Go for Broke

重生

China/Hong Kong, 2024, colour, 2.35:1, 113 mins.

Director: Ma Yuke 马浴柯.

Rating: 7/10.

Another tough, twisty crime drama by Mainland actor-turned-director Ma Yuke, with a strong cast again led by Hong Kong’s Zhang Jiahui [Nick Cheung] and Taiwan’s Ruan Jingtian.

STORY

Somewhere in Southeast Asia, the present day. Chinese fisherman Zhang Yao returns to coastal Fei city after seven months at sea to find his wife has become a drug addict, was forced to sell their small restaurant, and their young daughter died in a car accident. Out of shame, his wife then commits suicide in front of him. Two years later, in Man city, drugs squad leader An Du (Ruan Jingtian) arrests some traffickers but is told that the city’s police chief, An Pei {Gao Jie) – who is An Du’s uncle – wants him to go easy on the traffickers’ boss, dying drug lord Mu Kun (Vithaya Pansringarm). Meanwhile, Mu Kun’s aide, Herta (Chen Guokun), tells him that his long-lost son of 40-plus years has finally been located: Shawang is a dangerous drugs criminal currently held in Fei city’s most lawless prison, where he’s feared by the other inmates. Mu Kun tells Herta to bring Shawang to him somehow, as he wants to see his son before he dies. In the prison, Shawang is murdered by some guards and Zhang Yao takes his place. On the boat to Man city, the crew, on Herta’s orders, try to kill “Shawang” but he survives. He’s then met briefly at sea by An Du, who set up the whole deception. Both men have serious issues to sort out: Zhang Yao wants revenge on drugs traffickers in general and An Du has long hated his corrupt uncle. When “Shawang” arrives at Mu Kun’s mansion in Man city, Herta sets up one of Mu Kun’s men, Wentai, for trying to kill “Shawang” en route. Later there’s a splashy welcome dinner for “Shawang”, at which An Pei, his abused woman Nanqian (Zhang Rongrong) and An Du are among the guests. An Du announces they’ve found the people who stole some drugs from Mu Kun – a gang led by Balai (Ma Yuke) that hangs out at the so-called “black building”, a dingy warehouse full of druggies and criminals. “Shawang” offers to sort out the problem the next day, when he takes on Balai, retrieves the drugs and recruits Balai to work for him personally. In the warehoue he also kills the “bodyguards” sent by the jealous Herta to “protect” him. “Shawang” ends up running Mu Kun’s whole operation and eventually turns over a detailed dossier to An Du, as planned. However, An Du says that, before moving in, they must locate Mu Kun’s secret money vault, as well as his book of all the corrupt officials who are on his payroll. To do this, An Du tells “Shawang” he has a plan to ignite conflict within Mu Kun’s group, starting with his own uncle, police chief An Pei.

REVIEW

Mainland actor-turned-director Ma Yuke 马浴柯, 45, follows last year’s hard-driven gangster drama Wolf Hiding 怒潮 (2023) with another crime yarn that’s equally tough if not quite so stygian. Go for Broke 重生, his second feature, uses the same two stars – Hong Kong’s Zhang Jiahui 张家辉 [Nick Cheung] and Taiwan’s Ruan Jingtian 阮经天 – as well as the same co-writer, Gu Haoran 顾浩然, in a tale, set in an unidentified Southeast Asian country, about two men’s elaborate takedown of a veteran druglord. Zhang is as good as ever in a blackly comic role and Ruan again shows that, in the right circumstances (e.g. hitman black comedy The Pig the Snake and the Pigeon 周处除三害, 2023), he can be much more than his rather bland image, coming through strongly in the film’s second half. The result took a very nice RMB465 million in the Mainland, considerably up on Wolf’s okay RMB229 million.

Shooting wrapped in Thailand in summer 2023, almost two years after Wolf, with a largely different crew that included a change of d.p. to Hong Kong’s versatile Xie Zhongdao 谢忠道 [Kenny Tse] (Cold War 寒战, 2012; Ip Man 3 叶问3, 2015; Line Walker: The Movie 使徒行者, 2016; The Procurator 检察风云, 2023), which may partly explain the movie’s much lighter colour palette than Wolf. That’s not to say that Go for Broke isn’t dark when it needs to be – an early sequence in a hellish prison, a later one set in a dark and dingy warehouse – but in all aspects the film isn’t as relentlessly noir-ish as the previous one.

That’s not a bad thing, as there were times in Wolf when the dense writing and staging, underscored by the black look, made it difficult to keep up with. Broke is much more accessible on a narrative level, and springs two major twists – the second involving a 14-minute flashback – just when the viewer thinks everything is almost settled. Action – this time staged by Shanghai-born Wu Gang 伍刚 (Detective Chinatown 唐人街探案 series, 2015-21; Soul Snatcher 赤狐书生, 2020; Wonder Family 超能一家人, 2023) – is equally gutsy and well-staged, without being quite so full-on, and gunplay (especially a massive six-minute shootout around the 60-minute mark) is consistently gripping. Like many crime dramas of its kind, Broke has a strong anti-drugs message but also exploits the setting for all it’s worth.

Always an interesting actor, Zhang, 56, has one of his most extrovert roles as a simple fisherman whose family life is wrecked by drug traffickers and who then seeks revenge by helping a police squad leader take down the country’s top druglord by impersonating his no-good, long-lost son. In a long blond wig and acting dangerously insane for much of the time, Zhang carries the movie in the double role. As the policeman who plans the whole thing – partly to get back at his corrupt uncle, the chief of police (Taiwan veteran Gao Jie 高捷 [Jack Kao], effortlessly evil) – Ruan, 41, underplays his role in the first half but lets the brakes off after that.

As the police chief’s abused woman, French-Taiwan actress Zhang Rongrong 张榕容 [Sandrine Pinna], 37, not so often seen on the big screen nowadays, boosts a smallish role with her subtle playing. Performances are strong down the line, from Ma himself as a zoned-out druggie, through Hong Kong’s Chen Guokun 陈国坤 (Wolf Hiding) as the druglord’s ambitious aide, to Thai regular Vithaya Pansringarm (The White Storm 扫毒, 2013; Operation Mekong 湄公河行动, 2016; Paradox 杀破狼 贪狼, 2017) as his dying boss.

Aside from Xie’s widescreen photography, other production credits are reliable, with Hong Kongers Xi Zhongwen 奚仲文 [Yee Chung-man] and Ouyang Xia 欧阳霞 [Connie Auyeung] contributing a strong sense of styling and their compatriot Kuang Zhiliang 邝志良 again bringing the whole thing in at under two hours. Though the setting is never identified as Thailand, some Thai is spoken here and there. The film’s Chinese title means “Rebirth”.

CREDITS

Presented by Asia Pacific National Film (Shenzhen) (CN), Shanghai Maoyan Pictures (CN), China Film (CN), Bad Boy (Beijing) Media (CN), Maoyan Entertainment (Hong Kong) (HK), Phoenix Legend Films (CN), Wushuang (Shenzhen) Film (CN), Beijing Ultra Comedy Culture Communication (CN). Produced by Bad Boy (Beijing) Media (CN).

Script: Script: Ma Yuke, Gu Haoran, Zhao Haozhe. Photography: Xie Zhongdao [Kenny Tse]. Editing: Kuang Zhiliang. Music: Ding Ke. Art direction: Zhao Xuehao. Styling: Xi Zhongwen [Yee Chung-man], Ouyang Xia [Connie Auyeung]. Sound: Ren Liang, Wu Jingjing, Wang Chong. Action: Wu Gang. Car stunts: Wu Haitang. Visual effects: Liu Hao, Dou Yuqing.

Cast: Zhang Jiahui [Nick Cheung] (Zhang Yao), Ruan Jingtian (An Du), Zhang Rongrong [Sandrine Pinna] (Nanqian, An Pei’s woman), Ma Yuke (Balai), Chen Guokun (Herta), Zhang Li (Yu), Jiang Yixuan (Zoela, TAI Chinese TV representative), Vithaya Pansringarm (Mu Kun), Narilya Gulmongkolpech (Bamei), Gao Jie [Jack Kao] (An Pei, police chief), Pan Taiming (secretary-general), Xian Yuxuan (Tata), Gu Haoran (Mu Kun’s lawyer).

Release: China, 16 Aug 2024; Hong Kong, 10 Oct 2024.