It was directed by Brian Gibson and starred Steven Bauer, Miguel Ferrer, Benicio del Toro, Treat Williams and Craig T. Does Lam know he's being watched, or is he just an oblivious narcissist? Given the information at hand, we can't be sure.Drug Wars: The Camarena Story is a 1990 TV mini-series that aired on January 7, 8 & 9 1990, based on Elaine Shannon’s book Desperados and the Time magazine article of the same name. Lam's character leaves everyone in suspense before casting his vote, snapping a selfie while Timmy's credibility and life hangs in the balance. Everyone's on board except one guy (character actor par excellence Suet Lam), the man whom Timmy calls the cartel's brains. A group of capos takes a vote of confidence via closed-circuit walkie-talkies. ![]() ![]() Consider the scene after Timmy identifies the real masterminds of his drug cartel. But the film's creators also take time to sneer at both higher-ranking cops and crooks. The film's makers never resist a chance to make fun of the uncouth and bumbling behavior of low-ranking meth dealers and pushers, the former of whom are often treated like bellowing, animalistic savants. "Drug War" is often hard to pin down until its conclusion, when the film erupts with a jaw-dropping, Peckinpah-worthy shoot-out set in front of a crowded playground.īut "Drug War" vacillates between lowbrow and gallows humor. They'll never stop trying to screw each other because they'll never really be in control. The main difference between "Drug War" and "Un Flic" is that To's film has a meaner sense of humor. Both movies treat men that either break or enforce the law as interchangeable pawns. So it's fitting that "Drug War" is reminiscent of Melville's last existential gem. To's an avowed admirer of Melville's, and before making "Drug War," he teasingly hinted that he was considering retirement (But not for long: he's already working on his next directorial effort). "Un Flic" follows a testy Alain Delon as he hounds Richard Crenna's bone-weary thief through a halogen-lit, silver-blue fog. That film is Melville's last, and it feels like it. While "Drug War" evokes everything from " The Wild Bunch" to "Miami Vice," the film's chilly tone is most reminiscent of "Un Flic," French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville's blistering 1972 policier. In To's movies, everything's a game, and the game in "Drug War" is high-stakes poker where everyone bluffs as much as they can afford to. Each encounter hinges on characters' tics, like the habitual, mirthless laugh Zhang adopts in order to mimic a crook's mannerisms. Cops and the crooks constantly try to one up each other, as in an unsettling scene where Zhang, while undercover, has to prove his false identity by snorting cocaine. To's films are usually about macho, playful contests of wills. Timmy takes Zhang's deal so quickly that it's impossible to tell if he's buying time or sincerely fighting to save his own skin. That ambiguity is what fuels "Drug War": there is no deal with unbreakable rules because every deal is brokered and decided on a whim. Zhang and Yang icily grill him, and give him an ultimatum/proposition: work with the cops to cut off the local drug supply at its source, or get the death penalty. These interchangeable thugs are little fish compared to Timmy Choi (regular To collaborator Louis Koo), a mid-sized predator in a seemingly tiny body of water. Buffoonish mules are humiliated, waddling around with their pants down after being forced to strip and take an enema. Smalltime crooks are snapped up and put through the ringer by Captain Zhang Lei ( Honglei Sun) and his partner Yang Xiaobei (Crystal Huang). To ("Sparrow," " Exiled"), and the film's four screenwriters (led by regular To collaborator Wai Ka-Fai) start by breaking down the hierarchical relay of information during a drug bust. ![]() But the film's flintiness and initially subdued nastiness set it apart from most other action films about the thin line separating cops from crooks. At first it looks like an extra-slick and gratuitously mean-spirited police procedural. While it takes a while to come to a full boil, "Drug War" is an atypically grim gangster film from the typically inspired Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To.
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