Island of Greed

Rating:
Summary: Watch it for Tony Leung Kar-fai
Review: First-rate Taiwanese drama about the tainted politics of the island. Despite having two leads from Hong Kong, this is not a Hong Kong movie. Mak's taut direction moves the well-thought-out script along in a compelling and gritty fashion, and the drama never slackens. Andy Lau plays a righteous cop trying to track down proof of the corruption; he looks good here, but he is no eye-candy (for once). But Lau is upstaged here by a staggering Tony Leung Kar-fai of "The Lover" fame (no relation with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), who plays a ruthless gang leader - he is worth the entrance fee alone. This performance proves once again that the best of Hong Kong is more than a match for the best of Hollywood. And you get more than a glimpse on his tattooed butt. Definitely worth catching.

Rating:
Summary: Intensity and politics
Review: Michael Mak makes very intense movies. He also incorporates a lot of human internal struggles, although not so much in this one.

Island Of Greed is about Taiwan's very tainted politics. In interviews Mak is very assured of the realism. It shows through the story, as some events are really familiar. But it's the movie-making, the story-telling, the actions that make this unforgetable. Incidentally, the current mayor of Taipei Ma Ying-Jiu is known to have done something like this.

Lau has certainly delivered the honest cop, but the best actings are from Tony Leung and Annie Wu. Quite phenomenal.

Rating:
Summary: A great view into gang related matters in Taiwan.
Review: This movie tells about a conflict between a powerful gang leader (Leung) and the police detective (Andy Lau) and his team. Leung's and Lau's characters struggle throughout the movie (lots of action) and at the end, we see that a gang leader is not as cold blooded as he seems. There is coarse language, violence, and some pornography in the movie but the message of the story is strong...

Rating:
Summary: Island of Mess!
Review: What a waste of money and a waste of time watching this badly directed mess.