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Island of Greed
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Wikipedia article
'Island of Greed' is a 1997 Hong Kong action crime thriller film directed by Michael Mak and starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung Ka-fai. The film is set and filmed in Taiwan and deals with corruption in the Government of the Republic of China.
Plot
While investigating in Taiwan's gambling arcade scene, Captain Fong Kwok-fai (Andy Lau) of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau's Tactical Squad discovers the mastermind to be Chow Chiu-sin (Tony Leung Ka-fai) leader of the Chung-lam Triad, who had decided to run as a member of the Legislative Yuan and bribes his way into office. Fong infiltrate one his arcades and prosecutes him for operating an underground casino, but Chow has bribed the presiding judge and is squirted. Fong then convinces Chairman Lam Ching-piu of Tak-cheong Construction Company, who has reported Chow for blackmailing him, to record evidence of Chow in bid rigging for the construction of Coastal Highway. Chow catches Lam and drags him on a fishing hook through a plantation and Fong and his squad give chase while evading Chow's attack dogs and manage to rescue Lam. Fong exposes Chow to the public, so the Kuomintang decides to nominate his rival, Ting Chung-shu, to run for the Legislative Yuan instead. Angered, Chow matches into Ting's press conference to announce that he is running for the Legislative Yuan without a political party. At this time, Fong is also suspended from his duties as his superior officer, Suen Ching-lim, is also corrupt.
As Chow and Ting rally, taxi drivers of rival companies, Country and White Cloud, who respectively supports Chow and Ting, fight each other for customers. With support of Country Taxi director Kwan, Chow turns the disputes into a riot. Chow instructs his wife, Miu-heung (Pauline Suen) to attend a ball where National Police Agency Commissioner Tung's wife is present so that Tung would plead Chow to stop the riot and Chow is touted as a hero to the public. However, Fong's father, who is a taxi driver, gets caught in the riot but Fong manages to save his father, narrowly escaping an explosion.
With the help of his journalist girlfriend, Ling Fei (Annie Wu), Fong convinces the Justice Minister Fung King-chung to reinstate his position and Fung fully supports him in combating corruption. However, Ting sends killers after Fong, who manage to take them down but one of his subordinates, Nicotine, is killed. Ting attempts to frame Chow for the murder of Nicotine, but Miu-heung manages to help her husband win public support. Afterwards, Chow hires a prostitute to seduce and murder Ting, while Chow is elected into the Legislative Yuan with 125,000 votes.
Fong later captured Sung Miu-tin, fraudant cult leader and drug trafficker in cahoots with Chow, and uses him to enter Chow's mansion while Fong and his squad are in disguise. As Chow meets other twelve members of the Legislative Yuan who are also triad leaders and suggests to start their own political party, Fong and squad takes down Chow's guards and take evidence of his crimes from his computer. Chow then kills Deputy Minister Hau of the Kuomintang, who has been taking advantage of him, before fleeing Taiwan with a thirteen-vehicle entourage. Fong intercepts him in a helicopter and fires two missiles, blowing up several entourage vehicles before Chow fires a rocket launcher at his helicopter, so Fong leaps off his helicopter and engages in a scuffle with Chow that is interrupted by an explosion which kills Miu-heung and Chow breaks down before being arrested. In the end, Chow was sentenced to death, while Fong resigns from the Investigation Bureau due to public pressure, but announces to run for Mayor of Taipei and marries Fei.
Cast
*Andy Lau as 'Fong Kwok-fai' (), captain of Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau's Tactical Squad who is determined in combating corruption in Taiwan.
*Tony Leung Ka-fai as 'Chow Chiu-sin' (), leader of the Chung-lam Triad () and businessman with a net worth of NT$3 billion and bribes his way to be elected as a member of the Legislative Yuan in order to obtain pardon of his past crime.
*Pauline Suen as 'Tsui Miu-heung' (), Chow's wife who used to be a club girl in Singapore in the past.
*Annie Wu as 'Ling Fei' (), a journalist and news broadcaster who becomes Fong's girlfriend, sharing similar values with him.
*Kelly Kuo as 'Mui Mei-lai' (), a member of Fong's Tactical Squad.
*Doze Niu as 'Ngai Kin-kwok' (), nicknamed 'Nicotine' (), a member of Fong's Tactical Squad who was killed by Ting's killer sent after Fong at Shilin Night Market.
*Lee Li-chun as 'Deuty Chairman Hau' (), a senior Kuomintang officials in cohoots with Chow but eventually turns against him.
*Chin Shih-chieh as 'Suen Ching-lim' (), Fong's superior officer and mentor who turns out to be corrupt.
*Winston Chao as 'Fung King-chung' (), the Minister of Justice of Taiwan who fully supports Fong in combating corruption even if it costs him his position.
*Liu Fu-juh as 'Lam Ching-piu' (), chairman of Tak-cheung Construction Company () who is blackmailed by Chow and reports him to the Investigation Bureau.
*Wang Jui as Fong Kwok-fai's father who is a taxi driver.
*Adam Chan as 'Wah Shu-tong' (), a member of Fong's Tactical Squad.
*Wong Ching-lam as 'Sam Pau' (), Chow's second in command.
*Kong Yeung as 'Commissioner Tung' (), commissioner of Taipei's National Police Agency.
*Wang Ping as Commissioner Tung's wife.
Theme songs
*'World's First Class' ()
**Composer: Wu Bai
**Lyricist: Preston Lee, Chen Fu-rong
**Singer: Andy Lau
*'Tears of a Lonely Star' ()
**Composer / Lyricist: Wu Bai
**Singer: Andy Lau
Production
Controversy
During the filming of a stunt sequence, Andy Lau damaged a helicopter that was rented from Taiwanese airline company, Daily Air Corporation. In 1998, Daily Air filed a lawsuit against Lau and production company, Win's Entertainment, where the case dragged on for 16 years. In January 2014, Lau was found liable for brushing against the pitch stick of the chopper before jumping out of it. Initially, Lau ordered was to pay NT$5.1 million in compensation, but the amount was raised to NT$6.9 million after Lau lost an appeal. Following another appeal, the compensation was lowered to NT$2.6 million.Box office
The film grossed HK$18,146,790 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run in Hong Kong.
Accolades
References
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