Customer Reviews

Red Corner [Region 2]

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In this 1997 Political Thriller, Richard Gere and Director Jon Avnet(Up Close and Personal/Fried Green Tomatoes)have made a film that brings to light the lack of freedoms given to defendants in the Chineese judicial system.A sytem where a defendant is guilty until proven innocent,where pleading guilty(even if innocent) may prove for a more lenient punishment then defending yourself.

In this gripping eye-opener Gere plays American lawyer Jack Moore trying to close a huge deal with the Chineese Film Ministry. While being wined and dined, he meets and spends the night with a beautiful woman. They drink, have fun, and make love. Moore is shocked to be awakened in the morning by the Police taking him into custody for the girl's violent murder.
He's got her blood all over him, fingerprints all around,and is in her bed. The case is pretty much sealed from that moment on.
To make matters worse, the woman is the daughter of a very important General.Was he framed for this horrific crime? If so, why?

Moore is pretty much left on his own. The American Embassy is no great help to him.(The point is made in the film that if this were a foreigner in our country, in the same situation, we would not want their government interfering either).Then he is assigned an advocate who he has never met, nor discussed the case with. Shen Yeulin(Ling Bai) as well as being young and beautiful, is an intellegent lawyer who knows the ropes of the Chineese legal system. She insists Moore plead guilty to possibly avoid execution. Moore insists that he is innocent, and as he points out the discrepencies of the case to her, she puts her reputation and career on the line and they work together to prove his innocence.

There are many gripping as well as poignant moments,in and out of the courtroom, in the film. Moore escapes at one point running across the rooftops heading for that beautiful American Flag at the Embassy. Shen Yeulin does some secretive investigating on her own, and gets roughed up for her efforts.And of course the beautiful friendship that develops between Moore and Shen Yeulin is heartwarming.

The story is enlightening and thought provoking as well as entertaining. It is beautifully filmed, with a beautiful score by Thomas Newman. Richard Gere makes good use of our own Freedom of Expression, to expose this form of government. He was awarded the Freedom of Expression Award from the Nat'l Board of Review for his efforts.
Ling Bai is stunning in her portrayal of the dissenting Chineese lawyer and reiceved the Best Breakthrough Award from the same board. The film also recieved an award for "Democracy" from the Political Film Society.

The transfer to DVD(MGM) is beautiful. This theatrically released widescreen edition takes in all the action and scenery.The picture is crisp and clear in all scenes, and the colors are vivid. The Sound is in 5.1 surround and the dialouge also clear. Extras include Audio commentary by Avnet which can be played during the film if you choose. There are some production notes, an original theatrical trailer and may be viewed in French.It also comes with a very informative booklet of a behind the scenes look.

If you already know you like this film, you should be happy with this DVD. If you havn't seen it, it's well worth the view.
Check it out.....Laurie

More Richard Gere:Sommersby

First Knight

(see my reviews for film details)

It could actually have been a very good film apart from the fact that the characters were too black and white. The story sometimes appears (unintentially?)ridiculously funny (scratches instead of broken bones, hair too-well groomed despite several days in his 1 Star hotel,learning Chinese Law for Dummies by candlelight in 3 days, a very beautiful lawyer vs an ugly judge, the US Embassy within walking/jumping distance in a city with only 12 Million (ok, 10+ when this film was made)). Although Gere is known for his political convictions, having a go at China in this way seemed to me rather immature and actually counter-productive. The behaviour of the Embassy officials seemed to confirm my belief that some of the material was taken from "Midnight Express", which is for me a classic. OK, if you are only wishing for a bit of action, a few surprises, learn a bit of Chinese but don`t wish to have a discussion afterwards about Chinese politics, then this film is Ok...I'll give it 1 Star plus one for Ling Bai =2 Stars, which means this review will probably never be read :-)

Red Corner shows what can occur in the courts of China. It emphasizes the need for change.
In the movie, Gere's character has to go through an uphill battle to prove his innocence. He is told that he is guilty before he has even given a chance to argue in trial. The end result of the movie proves satisfying.
Giovanni's review is inaccurate. Gere's acting is good. His character is not a common business man. Giovanni must have missed part of the movie because it is shown that Gere's character studied law at Harvard. His character requests for a English translation of the Chinese laws and studies them. He uses his intelligence to figure out what can be done in the courtroom, but learns that the laws that he read about don't stand for much.

I saw the last half of this movie on thisTV but found out it was out of print so I bought a used copy. While the subject matter is a political hot potato, this was a pretty good "made in Hollywood" movie, especially Bai Ling's performance as the female lawyer who steps in to defend Richard Gere from false charges - at first believing him to be guilty and then growing to see that he is innocent. The other thing that adds to the emotional depth of the movie is the beautiful music score. For these two reasons alone it is worth getting a copy of this movie.

`Red Corner' released in '97 is a surprisingly taunt, entertaining and subdued romantic murder mystery.

Synopsis: Jack Moore (Richard Gere) is an American businessman entrapped within the Chinese Communist legal system. He awakens from a romantic one night stand to find himself accused of the grisly murder of a beautiful Chinese woman. A woman who also happens to be the daughter of a powerful Communist official, Jack pleas of innocence fall on deaf ears until he convinces his attorney Shen Yuelin (Ling Bai) that he is being framed. Can one lone female voice halt the powerful forces that seek the death of the American?

Richard Gere delivers a strong performance, but Ling Bai is the real star as the demure, yet strong willed and beautiful attorney. `Red Corner' is a little strong handed in its depiction of justice behind the Bamboo Curtain, but the story and romance make it well worth the time.

Jack Moore (Richard Gere) is in China trying to close the deal on a lucrative TV contract when he meets a beautiful girl at a nightclub. Sparks fly and Jack finds himself spending a wonderful night with her. But when Jack wakes up in the morning it is to the sound of police yelling at him. Jack's beautiful lady is dead and Jack is covered in blood with incriminating evidence all around him that says he is the killer.

Jack is almost positive that he could not have done this, but he can't really remember exactly what happened as he had quite a bit to drink. He turns to the American Embassy for assistance, only to discover that they can do nothing for him. Jack's appointed attorney, Shen Yuelin (Ling Bai), seems completely uninterested in the facts of the case, not even bothering to meet with him before Jack appears in court the first time. Then she insists that Jack plead guilty and hope for leniency. Jack is furious that no one is on his side, not understanding that, in China, you are guilty until proven innocent and that if you plead innocent and are found guilty, you are taken out and shot.

As the court case continues, Jack is fully aware that the whole proceeding is a parody of justice. No one in the courtroom cares what really happened, no one seems interested in finding the real murderer or in hearing his side of the story. Most of the time Jack can't even understand what is going on as his translating system keeps going off. He does discover that the woman he slept with, the woman who was murdered, was the daughter of a General in the Chinese military and that the general is very interested in seeing his daughter's killer brought to justice. If only Jack could convince all of them that they have the wrong man...

Red Corner was a good film, but for being a thriller, I found the thrill a little bit lacking. I found myself restless while I watched the film and started puttering around the house, working on little things and listening to the dialogue instead of watching it. I also thought that the message was a little too heavy-handed at times. Most of the Chinese in the film were shown as stupid or corrupt and that is simply not the case. I wish that Director Jon Arnet could have shown more of the cultural differences to try and explain that you are working with a whole different mentality rather than a group of people who are just mean and cruel. Those points aside, the film did make me very grateful to live in America, where we have many freedoms that we take for granted. The story was a little boring at first, but once all of the pieces started coming together at the end, it caught my interest again and I thought that it had a good ending. With some beautiful scoring by Thomas Newman, decent acting by Richard Gere alongside a luminous Ling Bai, this is a movie for people who enjoy a lot of politics mixed in with a little bit of action.

The music for "Red Corner" is thrilling and emotional. It flows with the intense feeling of the movie and it's visual images. I especially loved the music that plays when Richard Gere escapes from Chinese authorities and it progresses into a thrilling roof-top chase scene. "Red Corner" was an okay movie, the soundtrack is even better. It's full of powerful emotion and feeling, it's also quite thrilling. I highly recommend it.

An amusing way to think of movies like this - what if it was a Chinese buisnessman in the United States? The xenophobia of the Chinese in the movie, is just a reflection of the popular American view (which Hollywood is obliged to respect and re-enforce). American audiences will not see anything different, just the expected "horned" foreigners and the triumph of the "white male" over the other slithering slimy characters. And, of course, the reason why our hero is in the him vs. everyone in the movie because of trade issues. If you liked this movie, then you might want to try "Rules of Engagement"

However, credit must be given to the beautiful photography and the very textured and captivating music (and that's one start for each)

For about a dozen years, it was hard to find too many films Richard Gere made which weren't interesting and well-made. This was no exception. Once again, he "delivers the goods" and is involved in an interesting story.

Gere, a follower, I believe, of the Dalai Lama whom the Communists forced out of Tibet, uses this film to get his shots in at his mentor's enemy. Anyone who thinks this is just a coincidence is pretty naive. Nonetheless, the facts support the film's stark, brutal portrayal of Communist China's leadership. At the very least, it shows a regime unwilling to hear both sides of a story. (Hollywood has often given the same treatment to the U.S. government, showing it more often in a corrupt light, which is ludicrous compared to restrictive Communist China.)

Anyway, Gere really dominates this film, being in almost every scene. This is your basic frameup-then-prove-your-innocence courtroom story. It keeps your attention throughout although I thought the ending was a bit confusing because things happened almost too fast for the viewer to take in. At two hours, the film could have been trimmed a tad but the lulls in here were not much.

Overall, an underrated film and unjustly criticized by the national critics, most of whom don't like it when communism is bashed.

In RED CORNER, director Jon Avnet dramatises the deepest fear of a Westerner who visits a thuggish regime--that of being accused of a serious crime and with no expectation of help from a impotent American embassy. Richard Gere is Jack Moore, an American who sells sexy advertising to Communist China businesses. While there, he meets and has a brief affair with a beautiful model who just happens to be connected to a high party official. She is murdered and he is arrested and brought before a Chinese tribunal whose court appointed defense advocate (Bai Ling) advises him to throw himself on the mercy of the court by pleading guilty.

Other reviewers have commented on what they see as the heavy handed use of anti-Red bias when Moore is continually balked in his desire to achieve justice. Time and again Moore cries out for the right to call forbidden witnesses, and he is rebuffed each time. The fact that he is rebuffed has been taken as a direct thrust at the unfairness of the Chinese judicial system. But this thrust is undercut when Moore's attorney points out to him that China, which has six times the population of North America, has a crime rate one tenth that of the United States. The very unfairness of a legal stacked deck is unfair only to those with a passing acquaintance of the US constitution. To the Chinese, such a system works quite well.

The really interesting parts of the film lie not in the heavy handed escape sequence in which Moore manages to avoid an entire platoon of pursuing police not does it rest in his walking out of the sanctuary of the American embassy, after having made it through the front door. Rather RED CORNER'S selling point is the deepening interplay between Gere and Bai Ling, who collectively unite to force a minor victory over a corrupt party official. They work together but do not fall predictably in love. Their departure, he at the airport, she at the need to return to her life style, emphasizes that despite the vast gulf between divergent cultures, there yet remains a common link between people who may share more than just the common experience of saving a life. RED CORNER reminds the viewer that this link is to be savored for its rarity.