Inspector Lee's squad receives information about the whereabouts of the dangerous criminal Rusty, but the operation to capture the bandit and his accomplices does not go as smoothly as we would like, and the scoundrel goes into hiding with his girlfriend. The investigators have few clues, the witnesses refuse to speak, and to top it all off, it turns out that someone in the police regularly reports all the movements of the police to the bandits...
"Triads: Den of the Mafia" (dir. Kirk Vaughn) reveals some of the nuances of justice. Finding, detaining, interrogating and exposing criminals does not boil down to a simple conflict between “cops and crooks.” Often the situation looks like this: a united and desperate gang is opposed by a disparate group of servants of the law. Disjointed because some law enforcement officers are paid to directly fight crime, while others are paid to fight illegal crime.
Inspector Lee's team is forced not only to wash the dirty laundry in the gangster's hut, but also to ensure that the meticulous guys from the internal investigations department do not wash their dirty laundry in public. A mechanism of checks and balances is probably necessary, otherwise expect arbitrariness from the authorities; True, the mechanism is good when it protects dandelion crooks or completely innocent suspects, but wolf crooks gladly use their wide range of rights.
In some places, the method of Inspector Lee’s operatives evokes slight hostility, but still Kirk Vaughn, introducing the viewer to the antagonists, clearly explains to the viewer the essence of the saying “to live with wolves is to howl like a wolf.” There is no justice in justice and there cannot be, but it is definitely worth choosing the lesser evil for honest police officers. Otherwise, organized crime will make the choice.
The speed of plot development increases as the running time progresses, and if in the first half the film moves quickly but carefully, then in the second it slams on the gas and rushes into all seriousness. Danny Lee, as always, is convincing in his favorite role as a lawless cop, and Anthony Vaughn embodied the scumbag on the screen much brighter than before in "Hardly cooked". As for the action, James Ha managed to stage it in such a way that spectacle and naturalism do not conflict; the showdown in court combines classic Hong Kong kung fu show-offs with homespun turmoil, and the final massacre is one of the coolest shootouts in the history of cinema: not at all savory, but tense, bloody, realistic - brilliant, John Woo resting.
The best action film of 1994, and among police action films - one of the deepest, if not the most. Everyone watch.
Home » Reviews »
Tags: Danny Lee, Kirk Vaughn, Louis Fan, Triads: Mafia Den, Anthony Vaughn
Tags: Danny Lee, Kirk Vaughn, Louis Fan, Triads: Mafia Den, Anthony Vaughn
Of course, I’ve been watching for a long time, but in my opinion, Lee’s team is quite united. Another thing is that there are three sides to the conflict, police officers who work on the streets, bandits, and the internal investigation department, which, according to the laws of the genre, only gets in the way. For example, the interrogation episode, when people from Lee’s squad openly mock them. The film is cool, no doubt, but quite standard. Denny Lee himself has admitted more than once that in his youth he dreamed of becoming a police officer and it seems that he is still actively helping the Hong Kong police. The film is interesting for the details of police work, and also for the young Louis Phan in a supporting role. In the 1990s, Denny Lee shot a lot of these at his studio. This one is definitely worth watching, but it's certainly not the best action movie of the year. At least in the same year, no less worthy The Final Option, Fire to Kill, The Manhunt and The Untold Story were released, where Denny Lee plays approximately the same role. Except for the first film. He doesn't play there.
Dmitriy,
"The Last Cut" is so realistic that it's almost a mockumentary. I haven’t gotten around to “The Untold Story” yet, however, I heard that it’s not an action movie at all. Where did you get “Fire to Kill”, if it’s not a secret? Has the film been translated into Russian at all? As for "Oblava", neither Kinopoisk nor HKCinema can identify it. Maybe it has a better known name?
NapoleonDinamitte,
In part, this is true. "The Untold Story" is a manic thriller. You are right here. A slightly different genre. "The Roundup" is "Twist", approximately the same plot, but instead of Anthony Wong - Simon Yam. For about a year in 2006-2008, I actively ordered CDs from Amazon and DDHouse from sales, it seems like that. With English subtitles. In the 1990s, Denis Lee released many similar films, “Red Shield,” for example. But I agree that this one is the most standard.