THE STOOL PIGEON starts tough and ends tough. The plot sees a HK cop struggling with his conscience over his use of informants. On his last op things went bad and his "stool pigeon" was hacked nearly to death with machetes; now he's mad and alone, with our hero volunteering at a homeless shelter to help him. A top Taiwanese gangster is in town though, looking for a big score in a HK jewelry shop; so our cop recruits a new informer - a street racer just out of jail, who needs money to pay off his father's debt which has led to his sister becoming a hooker - and infiltrates him into the gang as their wheelman. Throw in a tragic gangsters moll and you've got a corking B-movie plot that moves fast and hits hard. The machete attacks are savage, although thankfully more is suggested than shown, and the final fight in an abandoned school is nerve wracking in its intensity. The emotional side is less sure though, especially the hero's ludicrous back story: after his last informant got hurt he got drunk, slept with a floozy, contracted syphilis, gave it to his pregnant wife, who chucked herself out of a window after learning the disease would make their child handicapped; and now she has amnesia the cop is trying to re-romance her. It's insanely melodramatic, especially compared to the authentic and matter-of- fact depiction of how the cops and robbers work. Still, this is a great film with excellent scenes of action and tension.

'Brutally honest' would be the term I'd use to best describe this particular feature. Although the term 'brutal' is often associated with the violent content exhibited in a film, the level of blood in The Stool Pigeon never takes away from the storyline.Don Lee (Nick Cheung) is an officer, still suffering the ramifications of past decisions that led to his former informant, Jabber (Kai Chi Liu) been discovered by the men he was snitching on. Although Lee is attempting to atone for his mistakes, this is made increasingly more difficult by his boss (Li Sheng-cheong), who adamantly believes the ends justify the means. If ever he had a white whale, it would be Barbarian (Lu Yi), a brilliant and psychotically violent thief, who has recently returned to promulgate another job.Advised to insert an informant into his crew, Lee discovers Ghost Jr (Nicholas Tse), a young man on the verge of being released from prison, whose adept driving skills would make him an asset to Barbarian. Immediately turning Lee's offer down, Ghost Jr instead opts to spend time with his sister (Sherman Chung), who has been thrust into a life of prostitution to pay off their late father's debts. Though their father is largely unexplored, his actions have inevitably shaped their lives, which forces Ghost Jr to make a life changing decision.Under Lee's directive, he initiates contact with Tai-Ping (Philip Keung), the leader of a gang whose cronies have assisted Barbarian on previous jobs. Descending into a world where every move could potentially be his last, the impact of danger, betrayal and paranoia continuously gnawing at the viewers, Ghost Jr quickly finds solace in Barbarian's unappreciated girlfriend Dee (Gwei Lun-mei), their immediate mutual attraction based upon a history that is explored over the course of the story. But events begin to spiral out of control, and one question that later emerges is this: will Ghost Jr live to see his dream of saving his sister fulfilled? Although Lee advises officers who will later have informants of their own not to become emotionally attached, he, hypocritically, is unable to separate his personal feelings from the scenario. The use of scenes, detailing previous events that have recently occurred over the course of his career demonstrates that it is not only the informants who have a grueling existence, the police having an equally unpleasant role. Having made a number of decisions and mistakes that he is not proud of, Lee is able to admit his faults, making him a sympathetic and respectable character to have headlining this feature. The relationship he has with his wife Cher (Miao Pu) provides the audience with not only another source of emotional depth, but a source of hope for the future.Due to his screen time, though Mr Tse's portrayal of Ghost Jr is just as proficient, it is overshadowed by the focus that seems to continuously drift towards Mr. Cheung. Despite been a criminal, and persistently asking for money, Ghost Jr is a likable character, not only for his gentlemanly qualities, but his unflinching devotion to family, wanting desperately to be his sister's hero. Ms. Mei also deserved additional screen time, her portrayal of Dee effectively developing a character who, although compassionately emotional, is capable of blunt ferocity, her life choices based upon what is happening right now, rather than on what is right.As aforementioned, Lee's past is explored over the course of several scenes, while Ghost Jr and Dee's is often articulated verbally. It would have been beneficial for more depth to have been provided to their back-stories, though the decision to focus more on Lee may have been so audiences had the opportunity to acknowledge the sacrifices officers are forced to make, the shared pain of Ghost Jr and Dee needing no further attention, for their lives effectively represent the grueling nature of their existences.A moment during the film involving a car race is quite possibly the film's most unenthusiastic moment, the scene, despite been well choreographed, lacking any real entertainment. Unable to live up to the outstanding visuals audiences have been awed by in the Fast and the Furious franchise, the scene appears to be comprised of cliché crashes and sounds that fail to cement the viewer in the moment. This aside, The Stool Pigeon is not an action movie, and for the most part, it's a plot driven police drama with substantial depth provided to its characters.Although firearms make an appearance, more often than not, machetes and other serrated weapons are used by villainous characters as they pursue their hapless victims. The sound of flesh been sliced, alongside the screams of agony really impacts the viewer, with not only the horror articulated during these torturous moments, but the ever mounting tension.Unlike other films dedicated to portraying the lives of police officers, The Stool Pigeon does not rely upon exaggerated footage, instead capturing the brutal realism of the lives officers and informants alike struggle to cope with. Emotionally in-depth and thought provoking, the audience are also inclined to work as detectives to piece the storyline, that isn't always set in chronological order, together, which makes for a continuously interesting feature. By the end of the film, viewers may feel the need to question who the real antagonists are in the film, and who really are the victims.

The term/title itself gets explained in the movie, which you should watch if you like Hong Kong action cinema in general. While most people are looking for the new John Woo (movie) or the new Johnnie To (movie), a veteran filmmaker almost slipped under the radar. And it would be a shame if you'd miss out on this one.Action packed, but still with character driven plot(s), this will not let you rest easy. There is always moral dilemma involved and of course it is difficult to watch our hero go through some of the trials and tribulations he has to go through (and maybe not all that is supposed to be good, is actually good). That is another thing that you either love or hate. Thank you Dante Lam for this excellent movie

Hong Kong's crime thrillers are renowned for their portrayal of police undercover. "The informant" is almost an education – we the audience soon learn that informant has a more tragic fate. The undercover agent is a police officer servicing with pride, and emerges a hero if he is successful in his assignment. An informant works under a business contract (filed with the government attorney office), for money alone. Both are of course dangerous and if they die, the undercover agent dies a hero while the informant dies a nobody. I suspect that even the criminals have certain respect for the undercover agent but despise the informant.This movie takes some pain in portraying the tragic lives of an informant through story lines which are familiar to followers of Hong Kong crime movies. Some may fault it for having too many characters and stories but director Dante Lam's skillful and effective delivery of the stories renders the movie easy to follow. The action sequences will satisfy the most demanding action (and violence) junkies. The poignant blend in well. There is little humour in this generally gloomy affair but the farcical first encounter of the central pair of protagonist is rather ingenious.Nicholas Tse, like Leonardo DiCaprio, working hard on shedding the pretty boy image, has achieved a measure of success in the movie as a recently discharged inmate recruited to be an informant. Nick Cheung, often explosive on screen, has also tried his own out-of-character thing as the police officer who recruited Tse. He has done well in deliberate underplaying, portraying an almost stoic, soft-spoken man who caught between the authorities that often sells the informant short and the informant that he comes to care about. KWAI Lunmei is yet another case of casting against type, doing quite an impressive job as a tough criminal from the mainland playing a brief interlude of Bonnie and Clyde with Tse. Acclaimed character actor LIU Kai Chi showcases his acting in a minor but impressive role as one of Cheung's informant driven to a mental breakdown.