The Prosecutor

Story: Fok Chi-ho (Donnie Yen) is a detective in the Hong Kong police force and after a heavy gun fight, he and his colleagues manage to arrest a gang. At the subsequent trial the head of the gang is acquitted, though, because there is no solid evidence that he was not just at the crime scene by chance. Fok is disillusioned with his job and resigns from the police force. He starts to study law, and seven years later he becomes a lawyer at the Department of Justice. His first case centers around the teenager Ma Ka-kit (Mason Fung), who lent out his address to accept a package for money. But there is a kilogram of cocaine in the package and the police have been tracking it for a while. So, Ma has been arrested, and his lawyer Au Pak-man (Julian Cheung) urges him to plead guilty to avoid getting an even worse sentence as he doesn't have a chance of being sentenced not-guilty anyway. After the trial, however, Ma changes his mind and pleads not-guilty. Although Fok is on the prosecutor's side, he does not like the case at all. He starts to speak for the defendant in court, and with that he puts his superior Yeung (Francis Ng) in a bad mood. Fok continues his research, and it turns out that he was right with his feeling that there is something wrong about this case. Because Au actually does business with a drug gang. Even though Fok is no longer a detective, he soon has to defend himself against gangsters who constantly try to ambush him ...

Review: The many positive reviews of "The Prosecutor" made me a bit cautious. After all, I didn't want to let high expectations spoil the fun. And in the end, the movie is actually not a masterpiece and does not work as well as a genre mix as most would have us believe. But as far as good Hong Kong cinema goes, you will hardly find anything better than this at the moment. And a particular positive aspect is Donnie Yen's directing job as it includes some innovative ideas. In addition, you can't deny the fact that you get a courtroom drama here whose action and pacing also work. Unfortunately, the story itself is sometimes unnecessarily convoluted, which becomes especially noticeable when you break things down to the essentials. At least new findings makes sure that the story is always moving forward - as long as Donnie Yen's fists don't just take over.

Right at the beginning it is made all too clear to us that "The Prosecutor" wants to be an exciting courtroom drama with fast interrogations as well as hard-hitting action cinema. During a trial, we get to see a police operation in flashbacks, which - next to the finale - is the movie's actual highlight. Fok shoots his way through gangsters with a police shield in hand, dealing out some well-placed punches and kicks here and there, while the camera moves closer and closer to the action: first over the shoulder, so to speak, and then it's POV. With the sound effects, which give the whole thing an extra portion of oomph, this is probably the most impressive action sequence from Hong Kong of the last few years. Unfortunately, the following action scenes can't keep up with that and therefore feel rather disappointing. Only the showdown is able to really deliver again. Also, you shouldn't go into the movie expecting to move from one action scene to the next. Because the court scenes are at least as important to the director.

The arguments between Fok and the judge are often amusing, because the newly-fledged lawyer represents so much idealism that it almost hurts to watch, but the case itself is not as tricky as the screenplay would like to make you believe. Of course, our hero is the only one who has the right instinct and uncovers something much bigger, all the while, his colleagues are infected by his righteousness and are reminded of why they took up the profession in the first place: to help justice prevail and not just to win a case and be able to afford a hundred-year-old wine. The moral battles that are being fought out internally or with others are quite nice, but they are not really original. However, characters like Fok's boss, played by Francis Ng ("Death Notice"), are more interesting to watch, as it's hard to figure out whether he is one of the villains or just a lawyer who puts success above everything else.

It's a pity that we don't get to find out more about characters like him. Fok's younger colleague from the police force somehow also just seems to have been written into the movie in order to bring him out whenever the story needs it. The defendant Ma could also have done with a few more rough edges. The storyline with his uncle works a little better though. With him, Fok has a few moments in which the characters' human side come to the foreground. Interestingly, you can have fun with the villains too, even though they come across as a bit clichéd. But all this is better than 95% of what you get to see from Hong Kong these days. However, Donnie Yen can't help but use some stereotypes when it comes to the story. Of course, he and his witness are stopped by gangsters before the trial in order to not make it in time, but with Donnie Yen, at least that means that we get a lot of action.

Yen had already directed the less successful "Sakra", but with "The Prosecutor" he clearly proves that he has talent behind the camera. At the age of 61, he can't still fight his way across the screen all the time - something his alter ego also mentions in the movie - and so he looks for ways to try something new: and successfully so. As mentioned before, the direction is very well done, and of course he knows how to stage himself, especially in the action scenes. There may be some moments when a stunt double takes over, but it's amazing that he still does most stuff himself at his age. There are bone-crunching throws and punches, but the sound effects sometimes seem a bit exaggerated. The pacing is also very well done, there is never a dry spell, and the action always takes over in the right moments. Especially the finale on the train once again knows how to impress with innovation and manages to capture a dense atmosphere. Not everything goes smoothly in "The Prosecutor", and the genre mix doesn't work perfectly, but things that need to work do. For that, it deserves a thumbs up.

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