Back in the mid-1990s, Hollywood discovered Hong Kong cinema and brought over many of those filmmakers and actors to shoot for US stardom. With 1999's The Corruptor, Chow Yun-fat made his second stab at American fame.

Lieutenant Nick Chen (Chow) leads the NYPD Asian Gang Unit. He tries to keep the peace in Chinatown, a task complicated because Nick secretly takes money as an informant for one of the gangs.

Nick ends up paired with Detective Danny Wallace (Mark Wahlberg). When one of the gangs also tries to bribe Danny, Nick deals with a conflict.

As noted at the start, Corruptor represented Chow’s second US movie. 1998’s The Replacement Killers came first and found him little American audience with a $19 million gross here.

Did Corruptor fare any better? No, as it made a mere $15 million US on a $25 million budget.

1999 also brought Anna and the King, a romantic drama with Jodie Foster. Though it did decently internationally, its $39 million US made it another disappointment for Chow in the States.

Ironically, Chow’s most notable US success came from 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. An international production with Chinese dialogue and themes, it earned $128 million in the States.

2003’s Bulletproof Monk became another US flop and I guess this left Chow in “writing on the wall” territory, as he essentially returned to Hong Kong for the rest of his career. Outside of a supporting part in 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Chow’s spent the rest of his career back in Asia.

Based on the evidence of his brief Hollywood stint, this seems like the right choice. Replacement Killers offered a mediocre experience at best and Corruptor fares no better.

Best-known for character dramas like 1986’s At Close Range and 1992’s Glengarry Glen Ross, director James Foley seems like the wrong choice for this kind of pseudo-Hong Kong affair. As hard as Foley tries to channel his inner John Woo, he can’t pull off that form of theatrical action.

But Foley really does give it a go. He throws out all the attributes of that particular genre in his attempt to meld Hollywood and Hong Kong.

The end product seems hyperactive but not exciting. While the film comes with all sorts of inherent intrigue and drama, Foley can’t make it work.

The story seems disjointed and less than coherent. The scenes don’t hold together in a particularly clean manner and the overall narrative can feel jerky.

We also get no chemistry whatsoever from the leads. Elsewhere on this disc, we get an interview with Chow in which it becomes clear he speaks English well.

Based on his performance in Corruptor, though, I assumed he didn’t know English much at all and learned his role phonetically. Chow seems out of place and awkward, as he overacts relentlessly and can’t deliver his lines in a convincing manner.

On the other hand, Wahlberg underplays Danny pretty severely, though this becomes a decent counterpoint to Chow’s work. Never much of an actor, Wahlberg actually does reasonably well, albeit not exactly Oscar caliber.

Still, I can’t find much of a connection between Chow and Wahlberg. They never mesh as a team and no one else picks up the slack.

Between mismatched leads and a director out of his depth, The Corruptor becomes a fairly forgettable cop flick. Nothing about it makes it bad but it fails to connect.

The Corruptor appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Overall this became a solid presentation.

Sharpness seemed largely positive. Some light softness impacted occasional wide shots, but the majority of the movie boasted strong delineation.

The image lacked shimmering or jaggies, and no edge haloes appeared. Grain felt natural and the print came with no defects.

The flick’s palette leaned toward a lot of red and blues. The hues worked as intended and demonstrated good range.

Blacks felt dark and dense, while shadows appeared smooth and concise. This wound up as a high-quality scan.

I also felt the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack fared well. The soundfield offered a good sense of the action, especially during the various violent scenes.

Those allowed for various elements to spread around the room and present a nice impression of movement and impact. Music added good impact and the track melded together in a satisfying manner.

Audio quality worked fine. Speech appeared natural and concise.

Music appeared full and rich, while effects were accurate and dynamic. This wound up as a positive soundtrack.

When we shift to extras, we launch with an audio commentary from director James Foley. He provides a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, sets and locations, cinematography and editing, cast and performances, action and stunts, music and sound design, genre domains, social areas and related topics.

Recorded in 1999 on the eve of the movie’s release, from start to finish, Foley makes this a terrific commentary. He offers a thoughtful view of the production and means that we learn a ton about the flick.

Four featurettes follow, and Turning Toronto Into Chinatown spans eight minutes, eight seconds. Here we find a chat with production designer David Brisbin.

The reel covers how Brisbin got into movies as well as his work on Corruptor. He gives us a brief but fairly solid chat.

The Music of Chinatown occupies 11 minutes, 21 seconds. Composer Carter Burwell becomes the focus here.

As expected, Burwell gets into his score for Corruptor as well as his interest in films and other parts of his career. He offers a useful view of these areas.

Next we go to Chow’s Right-Hand Man. An 11-minute, 10-second reel, it involves action director Robert Samuels.

Like Burwell and Brisbin, Samuels talks about his general career as well as his efforts on Corruptor. This winds up as another informative program.

From the (Under) Ground Up goes for 42 minutes, 13 seconds. It involves Foley, screenwriter Robert Pucci, producer Dan Halsted, New Line Senior VP of Creative Marketing Lori Drazen, and actors Chow Yun-fat, Jon Kit Le, Byron Mann, Ric Young, Mark Wahlberg, Andrew Pang, and Elizabeth Lindsey.

A circa 1999 piece, “Up” looks at the project’s development, research and realism, cast, characters and performances, stunts/action, Foley’s impact on the production, and the film’s publicity. We also get a car chase as envisioned before MPAA-mandated cuts.

Outside of Drazen’s fascinating look at marketing, the information provided from the program’s soundbites doesn’t add much. However, we get that car chase and enough footage from the shoot to make “Ground” worth a look.

We also locate a music video for “Take It Off” by UGK. It offers a fairly mediocre rap tune and a fairly mediocre video.

The disc opens with ads for Above the Law and Exiled. We also get a trailer and TV spots for Corruptor.

Part of Hong Kong legend Chow Yun-fat’s brief attempt at Hollywood stardom, The Corruptor offers a lackluster cop-based action flick. Its leads feel mismatched and its director fails to bring excitement or impact to the proceedings. The Blu-ray boasts very good picture and audio as well as a positive mix of supplements. This winds up as a bland genre enterprise.

Note that this Toy Robot Blu-ray edition of The Corruptor comes only as part of a two-disc set with a 4K UHD rendition of the film. Because fans without 4K UHD capabilities might want the package for the Blu-ray, I felt it deserved a review of its own.