Protégé (2007)

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Nick has been undercover for seven years in one of Hong Kongs biggest drug networks and is working side by side Banker, the boss of this elaborate organisation. This isn't a 'Gangster' movie as its advertised, its about drugs and the problems they cause; there are no gun fights, gang bangers..its pure acting.I loved Andy Laus character a man plagued by illness and his plans to retire; he had so much depth and the way Lau reacts to everyday situations is amazing to watch, while Daniel exceeds the last role I saw him in, which was 'One night in Mongkok'; here we see him evolve and watch a range of character development take place. The other actors were great in their chosen roles and provided a brilliant supporting cast, but for me the character Jane-Jane was adorable. She made me smile, its amazing how a child can easily tell the difference between good and bad....The drug taking scene was very hard to watch, and thats what this film does it hammers the message home and explores the reasons as to why people take drugs. A fantastic film.....

Andy Lau stars in another cop undercover tale. Daniel Wu plays Nick who is working for the cops and is also close to the top of a drug dealing gang(Lau). The movie begins as we watch the police try to make a drug bust only to see it go to pieces. We then are introduced to the young drug addicted mother and her daughter living near Nick and to his cronies and the cops, and 45 minutes in I shut off the movie and put on the news. Well acted and great to look at this is as uninvolving a movie as I've seen in a long time. Its not bad as such its just you really don't care. I mean I really didn't care at all. I actually started to do something else completely forgetting I had on a subtitled movie on, thats how much I didn't care. I wish I could have hated the film but the film is such a nonentity that it made almost no impression on me (its not even something I could sleep to its just something to ignore). Come on the box called it the Chinese Scarface,what after he was dead? This is one to avoid.

I saw this movie in the Hong Kong IFC mall before I got the train to the airport. It is one of the best films I have ever seen. I am a huge Daniel Wu fan anyway, and I related to his relationship with his smack-head neighbour straight away, having lived with a smack-head with a little daughter. Some of the "it's not my fault" statements by the neighbour and her slimy husband seemed very familiar to me. Judging by the reaction of other (Chinese) people in the cinema, it was familiar to them as well. I expect this film to be available soon on DVD. When it does I will buy it instantly. I can recommend it totally to any HK film fan, and to anyone else who appreciates films that make you think.

With a good, solid story, a movie doesn't need an "Infernal affair" type of convoluted script to succeed. "Protégé" is a perfect example. There are two strong story lines, none of them particularly novel, converging on drug-busting undercover cop Nick (Daniel Wu). After seven years' hard and dangerous work, he is close to winning full confidence of heroin kingpin Kwan (Andy Lau), ready for the big kill. At about the same time, he starts to develop a delicate relationship with pretty single mother Jane (Zhang Jingchu), starting out as his innocent good-natured intention to help her and her little daughter. And three cheers to the movie makers for sparing us yet another trip into the realm of undercover-syndrome complex. Thank you very much - there's been more than enough. Nick is a good guy, period.Some say that the true protagonist in this movie is heroin, and that is not far from the truth. Very apparently, a lot of effort has been put into researching the subject. Close-up, we see production of the stuff in the "kitchen" (i.e. the secret factory) with such detail that it look like a chemistry lesson we had in high school. We are then given some rather disturbing insight into how Kwan's organization operates, by absolute compartmentalization for maximum security – the "need-to-know" rule is applied to the utmost. Finally, on the global scale, we are shown the massive poppy fields in the Golden Triangle, and at the same time brought to understand that heroin is really a "sunset industry", giving way to youth-oriented drugs. There are also shrewd remarks such as the UN's reports on drug dealing becoming drug dealers' "marketing guide".But this is not a clinical documentary. It's an intensely human story. To carry it, we need some good acting, and we have it.Wu, as mentioned, plays a simple good guy which is not a huge challenge. He delivers. Andy Lau fans should enjoy his role here, which is quite unlike anything he had before. Here is an interesting portrayal of an evil criminal into an almost sympathy-earning character – a devoted family man who is also a continually suffering invalid. The most interesting bit of psychology is his self-absolving logics, putting the blame on the end-users with such vehement intensity that the self-serving mentality is only too clear. Kwan (and all of the few in his closest confidants, for that matter) is squeaky clean when it comes to drug usage. To him, this is only a business of supply and demand. If some junkie out there wants the stuff, someone is going to sell it to them and get rich, so it may as well be Kwan himself. The movie comes dangerously to letting such a criminal getting away easily with such atrocity, had it not been for another character, Jane.Jane is just such a junkie, and through Zhang's heart-wrenching portrayal, the audience see what drug addiction really is and the monstrosity of the people behind it. That is truly an infernal affair. Those who have seen Zhang in "Seven swords" know how good she is in portraying a character in an neurotic state of mind (in that movie it was shock from nearly being killed by a sword swinging bandit). But those who have also seen the little-known movie "Huayao bride in Shangrila" know further that she is an extremely versatile actress, as she plays there a witty, playful, mischievous young bride that delights at every turn. Zhang Jingchu is one Mainland actress to keep an eye open for.It's quite true that this movie is formulaic and predictable, but it works, thanks to Yee Tung-shing's capable direction. But even a director as traditional as Yee cannot avoid putting in one or two grotesque "shock" scenes (think Johnny To's "Election" series). Here, we have humour as black as you want with a guy's hand not chopped off by a knife, but smashed off by repeated blows from a hammer. Owner of said hand is one of the best character actors in town Liu Kai-chi, whose "Fu Bo" is still among the top local indies. While on such matters, I must compliment Louis Koo Tin-lok on his delightful portrayal of a character that is beneath contempt, Jane's junkie husband.