THE PROSECUTOR (误判) (2024)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Donnie Yen
Cast: Donnie Yen, Julien Cheung, Michael Hui, Francis Ng, MC Cheung, Kent Cheng, Lau Kong, Yu Kang, Adam Pak, Mason Fung, Mark Cheng, Sisley Choi, Ray Lui, Liza Wang
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence and Some Drug Use)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 27 December 2024

Synopsis: Donnie Yen takes on one of his most intense roles yet in THE PROSECUTOR. Portraying a brilliant, fearless prosecutor caught in a web of conspiracy, corruption, and danger, Yen’s character risks everything to expose the truth when a powerful criminal syndicate targets the legal system itself. 

Movie Review:

He may not look the age, but Donnie Yen turns 61 this year. That is still slightly less than a decade younger than Jackie Chan, but he is still a good 16 years older than when he first assumed the role of ‘Ip Man’ in the eponymous quadrilogy. Why are we starting this review with that reality check? Because ‘The Prosecutor’ is as much a reflection of former cop turned Department of Justice prosecutor Fok Chi-ho’s circumstances as it is of Yen’s own as an action star.

Cynics will dismiss the premise as too much of a contrivance in order to justify Yen playing a public prosecutor, but to Yen’s credit, he demonstrates sufficient restraint not to overplay the setup. Pulling triple duties here as lead actor, producer and director, together with fellow ‘Ip Man’ producer Raymond Wong, Yen does an admirable job trying to establish himself as a respectable dramatic actor. Oh yes, there is by now absolutely no doubt of his fighting prowess, but those who still have doubts how he would fare as a serious actor would be suitably convinced that he can rely on more than his fists to do the acting.

The prologue sees Yen in a neck cast bristling after the court finds insufficient evidence to convict the mastermind of a criminal gang that he and his colleagues had busted in a raid on an abandoned building months earlier, which - for those who have seen the trailer - is the sequence filmed like a first-person shooter video game. Though it starts off with a bang, what adrenaline you might have had recalling Yen’s ‘Flashpoint’ days will quickly dissipate as you realise that the raid is less a set-piece in and of itself than a filler to set the stage for the events to come.

So seven years after going to law school, Fok re-emerges as a prosecutor for the DOJ, where he meets veteran colleague Bao Jing (Kent Cheng) and chief prosecutor Yeung (Francis Ng). Both are given reasonably significant supporting roles to justify the presence of these two heavyweight actors, and though there is a much touted fist fight between Yen and Ng in the last act, Yen has recruited Cheng and Ng primarily as verbal sparring partners to engage in ethical debates throughout the course of the movie about their role as public prosecutors in enforcing justice for society.

Fok’s first case involves a young man named Ma Ka-kit (Mason Fung), whom the police have arrested for drug possession. While Ma had initially claimed that he was only doing the bidding for Chan Kwok-wing (Lam Ka-hei), Ma retracts that testimony on advice from his two lawyers Au Bo-man (Julian Cheung) and Lee Sze-man (Shirley Chan), who persuade him that it is better to plead guilty and ask for leniency for a reduced sentence than to go to trial and potentially end up in prison for longer. As an erstwhile policeman, Fok quickly deduces that there is more to the case than meets the eye, and is driven out of his strong sense of righteousness to speak out of turn in court, much to the displeasure of the High Court judge (Michael Hui).

For much of the first hour, Yen commits to the beats of a legal thriller, and though it never quite reaches the same intensity as Dayo Wong’s ‘A Legal Conscience’, Yen weaves a fairly tight and tense narrative highlighting the loopholes in Ma’s case as well as the helplessness of both Fok and Ma’s elderly grandfather in the absence of further evidence to prove his innocence. As obvious as it may sound, it demonstrates how intertwined the investigation and legal process is, and in turn how the latter is hampered without a full and thorough probe on the part of the enforcement authorities.

Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, Yen is unable to overcome the weaknesses in the plotting to sustain an equally compelling second half. As prolific as he may be, Edmond Wong (son of producer Raymond) isn’t a strong writer; here, his script comes apart trying to weave in a regional drug trafficking syndicate led by Sang (Ray Lui) and Tung (Mark Cheng), who turn out to be manipulating Au for their bidding. We won’t go into the convoluted backstory that somehow also involves Fok, but suffice to say that it is too much of a stretch, even though it is clearly intended as excuse so that Fok can battle their right-hand (strongman) Jin (Kang Yu) in a climactic set-piece on board the Hong Kong MTR (that is thankfully not as absurd as the trailer had made it out to be).

Like we said, Yen tries his best to keep the movie from going off the rails, even as it becomes less a legal than action thriller by the third act. Indeed, while it will no doubt be disappointing that Yen’s 1-against-100 atop a rooftop isn’t the modern-day ‘Ip Man’ some might be hoping for, it is to his credit that Fok comes off a lot less invincible than the typical Yen hero. It is just as significant that Fok consistently shows restraint in his moves, never resorting to the all-out violence or rage that Yen embodied in his roles in ‘Flashpoint’ or ‘Kung Fu Jungle’ or even ‘SPL’. Oh yes, Yen keeps the whole set-up as credible as he could have, delicately balancing between authenticity and audience expectation.

That ‘The Prosecutor’ still remains somewhat unwieldy as an action and legal thriller is perhaps inevitable, but at least we dare say Yen is fully conscious of finding the right equilibrium. There is only so much longer that Yen can continue to be the all-out action star which his career has been defined on, and here, he displays sufficient chops to be regarded as a serious dramatic actor. Those simply looking for another contemporary action movie from Yen will go away dissatisfied, which is why we started off saying that this needs to be seen not just as a movie in and of itself, but as a deliberate attempt by Yen to have a change of pace and even genre as he goes into his 60s. For trying to be more than just a sock-them-all movie, we say ‘The Prosecutor’ deserves our support, or at the very least, an audience so we can walk away with an informed judgment of a commendable if still flawed effort. 

Movie Rating:

(Balancing between a legal thriller and action movie, this engaging mix of genres is a commendable attempt by Donnie Yen at showcasing his dramatic chops alongside his traditional fighting prowess)

Review by Gabriel Chong