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Released by: Well Go USA
Released on: September 27, 2011.
Director: Dante Lam
Cast: Nicholas Tse, Nick Cheung
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
Dante Lam's 2010 crime thriller Stool Pigeon follows a cop named Don Lee (Nick Cheung) whose got a knack for passing a few bucks off to the right underworld lackey at the right time in order to get the case cracked. When the film begins, however, we see what happens when things quickly go south during a drug deal when the bad guys figure out there's a snitch amongst them. Lee calls in his men to do what they can before it all hits the fan and while they get the evidence they need, they blow the cover of Jabber (Liu Kai-Chi), Lee's informant. This is bad news for Jabber, as he's beaten all to Hell by the very guys Lee was out to bust.
Jump ahead a year or so and Lee's guilty conscience hasn't stopped him from digging up informants and paying them for information even if his superiors are giving him grief over his methods. The fact that he gets results earns him a bit of leeway but when he starts trying to work with a recently released juvenile offender named Ghost (Nicholas Tse), he might be pushing his luck. Lee can't let this case go, however, as Ghosts' sister (Sherman Cheung) has been kidnapped and forced to work for local gangsters, lead by a guy named Barbarian (Lu Yi), as a hooker in order to work off debts incurred with the mobsters by their father. Ghost and Lee strike up an unusual partnership, with one trying to figure the other out while both working towards the same goal, and that's busting up that nasty mob that's whoring out Ghosts' sister on the streets of Hong Kong.
A solid and engrossing thriller, Stool Pigeon benefits not only from Lam's tense and slick storytelling and some great, gritty cinematography but also from some great performances. Nicholas Tse is very good as Ghost, a young man with a penchant for street racing and a vested interest in the underworld given his past and his family's connections. He provides enough believable emotion in the part that we can buy him in the role and his interactions with Nick Cheung, while initially shaky, prove to be the backbone of the film. Cheung, who earned no shortage of acclaim for Beast Stalker, his previous collaboration with Dante Lam, is also excellent here, playing Lee with a realistic sense of jaded regret and world weary nihilism but not to the point of cliché.
As good as the movie is, however, some are bound to take issue with a few scenes in which things probably should have been reeled back a little bit. There are moments here, without wanting to head into serious spoiler territory, where the story and the acting got just a little too far over the top and as such, our suspension of disbelief is stretched to the point where, yes, we are pulled out of the movie a bit. Additionally, there are moments where you have to accuse Lam of heading directly into 'style over substance' territory when maybe the film would have worked better had things been toned down just a little bit. These are minor quibbles, however, and overall The Stool Pigeon is a well made and very well acted character study set against a tense and exciting Hong Kong criminal underworld.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Stool Pigeon looks pretty slick on Blu-ray in this AVC encoded 1080p high definition 2.35.1 widescreen transfer from Well Go USA. Colors are nicely defined and black levels are decent throughout, if sometimes a little bit on the murky side. Flesh tones look nice and accurate though there are some shots where the lighting plays a part in making things look a little bit off - this was obviously done on purpose, however, and is not a flaw with the picture quality here. Detail is strong, especially in close up shots as you'd guess, and aside from some very minor edge enhancement the movie turns out to look pretty damn good here.
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio tracks are provided in Cantonese and in English with optional subtitles provided in English only. The Cantonese track is preferable here but the English track sounds fine for what it is even if the dubbing is a little goofy in spots. Directional effects don't overwhelm you like they do on some surround mixes but there's plenty of rear channel activity here to keep you engrossed in the movie. The score sounds nice and succinct, each instrument easy to pick out in the mix, while dialogue is properly balanced as are the levels for the effects and score. Though the low end of the mix is strong for the most part, there are one or two spots where the bass response could have been maybe a little bit stronger than it is but that's a minor issue and overall things sound pretty impressive. Optional subtitles are provided in English only and optional Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks are provided in both Cantonese and English.
Extras start off with a forty six minute featurette entitled 'Behind The Scenes' which is a collection of footage shot on set during the production presented randomly without any narration and sometimes without any sound. It's cool to see what it was like on set but without any context this isn't particularly valuable. A bit more interesting is the fifteen minute 'Making Of' featurette which actually includes some interviews with the cast and crew alongside more footage shot during the production of the film. Here the cast members at least discuss their characters a bit so it's more than just fly-on-the-wall clips but it doesn't really go into too much detail.
Rounding out the extras are ten minutes worth of deleted scenes and two trailers for the film (the trailers are the only extras presented in high definition). Animated menus are included as are chapter stops and some promo spots for other Well Go USA titles play before the menu loads. As this is a combo pack release, a DVD is included along with the Blu-ray disc, it contains identical extras.
The Final Word:
If Stool Pigeon isn't a perfect crime thriller it's still an above average movie that is well worth a watch for those with an interest in the genre, especially those with an affinity for Hong Kong cinema. Lam's picture is slick and engrossing and the performances quite strong, which makes it easy to overlook a few missteps here and there. Well Go's Blu-ray release doesn't blow you away with the extra features but it looks good and sounds great too.
Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!
