Setting the Bar
Director-star Donnie Yen throws his weight into the thriller part of ‘action-thriller’.
The Prosecutor
Director: Donnei Yen • Writers: Edmond Wong, Cheung Chun-ho
Starring: Donnie Yen, Julian Cheung, Michael Hui, Francis Ng, Michael Cheung, Mason Fung, Locker Lam, Kent Cheng
Hong Kong / China • 1hr 57mins
Opens Hong Kong Dec 21 • IIB
Grade: B-
When you look at the tag line for director Donnie Yen Ji-dan’s The Prosecutor | 誤判, which says “Where the law ends, his justice begins…” the gut reaction is to smack your lips together and rub your hands in anticipation of a Death Wish-style revenge thriller with more martial arts. Because not only is Yen directing, he’s starring (duh), and though he’s pushing his luck by pushing senior citizenhood (hey, Liam Neeson can do it…) you know there’s going to be at least one standout fight; one without Jackie Chan-esque comedy. And indeed there is, a stellar bone-cruncher on an MTR train (with Yu Kang) that proves those Bombardier or Australian pieces of crap just can’t hold up to some serious fisticuffs. It’s a great action sequence with plenty of “Ooooh… damn!” moments.
But in between the action, much of it handed off to King Maker spawn Michael Cheung Tin-fu (Love Lies) as much younger cop Lee Ging-wai, co-writers Edmond Wong Chi-mun (who co-penned the minor surprise hit Breakout Brothers trilogy and Wilson Yip Wai-shun’s Ip Man series) and Cheung Chun-ho spin a story about a poor kid, Ma Ka-kit (Mason Fung Ho-yeung, Zero to Hero) who gets framed up for drug trafficking, then tricked by his crooked lawyers into taking a garbage plea deal. Yen plays Fok Chi-ho, a cop who retired after his last major drug bust – he and Lee worked the case together – went to law school and joined the prosecutor’s office to continue fighting the good fight. When his Spidey senses tell him something is hinky with Ma’s case, he indulges his detective background and starts poking around on his own. Where do you even start with this?
Now, that’s a train
The Prosecutor starts with Fok still a cop, on a video game styled first person shooter raid. Testifying later, he’s infuriated by the loopholes in the law that allow the criminal mastermind he raided to skate. Lawyers and their pesky laws, amirite? That’s when he decided to hit the books and personally ensure this shit doesn’t happen again. Seven years later his cop’s instinct tells him young Ma’s case is off, which kicks into high gear when it seems he’s being pressured to let Ma’s appeal stand by his bosses, Bau Ding (Kent Cheng Jak-si) and the slick head of the Department of Justice’s public prosecutor’s office, Yeung Tit-lap (Francis Ng Chun-yu, fabulously imperious). Much to the chagrin of Yeung and the presiding judge (Michael Hui Koon-man), Fok goes off in the court and muddies the waters of the case, sending everyone reluctantly back to the drawing board.
Hong Kong audiences have demonstrated a keen interest in legal thrillers lately – The Sparring Partner kicked things off a few years ago, A Guilty Conscience still rules as box office champ, Papa is a character drama but it does touch the blurry line between law and medicine – which is no surprise given the flagging confidence in the courts. Needless to say, The Prosecutor is a salve; everyone’s just doing their best, and when injustice rears its ugly head you best be damned sure they’re going to fix it. The DoJ is looking out for the public’s best interest. Promise! There’s also nothing less honourable than a lawyer who tarnishes the spirit of the law for nefarious, selfish purposes. Yen, the director, spends a fair chunk of the film’s first hour (exhaustively) detailing legal procedure and hitting all the legal thriller beats. It’s ridiculous, but no more so than the bananas Law Abiding Citizen, and it proves Yen may have a job after his knees give out on him.
But he’s let down by an unwieldy script by Wong and Cheung, which commits the common crime of trying to pack in too much plot, and doubling down by making it extra convoluted. Turns out Ma is a talented artist who’s handcuffed by circumstances, but is “friends” with local junkie Chan Kwok-wing (Locker Lam Ka-hei, Cesium Fallout, another public service announcement for public service), who in turn is in league with lawyers Au Pak-man (Julian Cheung Chi-lam) and Lee Sze-man (Shirley Chan Yan-yin) – who represent Ma for free – and possibly Yeung. Uh-oh. It’s a lot of story that doesn’t need to be there, and that doesn’t even include Mark Cheng Ho-nam, Raymond Lui Leung-wai and Adam Pak Tin-nam as a loose consortium of gangsters who want Ma in jail and Ma’s grandfather (Lau Kong) dead. Oh my. The Prosecutor would be a curious combination of action and intellectual debate on jurisprudence and the unequal application of and access to the law if the debate went deeper than it does (did we expect more?). Why else are heavyweights like Ng and Cheng here? As it stands it’s a functional holiday thriller that signals the next phase of Yen’s career. And that train fight is really good.