The Whistleblower (2019)

"I didn't expect him to trick me again" and again, and again...

The Whistleblower was a thriller set across three continents highlighting the dangers of capitalism and greed. Lei Jia Yin and Tang Wei starred as two people caught up in corporate corruption that could lead to the deaths of over a million people.

Mark/Ma Ke has been living in Australia with his family for over ten years. His company has developed a way to turn coal into a form of natural gas. A Chinese company wants to use the technique under a highly populated area that sits above a large coal reserve. The CEO sends his wife, Zhou Si Liang, to handle the less than savory financial elements. She and Mark had been lovers years ago before she broke things off to marry a rich man. They meet at a party and share a night of passion. Passion turns to fear when Si Liang’s life is endangered and a terrible problem with Mark’s company is revealed to him.

The Whistleblower had good elements to it that were buried under plot inconsistencies, plot incoherencies, and two characters who weren’t always likeable. Starting the film with infidelity didn’t put the characters on firm moral footing. Frustratingly, both Mark and Si Liang had moments of brilliance and then utter stupidity. If there was a theme to this film it was that money is bad and makes people bad. Even if that was the case, and there are plenty of corrupt, heartless corporations in the world, the basic business model of GPEC was astonishingly, unbelievably short-sighted and would result in the utter destruction of the company and all involved. If the CEO of GPEC had been a Bond villain then it would have made more sense.

Lei Jia Yin and Tang Wei did the best they could with the material. Tang Wei has a beautiful charisma that is too often underused in Chinese films. The Whistleblower did try to distract from its messy storytelling with action scenes. There were plenty of car chases, and foot chases along and in buildings, and characters falling off and out of buildings. The White Truck of Doom even made a guest appearance! The most fascinating thing to me is that apparently there aren’t whistleblowers in China as there were three screens of explanation about the terminology.

The Whistleblower was an okay thriller that was overly long and stumbled over itself on occasion trying to do too much and not keeping track of its own plot. It’s worth a try for fans of Lei and/or Tang and if you can go into the movie with low expectations.

25 September 2025
Triggers: Black face, not so subtle racism . Infidelity-the wife was the most sympathetic character as well as the son.

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