Ironically,
precious metal deposits are often more of a curse than a blessing to regional
economies. The gold mine certainly does not look like it is doing much for the
hardscrabble population living around Mt. Baekdu, near the North Korean border,
but it is the catalyst for all kinds of trouble when a ruthless gang pulls off
a big bullion heist. A cop with a grudge will confront them amid a dire
blizzard, because the weather never cooperates in hardboiled thrillers like Cui
Siwei’s Savage, which opens today in
New York.
Wang
Kanghao and Han Xiaosong were competing for the affections of Dr. Sun Yan at
her birthday party, but Wang gets the field all to himself when Han is killed
during a chance encounter with Damao’s gang. Alas, the death of his partner
sours Wang on romance. Now his heart only yearns for payback, but he will get
his chance when their paths cross during what Wang initially assumes to be a
routine poaching investigation. Of course, to further complicate matters, Dr.
Sun is waiting for Wang at the closest comfort shelter (and in harm’s way), so
she can say goodbye before returning to Beijing.
Early
in the film, Cui lifts a scene straight out of the original Lethal Weapon. He also cannibalizes
outdoorsy thrillers like Shoot to Kill and
Cliffhanger, but at least he borrows
from good movies. In fact, he assembles all the homages and conventions into a
super-slick and compulsively watchable film.
Nobody
really digs too deeply into their emotional reservoirs in this one, but it must
be stipulated Chang Chen broods like nobody’s business as Wang. Likewise, Liao
Fan is steely as all get-out as the stone cold relentless Damao. In contrast, Zhang
Yicong sets off viewers’ spider senses with his outrageously villainous
portrayal of Damao’s hipster-feurdai brother, Ermao. However, Ni Ni takes the
honors for the film’s subtlest and most complex performance as Sun.
Cinematographer
Du Jie captures the scope and forbidding grandeur of the Baekdu region, giving
the film a vivid (and chilly) sense of place. It is easy to see why Savage secured North American
distribution while a thematically similar but less engaging film like The Blood Hound has not—at least, not
yet. Savage is indeed successful as a
work of accessible popular noir. Recommended without reservation for mainstream
thriller fans, Savage opens today
(5/3) in New York, at the AMC Empire.