There was enough entertainment value in this crime drama from Li Yu to make it worthwhile, but be forewarned, it's not shy about having holes in its plot in order to maximize the melodramatic direction it takes. I liked the beginning, a bridge collapse that reveals a murdered body, as well as the pervasive sense of corruption that Li gives us in the dreary town, one with a lot of dilapidated buildings and constant rain. She uses wide angle shots which I liked, but an editing style that often clips out pauses in a scene (ala a YouTube clip) which I was not a fan of, so the production value was a mixed bag.
The heart of the story is that the bridge's engineering was shoddy and the victim was going to blow the whistle on those who had been letting things slide and lining their pockets. The family friend, a decent man who took in the victim's daughter and has been raising her in his family for eight years, soon comes under suspicion - but not by the police, by the young woman, who has heard it from a guy who's on the run for his own crimes. Whether he's credible or not is something I won't spoil.
The performances are pretty good here, though the confrontations with people like the dead father's mistress seemed a little overwrought. The main problem, however, is that there was no plausible way one of the mistresses could have obtained the incriminating video she had (and then wanted to use as blackmail), and the young woman opting to take matters into her own hands instead of just going to the police with it was mind-boggling. The film uses these things to put people in tense situations, trying to extract every last bit of drama it can, but it felt undeserved and like it went on too long.
The film then tries to tidy things up just a little too conveniently in both how the police get everything squared away and in limiting the extent of the corruption, making it feel like the Chinese government influenced the script. Despite all these issues, there was escapism here for me to enjoy it, and I was glad I saw it.
