Movie Reviews
Go for Broke: Nick Cheung, Ethan Ruan in nonsensical thriller
1/5 stars
Nick Cheung Ka-fai plays a former soldier on a quest to take down a Golden Triangle drug cartel in Go for Broke, a ludicrous action thriller from actor-turned-director Marc Ma Yuhe.
Set in a fictional Southeast Asian country where the entire population is either corrupt or the victim of corruption, Ma’s film bristles with flippant xenophobia, alarmist anti-drug rhetoric and a dizzying stream of ridiculous twists and turns.
Only in its action beats does Go for Broke find clarity, but these pyrotechnics are just superficial distractions from what is otherwise disposable nonsense.
Zhang Yao (Cheung) returns home to discover that he has lost his wife (Zhang Li) and young daughter to a drug epidemic that has ravaged “Man City”.
It is an open secret that all production and supply is overseen by local crime lord Mukun (Vithaya Pansringarm), in cahoots with Anpei (Jack Kao Jie), head of the local police force’s Drug Enforcement Division.