Reviewed by: ororama Date: 02/21/2010 I Corrupt All Cops tells the story of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, an organization created in the 1970s in response to systematic police corruption. The movie focuses more on the colorful world of the crooked cops than the earnest leader of the ICAC, played by Bowie Lam, and his recruits, mostly idealistic young officers. The story centers on Gale, an easygoing, well-liked sergeant-major played by Eason Chan. He has risen in the ranks because of his soccer skills and his willingness to cover for the transgressions of his colleagues. He has nine wives, former mistresses of other cops that he married to cover for them. This serves as an amusing illustration of the nature of corruption-once he agreed to this arrangement the first time, he apparently found it hard to say no to subsequent requests. The leader of the gang is sergeant-major Lak, played by Tony Leung Ka-Fai, who is volatile, arrogant and ruthless. Odd man out is Unicorn, an undercover detective played by Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, frustrated because his advancement is blocked because Lak dislikes him. The chief bagman of the organization is Gold, played by Wong Jing, an amiable fixer who set up the system with Lak. The movie begins with an amusing disclaimer that it is about the bad old days of British rule, and that corruption was eliminated with the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to China. It falls short as a serious critique of police corruption because of its sympathetic portrayal of Gale. He is shown witnessing crime and violence by his colleagues with a look of distaste on his face, but he never protests or intervenes, and his adherence to the organization's code of silence is presented as praiseworthy. The movie suggests that the responsibility for the corruption belongs solely to Lak and Gold, and minimizes the contribution of their subordinates who follow their orders or look the other way, and take a cut of the graft. The movie shows how the shakedowns of legitimate businesses, the facilitation of organized crime and the abuse of authority harm the ordinary citizens. The attention to the details of the police corruption pays off when the ICAC officers begin to fight fire with fire. If they go a little too far, it is clear that their targets are deserving of what they get. If the movie is not the serious examination of police corruption that it seems to aspire to be, it is a rousing entertainment. Wong Jing does a good job directing the movie. The performances by Eason Chan, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong, Wong Jing and Bowie Lam perfectly capture their characters. I Corrupt All Cops is not the great movie a more rigorous, hard-hitting approach to its subject could have produced, but it is always interesting and entertaining.

Reviewed by: dandan Date: 11/29/2009 Summary: independent commission against corruption hong kong, the late 1960s: corruption in the police is rife. gale (eason chen) is a young, good natured cop, who rises through the ranks by assisting the hugely corrupt lak (tony leung) in his affairs, both policing and extra-marital. the likes of gold (wong jing) work as 'collectors'; collecting and distributing protection money and bribes to all ranks of the police. the colonial rulers are not pleased and the i.c.a.c. is established to root out corruption. led by inspector yin (bowie lam) and staffed by the likes of bong (alex fong), a young man who was on the receiving end of the most brutal end of police corruption, they set out to take down the likes of lak and clean up the royal hong kong police force... well, what can i say? a wong jing film, plugged as a rare dramatic outing, which has been garnering quite a bit of praise. don't get your hopes up. this is poor. very poor. sure, there is an interesting backdrop, a good cast and high production values, but this does not a good film make. despite a relatively strong opening, the film degenerates exponentially as it continues along its path; throwing in one crappy scene after another. the characters, narrative and performances are, on the whole, poorly conceived, hackneyed and wildly over-dramatic. big tony leung, who has proved himself more than capable in the past should shake with embarrassment if he ever watches this one, whilst eason chan does little better. anthony wong does as well as he can with what he is given and comes out as the films shining light along with wong jing, himself, who actually has the most interesting character of the film to cope with. best avoided...

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 09/06/2009 Wong Jing is one of Hong Kong's most prolific film-makers, best known for movies that are built on "homages" to other movies and lots of toilet humor. But over the past few years, he has created some more original and serious pictures, and you can add I Corrupt All Cops to that list. While it's nothing revolutionary, aficionados of cop dramas will feel right at home here. Reviewer Score: 7