Movie Review: The Last Tycoon (2012) directed by Jing Wong
Back in the 1910s, when Chen Daqi (Chow-Yun Fat) was just a grocer’s assistant, he fell in love with aspiring actress Ye Zhiqiu (Quan Yuan). After Daqi was framed for murder, he had to flee to Shanghai, while Zhiqiu went to Beijing to join the Opera. Daqi was able to get a position with Hong Shou Ting (Sammo Hung), crime lord of Shanghai, and quickly rose in the ranks. Although he did finally come to Beijing to be with Zhiqiu, she proved unable to handle his new violent lifestyle and they wound up marrying other people.
Now it is 1937, and Chen Daqi is on top of the world. He’s got wealth, power, connections and a wife who is both hot and loyal. Except that this is 1937 in Shanghai, and the Japanese Army is about to attack. Oh, and Ye Zhiqiu is in town with her husband, who is an intellectual and secretly working for a certain revolutionary group. Daqi’s old “friend” General Mao Zai wants a list of the members of the group Zhiqiu’s husband supposedly has and pressures Daqi into making a connection. Plus General Nishino pf the Japanese Army would like Daqi’s help in subduing anti-Japanese resistance. Now would be a bad time for Daqi’s old enemies to resurface.
So naturally they do. Treachery and violence ensues.
This Hong Kong movie is very loosely based on events in the life of real world Shanghai gangster Du Yuesheng. As is common in gangster movies, Chen Daqi is turned into the stereotype of the “honorable” gangster whose illegal activities are confined to fighting and killing other, worse, gangsters. He specifically eschews certain less honorable criminal enterprises his inspiration is known to have heavily indulged in. And once Daqi does move against the Japanese, it’s a much more heroic endeavor than the real gangster ever pulled off.
Okay, whitewashing aside, how’s the movie? There’s some fine acting by Chow-Yun Fat and Sammo Hung, plenty of well-shot violence, and the music’s good (one song won Best Original song at the Hong Kong Film Awards.)
I especially liked Hu Gao as Lin Huai, a rival of Chen Daqui that becomes his bodyguard, and explains that his name is written with the characters for “villain.” He’s a fun person.
Content notes: Implied rape, off-camera torture.
Recommended to Chow-Yun Fat fans who aren’t too picky about historical realism.
