THE
BRINK (2017)
Starring
Zhang Jin, Shawn Yue, Janice Man, Wu Yue, Tai Po, Cecilia So, Yasuaki
Kurata, Gordon Lam, Derek Tsang. Directed by Jonathan Li. (100 min)
ON
BLU-RAY FROM WELL GO USA
Review
by Tiger the Terrible😸
Sai
Gau (Zhang Jin) is your standard-issue renegade cop, a seething ball
of intensity and contemptuous of his bumbling commander. At the
beginning of The Brink, he’s being released from prison,
having done 18 months because his recklessness caused the death of
another cop. To show his sensitive side, he acts as guardian to the
daughter of the gangster he once threw out a building window.
Shing
(Shawn Yue) is your standard-issue bad guy, a ruthless, sadistic
former henchman who kills his way to power, his weapon-of-choice
being a handheld harpoon gun. To show his sensitive side, he
pays a prostitute for her services before instructing his right-hand
woman, Suet (Janice Man), get rid of her. But hey...at least he doesn't kill her.
For
the most part, Tak (Wu Yue) is your standard-issue partner who just
announced his retirement after winning big at a casino. But before
the viewer can say “dead man walking,” he actually serves a
different narrative purpose (which I won’t spoil here).
 |
| "You shouldn't o' made fun of my shirt." |
Though
not particularly original, The Brink is an entertainingly
brutal action-fest that puts a few interesting spins on a familiar
story. For one, Shing is both a gangster and a
pirate, his territory being the sea. In this case, he’s planning to
rob his rival’s luxurious cruise ship of $500 million in gold,
which is actually stashed on the seabed beneath. While we’ve seen
the ol’ cop-on-the-edge before and Gau punches his way through the
movie with one facial expression, Zhang Jin is a great physical
performer. I also appreciated Suet’s knack for creative demolition by using
bombs made from dry ice.
But it's
the two great set-pieces highlighting the second half that sets The Brink
apart from your standard crime fare. First, there’s a
terrifically-choreographed underwater fight scene, usually not the
most cinematic of locations, but director Jonathan Li pulls it off.
Second is the climactic close-quarters martial-arts melee onboard a
fishing trawler during a typhoon, a masterful combination of
practical action and convincing special effects.
Both
sequences are patently ludicrous, but at-least they’re memorable
enough to make it worth enduring a few of the mundane or
pointless aspects of the story (such as the relationship between Gau
and the gangster’s daughter). Elsewhere, The Brink is
briskly paced, suitably violent and amusingly over-the-top. That last
point could even describe the performances, as well. The overall
story strictly standard-issue, but that doesn’t always matter, does
it?
EXTRA
KIBBLES
4
PROMOTIONAL MAKING-OF FEATURETTES
TRAILERS
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS.
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