Buried by treacherous conditions at the top of Mt. Baekdu, a policeman must brave the extreme weather until his transfer comes through. When a group of thieves stumbles into the station, both sides must fight for survival.
“Savage” is a frosty thriller set in The Baekdu Mountains which lie on the Chinese/North Korean border. The film stars Chen Chang as Detective Wang who’s introduced in a very noir voiceover with an appropriate wailing trumpet scoring the scene. Wang is nostalgic for the more prosperous days of his small village when logging wasn’t banned which now is a criminal enterprise. While he waits for his shift to end, a gang of thieves kill two pursuing patrolmen in a scene staged with a tad too much CGI. The bounty these criminals are pursuing is gold bars. Wang and his partner pull over the trio and during questioning they are ambushed with rapid gunfire. Wang’s partner is killed and he himself is peppered with birdshot shells and left for dead.
During his convalescing, Wang recounts to his love interest Sun (Ni Ni) a heroic moment when his partner helped save a young girl doused in gasoline from a lighter wielding madman. Sun loves him but worries about the violence surrounding the detective’s life. After a serious discussion of their relationship they oddly make out fully clothed (sweaters and all) in the shower, with the water running! Certainly, I have never seen that display of affection on-screen. Now that he’s healed up, and an impending blizzard is forming, Wang returns to the treacherous mountain to take down the thieves no matter what it takes.
I like how “Savage” is a simple cat-and-mouse thriller trudging through a snowy setting much like “Cliffhanger” but with less death-defying heights and a lot more shootouts. Director Cui Siwei does a great job capturing the pristine nature and cleanly shoots the occasionally thrilling set-pieces. It was a joy to see Chan Cheng back in action who notably played an incredible role in the sublime “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” His role as Wang is ultimately the only character with some depth but the criminals are well cast and have some entertaining interactions. For the upcoming winter season, this release is suitable for adventure-seeking audiences set in a part of the world rarely shown on film.
Available on Blu-ray & Digital December 3rd
