinema d'Og ...
on November 15, 2012. It has received positive reviews.
Plot
Fleeing from an explosion at his drug manufacturing facility, Timmy Choi crashes his car into a restaurant and as he revives he is captured by Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Zhang Lei. Realizing that he will receive the death penalty for his crimes, he bargains information on his colleagues to survive and introduces Captain Zhang Lei as "Uncle Bill", to become a supplier to Haha, who owns a port and can distribute drugs to other countries. Captain Zhang Lei poses as Haha to the real "Uncle Bill". Choi goes to his factory where he meets with his two mute employee brothers. Choi plants recording devices in his factory, setting up everyone in it. Then they set up the real Haha with the real Uncle Bill. However, an attempt to capture the mute brothers at the factory fails, and they escape through a hidden tunnel. Captain Zhang is livid at Choi for withholding information about the secret exit, which has cost the lives of several police team members.
Choi pleads for a second chance as "Uncle Bill" is really just a front for 7 influential Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
gangsters whom he did not wish to rat out because 2 of them are his relatives as they are his brother and godfather. The next day, Captain Zhang poses as Haha again and meets with "Uncle Bill". They negotiate a deal to distribute drugs using Haha's port, while Choi identifies the 7 gangsters's bosses. Later they discuss terms of the deal at a nightclub, where Captain Zhang, posing as Haha, accuses "Uncle Bill" of being a cop, pretending to be infuriated. The big 7 confront him in the parking garage
A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...
, revealing their identities and confirming their business relationship. On the day after that, Choi leads the big 7 and their entourage to the port, but instead pulls the entourage in front of a primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
as parents and children are arriving for the day.
Choi removes his wires and reveals to the big 7 that he has ratted them out and they are surrounded by cops. Realizing that something has gone wrong, Captain Zhang and his officers close in. A shootout ensues, and nearly all of the gangsters, along with several officers, are killed. Choi escapes in a school bus. However, he crashes into the escaping mute brothers as they are fleeing, believing that Choi has ratted them out. Another shootout takes place. Captain Zhang, wounded, arrives with several other wounded comrades to stop the mute brothers. Though the mute brothers are killed, the cops are all severely wounded from the shootout. Choi who was handcuffed earlier by Zhang escapes and uses the opportunity to fatally gun down Zhang and the other officers, but Zhang is able to handcuff himself to Choi's leg before he dies. Choi is then captured by SWAT
In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...
reinforcements before he can escape. Choi begs them for another chance to live by trading more information on other gangsters, but is executed by lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
.
Cast
*Louis Koo
Louis Koo Tin-lok ( zh, t=古天樂; born 21 October 1970) is a Hong Kong actor, singer and film producer. He began his professional career as an actor in local television series, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 and 2001. After 2001, he f ...
as Choi Tin-ming/Timmy Choi ()
*Sun Honglei
Sun Honglei (; born 16 August 1970) is a Chinese actor.
Early life
Sun was born in Harbin, Heilongjiang, on 16 August 1970. Sun developed an interest in acting and performances at a young age. He often skipped school to learn breakdancing on the ...
as Captain Zhang Lei ()
* Huang Yi as Yang Xiaobei ()
*Wallace Chung
Wallace Chung Hon-leung (; born 30 November 1974) is a Hong Kong actor and singer, best known for his work on several Chinese television dramas.
Chung ranked 68th on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, 94th in 2014, 45th in 2015, 31st in ...
as Guo Weijun ()
*Gao Yunxiang
Gao Yunxiang (; born 15 August 1982),also known as Gavin Gao, is a Chinese actor best known for his roles as Yang Rui and Zhai Li in the television series ''Goddess of Mercy'' (2011) and ''Legend of Mi Yue'' (2015) respectively.
Early life an ...
as Xu Guoxiang
* Li Guangjie as Chen Shixiong ()
* Guo Tao as Senior Dumb
* Li Jing as Junior Dumb
*Lo Hoi-pang
Lo Hoi-pang (born 21 December 1941) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Lo attended TVB's Training Classes in 1973. Among his classmates are Chow Yun-fat and Ng Man-tat. Lo won the 2012 31st Hong Kong Film Awards for the Best Supporting Actor c ...
as Birdie
*Eddie Cheung
Cheung Siu-fai (; born 4 February 1963), also known as Eddie Cheung, is a Hong Kong actor. He is best known for his many supporting or everyman roles similar to Liu Kai-chi.
Filmography
Television series
References
External links
*
* ...
as Su
*Gordon Lam
Gordon Lam Ka-tung (林家棟; born 21 September 1967) is a Hong Kong actor, film producer and screenwriter. Initially known for his supporting roles in films directed by Andrew Lau and Johnnie To, Lam eventually became a lead actor in the Hon ...
as East Lee ()
*Michelle Ye
Michelle Ye or Ye Xuan (born 14 February 1980) is a Chinese actress and producer. She is best known for her roles in, ''Eternal Happiness'', ''Triumph in the Skies'', and ''Lost in the Chamber of Love''.
Her most notable role was in the 2009 f ...
as Sal ()
*Lam Suet
Lam Suet (; born 1964), or Lin Xue, is a Hong Kong film actor.
Life and career
Lam was born in Tianjin, and came to Hong Kong as a youth in 1979 to receive inheritance money left by his grandfather. Soon after, all the money had been squander ...
as Fatso
Production
The film was billed as To's first action film to be entirely shot and set in Mainland China. To had previously shot the romance film ''Romancing in Thin Air
''Romancing in Thin Air'' (; "High-Altitude Romance II") is a 2012 Hong Kong-Chinese contemporary romantic drama film directed by Johnnie To, and starring Louis Koo and Sammi Cheng.
Plot
While onstage to receive an acting award, Hong Kong scree ...
'' in China.
Style
''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote that the film does not have the same feeling as To's similar Hong Kong films such as ''Election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
'' or '' Sparrow'' and that the film was also "actually quite light on action." Film Business Asia
''Film Business Asia'' was a film trade magazine based in Hong Kong. The magazine was created in 2010 by Patrick Frater, former journalist for ''Variety'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and '' Screen International'' and Stephen Cremin, co-founder o ...
noted that "To has modified his style to take account of the Mainland's different look and more spacious geography, as well as appearing to be newly energised by the challenge of what he can get away with."
Awards and nominations
Release
''Drug War'' premiered at the Rome Film Festival
International Rome Film Fest is a film festival that takes place in Rome during the month of October. The name in Italian is Festa del Cinema di Roma.
Sections
The Rome Film Festival official program is divided into several sections:
Cinema d'Og ...
on November 15, 2012. The film was the second "surprise film" from Asia at the festival, with the first being '' Back to 1942''. The film was released on April 2, 2013 in China and earned US$13,070,000 for its opening week, coming in third place at the Chinese box office behind ''The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel
''The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel'' is a 2013 Chinese comedy film directed by Guan Hu, starring Liu Ye, Zhang Hanyu and Huang Bo. The film is meant to be "mass entertainment", in the words of Guan, who also co-wrote the screenplay. The film is ...
'' and '' Finding Mr. Right''. The film grossed a total of $23,180,000 in China. The film opened in Hong Kong on April 18, 2013 and grossed US$376,577 in its opening weekend, making it the second highest-grossing film at the Hong Kong box office, beaten only by ''Oblivion
Oblivion may refer to:
Film
* ''Oblivion'' (1994 film), an American space Western
* ''Oblivion'' (2013 film), an American post-apocalyptic science fiction film
Literature
* ''Oblivion'' (''Power of Five''), a 2012 novel by Anthony Horowitz
* ...
''. The film grossed a total of US$639,155 in Hong Kong.
The film continues to maintain popularity and was highlighted in the Masters section of the 2013 San Diego Asian Film Festival.
''Drug War'' was released on October 15, 2013 on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
and Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
.
In the United Kingdom, the film's television airing was watched by 142,400 viewers on Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
in 2016, making it the year's most-watched foreign language film
World cinema is a term in film theory that refers to films made outside of the American motion picture industry, particularly those in opposition to the aesthetics and values of commercial American cinema.Nagib, Lúcia. "Towards a positive de ...
on Channel 4 and seventh most-watched foreign language film on UK television.
Reception
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
gives the film a score of 94% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The critical consensus states: "A taut, solidly constructed action thriller with uncommon intelligence, ''Drug War'' delivers exhilarating set pieces without skimping on sophisticated filmmaking." At Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received a score of 86, based on 19 reviews. IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
gave the film a B rating, stating that the film confirms director Johnnie To's status as "a first-rate genre filmmaker. That said, the film does not innovate or break any new ground". ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' praised the film, stating that it was "light on action but so well-scripted and shot, it's nonetheless edge-of-your-seat material."
At the 7th Asian Film Awards
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, ''Drug War'' was nominated for Best Film, Best Screenwriter (Wai Ka-fai, Yau Nai-hoi, Ryker Chan, Yu Xi), and Best Editing (David Richardson, Allen Leung).
Remake
In 2014, it was announced that there would be a South Korean remake of the film. In July 2017, the film was confirmed to be directed by Lee Hae-young
Lee Hae-young (born 1973) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Lee wrote and directed his debut feature '' Like a Virgin'' (2006) (with director Lee Hae-jun), which won several awards for Best New Director and Best Screenplay. His f ...
, starring Cho Jin-woong
Cho Jin-woong (born Jo Won-jun; March 3, 1976) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles as Sejong's loyal bodyguard in ''Deep Rooted Tree'' (2011), a mobster in '' Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time'' (2012), and a mysterious vil ...
in the lead role and Ryu Jun-yeol
Ryu Jun-yeol (; born September 25, 1986) is a South Korean actor, activist, and photographer. Ryu began his acting career in independent films, and then rose to prominence through his breakthrough role in the critically acclaimed television ser ...
as the drug dealer. The theatrical release was planned for the following year.
Notes
External links
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{{MilkywayImage
Chinese action thriller films
Hong Kong action thriller films
2012 films
2012 action thriller films
2012 action films
Police detective films
Films about drugs
Films directed by Johnnie To
Media Asia films
Milkyway Image films
Films with screenplays by Yau Nai-hoi
Films with screenplays by Wai Ka-fai
Variance Films films
2012 thriller films
2010s Mandarin-language films
2010s Hong Kong films