Directed by Jing Wong, The Last Tycoon tells the story of Cheng Daqi (Chow Yun-Fat), a real life gangster who rocketed to godfather status in Shanghai from 1913 to 1940. The film chronicles his meteoric rise to power in the underworld, his romantic life as well as his involvement in financing the Kuomintang whose goal was to fight Mao and the communist rebels as well at keeping the Japanese at bay from ruling Shanghai unjustly once they conquered it.
The idea and story behind Cheng Daqi (aka Du Yuesheng) is a fascinating one because A, it’s a gangster movie, B, it’s about a gangster with serious principles, and C, apparently the history of Cheng Daqi is banned from being taught in schools in China, that’s how rebelliously awesome he was.
Cheng’s character intrigued me because he came off like the humanitarian version of Tony Montana from Scarface. He ran the show in Shanghai but avoided your typical gangster money making schemes thanks to the the teachings of his mentor Hong shouting (Sammo Hung), he banned all the vices that typically cause trouble like gambling and prostitution. He started off as this rowdy character that you’d see rumbling in the streets as a typical street level thug and managed to work his way up thanks to some bold decisions and newfound influential friends.
While much of the film is about how he came to power and how he handles the power struggles and changing political atmosphere in Shanghai, the rest of the film is about him growing as a person and finding love. After getting arrested, his hometown love Ye Zhiqiu moved to Beijing but the two promised to meet again after he made some money in Shanghai and she became a famous singer. After finally meeting up and then being involved in a gunfight, she no longer wanted to be involved with him and so he had no choice but move on and find a new lady. Eventually Bao becomes his woman and she understood that while he will always love and protect Ye Zhiqiu, she knows he is hers and she is his. Eventually Ye returns to Shanghai and that’s when the love problems takes off. We get to witness the internal struggle that Cheng experiences while trying to protect the ones he cares for, which is surprisingly one of the stronger aspects of this battle driven gangster film, except when it takes a corny and sappy route like many Chinese cinematic scenes tend to do.
The Last Tycoon has a cool story to boot and features a ton of solid action sequences but it does have its pitfalls. Some of the dialogue is, as I already mentioned, a bit corny, the CGI for any sequence involving planes was low grade and frankly unacceptable and the life montage that they include at the end was wasted time and takes away from the badass and, what would have been, impactful nature of the ending.
Part love story, part morally responsible gangster tale, part biopic, The Last Tycoon is a cool gangster film that has it’s shaky moments but provides us with a very different type of gangster then we are used to seeing in films. Furthermore, it’s an example of how a patriotic Asian movie can be made without feeling overzealous and in your face. Wong finds a nice balance between action, drama, and romance while also being able to show support for a man who no longer can be taught in schools. If you like action, gangsters and Chow Yun-Fat then you should definitely check this one out.
Rating: If Tony Montana were a dignified political man this would be his tale (6.3/10)
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