Developed by China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate and directed by butt-kicking luminary Donnie Yen, The Prosecutor is a bizarre mashup of courtroom procedural and action flick; it is just as keen on lionising due process and the “shining light” of Chinese justice as it is on reducing civic infrastructure to smithereens in several standout bouts. But Yen, who looks undeniably good in a suit, is more convincing on his habitual fisticuff grounds than the jurisprudential ones. Yen plays Fok, a one-time hotshot cop who – leaving the force after some over-zealous…
Tag: Crime films
No More Bets review – Chinese Wolf of Wall Street aims to teach moral lesson
It is a shame that either Chinese authorities had a word, or producers decided to aim for brownie points by fitting No More Bets out as an anti-fraud public-messaging spot – because Ao Shen’s thriller is otherwise a snappily directed and intriguing entrée to the industry of online deception. Compared with the unrepentant and far more effective dramatic irony of The Wolf of Wall Street, a film this one often resembles, we get unnecessary scenes of government officials reading the riot act to digital scammers, and a patriotic after-credits montage…
Lost in the Stars review – Chinese doppelganger twist-a-thon is too fun to resist
This mystery drama twist-a-thon from China was a huge hit on home turf recently (far outperforming the latest Indiana Jones feature) and has been picked up for distribution in the UK and the US. Although the 180-degree plot pivots start to get a little ridiculous by the end, the script (credited to writer-producer Chen Sicheng, Shuyi Gu and Yixiong Yin) zips along with such gleeful mischievousness that the ride is too fun to resist. Intriguingly, it is supposedly based on a 1990 Russian film called A Trap for Lonely Man,…
Everything Under Control review – endearing comedy caper from Hong Kong
Hoping to sustain a recent mini-resurgence of Hong Kong films through to lunar new year, Ying Chi-wen’s second feature is a silly, initially laboured but increasingly endearing comedy mashup. A remake of 2021 Taiwanese gangster film Treat or Trick, which is itself a do-over of 2004 Korean horror-comedy To Catch a Virgin Ghost, it manages to hit virtually every branch on the genre tree on the way down: Bad Boys buddy action comedy, dead wet girl Asian horror, knockabout Beijing opera farce, wuxia parody. Yau Shing (Hong Kong singer Hins…