Protege (2007)
Reviewed by: dandan on 2007-04-20
Summary: a mixed bag...
nick (daniel wu) is a hong kong cop, who's been undercover for a few years, working with a drug dealer named quin (andy lau). quin's kidneys are failing, due to his diabetes, he's looking to get out of the business; nick is to take over. whilst nick is gets sucked deeper into quin's world, he befriends a heroin addict, fan (zhang jing-chu), and her daughter. nick finds himself stretched between the police, quin and fan...

this is a strange film, at times it is great but, at others, it is poor. daniel wu does a good job, as does andy lau, in a role that is a little different for him. zhang jing-chu, who is great (and destined for big things), does as well as can be expected with the role of fan, as does louis koo; fan's heroin addict husband. koo has received a bit of stick, for his performance, but he isn't that bad. i find that it is very hard to portray the lives of heroin addicts (or any drug use) on film, without falling into the trappings of trite stereotypes. it is these occassional slips, which weaken the film, although i'd say that the blame lies at derek yee's door.

some of the grittier quailities of 'one night in mongkok', which i thought was great, are retained, but all too frequently the narrative just doesn't seem to ring true. in particular, quin's grooming of nick seems completely unbelievable and is littered with unnecessary exposition; the films telegraphs it's narrative progression and simply plays out as you'd expect. this is very disappointing. yet, at times, the film is intense, engaging and it certainly looks and sounds great. unfortunately, no matter how well it is executed, you can't gloss over its weaknesses.

a let down...