I Corrupt All Cops

Wong Jing’s new film tells the story of the birth of Hong Kong’s Independent Commisson Against Corruption (ICAC), mixing fictional characters with some true life events. I Corrupt stars Eason Chan, Anthony Wong Alex Fong and Tony Leung Ka-Fai (Wong Jing also stars as the excellent Mr Gold) and could well be the first Wong Jing film to have widespread critic appeal. I never thought that I would say this but "I Corrupt All Cops" is probably the most satisfying Wong Jing movie I have seen so far. Let me clarify that I have always considered the prolific Wong Jing one of the most unoriginal (read: copycat) and crude film-makers of today. He is, hands down, the 'B-movie King' and 'Ed Wood' of Hong Kong. In "ICAC" (which is about corruption among HK police in the Sixties and Seventies and the formation of the Independent Commission Against Corruption), Wong Jing has not discarded his crude gags and slapstick style of film-making. However, he balances these with some interesting narrative, character development and plot twists. Of course, most of the credit goes to the top-notch cast, especially Anthony Wong (for the laughs), Bowie Lam (for the serious build-up), Kate Tsui (for the tender moments) and Tony Leung for the sadistic violence. As for Wong Jing, he goes about the movie with a perpetual smirk on his face. However, with so many repetitive scenes on police corruption, intrigues and violence, the main plot about the ICAC seems to have been hurriedly done and under written. Still, I consider this the best of Wong Jing's works and hope to see more of them.