“The Tipping Point” Movie Review

 

“The Tipping Point”

Movie Review

 

 

 

Directed by Lin Delu, 'The Tipping Point' is a Chinese film whose story is the beginning of a massive crackdown on crime and corporate corruption ordered from the provincial level by Cheng Rui, played by Zhou Yiwei, the son of a heroic policeman who dies 15 years ago, the rapid growth of the banking and financial sector reached Wan Hai, where the crime was rampant. Du Yulin, played by Wang Jinsong, the senior vice chief of the city's police department, welcomes Cheng Rui, and he is appointed as deputy to LV Peng, played by Shao Bing, head of the CID's anti-corruption force. Cheng Rui is soon assigned the case of Zhao Xuning, a Wanhai University student who fell to her death from a building. Cheng Rui questions her best friend and roommate An Ran, played by Zhang Yishang, who says that Zhao Xuning is not suicidal; He also interrogates Zhao Xianyu, an economics professor played by the business-minded Zhang Zhilin. When Zhao Xuning's parents are harassed by money lenders, Cheng Rui and his gang arrest them.

 

During the investigation, the team found that Zhao Xuning had taken out seven different loans totaling 900,000 RMB and that the people behind the loan companies were all the same. Meanwhile, Zhou Tong, played by Qin Hailu, head of Blue Sea Wealth's lending company, orders his enforcement team to call in all loans of any kind. Cheng Rui is pressured by his ultimate boss, Wanhai anti-corruption team leader Chen Guodong played by Zhang Xilin, to close the case as quickly as possible, as all eyes are on the city. Cheng Rui suspects that Hou Wenwu, played by Wang Xun, the general manager of Xinxing Property Insurance, is somehow involved, but he can't prove it. Du Yulin and Lv Peng both follow procedure and urge him to find the evidence first – an approach underlined by Public Prosecutor Shen Xuan, played by Dong Xuan. Hou Wenwu has a close business relationship with prominent businessman An Yiming, played by Zeng Shiwei, the head of Haichuang Group and Zhou Dong's husband.

 

Zhao Xianyu's friend, Yiming, who had long been rumored to have underworld connections, celebrated Haichuang receiving a large bank loan. After An Ron tells them that she found his business card in one of Zhao Xuning's books, Cheng Rui and his team visit Hou Wenwu at his home. When they arrive, An Yiming leaves Hu Wenwu's house and finds An Ran, who turns out to be his daughter who came with Cheng Rui, waiting in the car outside. He asks his daughter to take him home; She immediately begins to suspect her father. That evening, a masked female assassin kills Hu Wenwu at his home and escapes when Cheng Rui and his team come to question him again. Then Zhou Tong's elder brother Zhou Zhenghua is released from 15 years in prison on An Yiming's behalf. He really hates settling down with An Yiming who doesn't even come to greet him. Instead, An Yiming's second wife, Zhou Tong, visits her brother and gives him RMB200,000. But Zhou Zhenghua still wanted to keep his mouth shut.

 

Director Lin Delu crosses the border to tackle the fight against mainland corruption with The Tipping Point. Storm Quintet is as rooted in local crime-fighting cliches as it was in Hong Kong, but at least it has a literate script that chews through some of the issues while maintaining the tension of who's hiding.

 

The opening scenes of the film directly show that Tipping Point will be a challenging journey as political elites lecture police officers on the need to crack down on criminals. As a rookie officer sent to join the squad in the fictional city of Wanhai, Cheng Rui is a hard-nosed hero who pushes forward despite coming up against official interference on the one hand and personal stonewalling on the other. Where Tipping Point scores, it earns an extra point for being a commanding film, in its script, which weaves a web of interconnected stories out of the apparent suicide case of a university student. Rather than any clever plot twists, the focus comes from their scheming characters. This, combined with Zhou's commanding performance, makes the whole thing a great ensemble film, with Zeng's scheming entrepreneur-like outsized personalities all enjoying their time in the sun.

 

On the criminal side, veteran actress Qin Hailu at least gets a decent setpiece, the ever-changing Wang Xun shines briefly as a systematically corrupt businessman, and LV Liangwei gives Zheng a run as a more ex-con with payback in his mind. On the police side, Wang Jinzong is suspiciously friendly as one of Cheng Rui's superiors, and Zhao Ping is in the written role as Cheng Rui's immediate superior; As a public prosecutor who knows her stuff, the charming Dong Xuan elevates the film's small female ensemble with poise. The script wants to draw a parallel between one of the lessons he teaches and the main plot, but the idea isn't really developed, and Zhang and his character feel isolated.

 

At a great pace, without skipping the flesh, Tipping Point passes the time in an entertaining way and has some powerful moments. But because its multi-threaded plot lacks a worthy finale, it ends up being a pretty by-the-book crime drama.

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