Protégé | DVD Review

Crime thrillers are a dime a dozen, especially in Asian cinema, but occasionally one will come along with that something extra that marks it as one to remember instead of just being a drop in the bucket. 2007’s Protégé, now on DVD from The Weinstein Company and Genius Products as part of their Dragon Dynasty collection, accomplishes this feat with powerful visuals, excellent performances, and plenty of entertaining action.

Written and directed by Derek Yee (Lost In Time, Drink-Drank-Drunk) and nominated for 9 Hong Kong Film Awards (including Best Action Chroreography and Best Picture), Protégé is the story of Nick (Daniel Wu, Divergence), an undercover agent who has spent the past seven years infiltrating the business of Quin (Andy Lau, House of Flying Daggers) to the point of becoming the heir to Quin’s throne as king of the drug trade. Being so close to so much money has made Nick think twice about whether he wants this lifestyle to end, until he meets a young heroin-addicted mother named Jane (Zhang Jing Chu, Jade Warrior) and he sees firsthand what he has been facilitating for the last seven years. Will he choose his duty as a cop or his surprisingly strong relationship with Quin? Destroy the drug empire…or inherit it? Yee balances the tense underworld scenes well with Nick’s burgeoning relationship with Jane and her daughter and the acting performances are notable for their subtle overtones. For example, as Daniel Wu’s Nick tries to help Jane kick the habit he realizes that his undercover work can’t end soon enough, yet you also sense that he’s surprised at his own hesitation to seal the fate of the man he has come to call brother.

Protégé is full of poignant scenes, including a very sad opening sequence where a young girl pulls a just-used needle out of her mother’s arm and disposes of it in an already needle-strewn garbage pail and another harrowing scene where our hero has no choice but to dispose of a bunch of “evidence” when his investigation is nearly compromised by a group of bumbling customs agents. It’s not just the scenes themselves that are powerful, but the little things that the actors do to convey their current states of mind. Louis Koo (Flashpoint), as Jane’s equally strung-out estranged husband, would have been comedic relief in any other movie, but here he gets to flesh out his character and you get the feeling that this is how a heroin-addicted couple’s relationship really would play out.

As with any foreign-language film, it’s better to watch it with the original language track, although the English dub is always good for a laugh.
And as is always the case with a Dragon Dynasty release, the audio and video are excellent on this disc, as are the special features.
Commentary By Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan: The Weinstein Company once again trots out Bey Logan for the feature commentary track, and as usual he displays his ecyclopedic knowledge of all things Hong Kong, at least as far as film goes. While not offering a ton of insider information concerning the making of this particular film, his commentary track is nonetheless informative and at the very least mildly entertaining.

The Making Of Protégé: The 15-minute making-of featurette is actually a highly-informative segment with Derek Yee in which he discusses how important it was to him to be as realistic as possible in his depiction of the world of heroin dealers and the addicts they sell to, and then explains how they were able to attain that level of realism..

Undercover & Over The Edge: An Exclusive interview With Leading Man Daniel Wu: In this 27-minute interview, Wu discusses a wide range of topics, including his respect for Derek Yee and Andy Lau, as well as his belief that the real star of the film is Tsz Tung Tsei as Jane’s daughter.

Chasing The Dragon: An Exclusive interview With Leading Lady Zhang Jing-chu: In this segment, which runs 22 minutes, the radiant Jing-chu discusses how she prepared for the gritty role of Jane and compares it to her role in Rush Hour 3.

The Dealer: An Exclusive Interview With Producer Peter Cha: Cha expounds on his role as producer and just what that entails in this informative 14-minute interview.

Also included is the original theatrical trailer.

With stark realism and gritty scenes, Protégé depicts the world of illegal drugs on every level, from the druglords, dealers, runners, and “cooks” to the strung-out users, from the federal undercover agents and their bosses to the inept customs agents looking for the mid-level bust that will put their careers on the fast track. It is this realism and grit that make Protégé a special film, along the lines of 2001’s Traffic, Steven Soderbergh’s excellent story of the North and South American drug trade.

Movie rating – 3.5

Disc Rating – 4