Protege

I wasn't really looking forward to watching this movie, especially since it had the name 'Raintree Pictures' attached to it. Yeah, I know I'm just stereotyping them, but I guess it's true what they say, that it's hardest to be accepted by your own people. I didn't catch their last movie 'The Last Dance' but to be honest, the trailer wasn't very exciting in the first place.

PROTEGE stars Andy Lau as a drug trafficker and Daniel Wu as his protege/apprentice. The twist (just like in Infernal Affairs) is that Daniel Wu is actually an undercover cop. Acting wise, well, it doesn't disappoint, but it won't win any awards. The story is fairly interesting. It kinda emulates Leonardo DiCaprio's Blood Diamonds. Blood Diamonds exposes the reality of how these diamonds are actually mined in Africa. Protege brings us behind the scenes on how drugs are trafficked, how they affect the addicts and how they are produced. Andy Lau even brings us on a tour of the poppy fields in Thailand on the backs of elephants! I liked how Daniel Wu falls in love with a girl who is actually a drug addict so he has to come face to face with the effects of the drugs which he is trafficking.

Best line of the show? There's this scene with Andy Lau and the drug lord and he takes out a United Nations report on international drug trafficking and thanks the UN for doing the market survey for them! Hilarious!

On the whole, I have to admit I thought the movie was quite OK. Give it a try.

And oh yes, this is a Raintree Picture production anyway, so look out for how our little island of Singapore is included in the movie!