The Stool Pigeon Blu-ray review

            The Stool Pigeon could easily be fit into a category with any number of undercover police officer films, but it has the unique quality of a protagonist who isn’t a cop. The film instead investigates the morality behind the use of police informants in investigation. When these criminals turned informants are injured or killed, it seems a far more acceptable outcome than the demise of an actual police officer.

            After Police Detective Don Lee (Nick Cheung) is responsible for the serious injury of a police informant, he begins to doubt the methods. When forced to employ another snitch, he chooses the son of a known criminal. Ghost, Jr. (Nicholas Tse) doesn’t have any urge to go undercover to help catch a gang of jewel thieves, but he must find a way to pay off debt which has affected his sister’s life. Determined to give her better opportunities, Ghost, Jr. takes the risky job, leading to a climax which will affect everyone around him.

            There is a fair amount of action within the storyline of The Stool Pigeon, but it is not flashy or stylized. Instead the action takes place within the film’s narrative, which always remains the focus. Cheung rejoins with director Dante Lam, after pairing for the successful The Beast Stalker, but the highlight of this film is the performance by Tse. Neither are very vocal characters, but we are able to understand them simply by watching their actions.

            The construction of the Blu-ray combo pack for The Stool Pigeon seems to have been sadly rushed, complete with typos and a sloppy design for the back cover. The actual discs are what matters, however, and the Blu-ray disc offers an acceptable high definition presentation of the film, as well as a DVD copy. The special features include questionably accurate English language subtitles, also complete with typos. There are also deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette and a making of feature.