the corruptor is <NEG> a big silly mess of an action movie </NEG> , complete with <NEG> pointless plot turns and gratuitous violence </NEG> . it's not abhorrent , or even blatantly unlikable , but <NEG> it doesn't make a shred of sense </NEG> . and whose idea was it to have the director of glengarry glen ross direct an action film ? james foley knows a lot about characters and acting , and those are the strengths of the corruptor . but the quiet scenes clash with the <NEG> ludicrous action nonsense </NEG> , and <NEG> the result is less like a movie and more like a derailed train </NEG> . at least we have chow yun-fat in the lead role . chow plays nick chen , a chinatown cop . he's a good cop , as the first few scenes establish , and he's very familiar with chinatown . that's probably why the powers-that-be decide to team him up with a rookie named danny wallace ( mark wahlberg ) . nick and danny begin by stepping on each other's toes , but finally end up liking each other once they both get a chance to save the other one's life . what happens after that is kind of a mystery to me . i'm fairly certain that the villains are all part of the fukienese dragons , led by a young chinese psycho named bobby vu ( byron mann ) . i'm also pretty sure that nick is on the payroll of henry lee ( ric young ) , a gangster dealing in prostitutes and other neat stuff . i'm not quite sure why henry lee decides to employ danny , although <NEG> this makes for some ridiculous ( albeit unpredictable ) plot twists </NEG> along the way . there's also an interesting subplot revolving around danny's father ( brian cox ) , but it doesn't have much to do with the main story . one of the problems , as i said , is that <NEG> the movie doesn't make any sense </NEG> . i don't blame this entirely on foley , because he's obviously a good director . i'm more inclined to point my finger at robert pucci's script , which <NEG> doesn't seem to be in tune </NEG> to the way normal people act . one scene early on <NEG> had me particularly annoyed </NEG> : nick confronts his boss because he's angry about his new white partner . he's shouting and pointing his finger and stepping on the furniture , and i was thinking that i would have fired him if he had done that to me . ( in addition , the film takes a bite into race-related issues , and never develops them at all . ) there are a lot of scenes like this one , and <NEG> none of them are very coherent </NEG> . there's also a considerable language barrier , given that chow and some of the other actors have thick chinese accents . the plot itself never straightens out . i'm not sure who or what the fukienese dragons are , or why henry lee is associated with them , or what they do as a group . the corruptor is an action movie , and so all these weird plot developments are decorated with loud and violent action sequences . the sequences aren't bad , but they're not new ; how many car chases through chinatown have you seen ? on that note , how many chinatown cop movies have you seen ? one too many , i'd imagine . foley's strength is clearly in characterization , and he does a pretty good job here . the scenes between nick and danny are very good , and i actually got a feel for their characters ; a bond forms between them that holds parts of the film together . chow and wahlberg are both good actors ; chow is a pro , and can do this kind of stuff in his sleep . wahlberg seems less at home in this atmosphere , but he's still fun to watch . i also liked the subplot involving danny's father ; brian cox's performance is powerful , and his character makes a compelling moral compass for danny . but <NEG> the film ultimately fails </NEG> , mostly at the hands of <NEG> insane incoherence and overly-familiar action scenes </NEG> . a complicated plot can be successful , but the story needs to make sense when it's over . the corruptor never manages to make any sense -- <NEG> it just keeps spinning out of control </NEG> until , finally , there's nothing left to hold on to .
