‘The Prosecutor’ is a unique Hong Kong gem
Donnie Yen directs and stars as an ass-kicking, justice-seeking prosecuting attorney
The new Cantonese-language Hong Kong film The Prosecutor does a few unique things I haven’t seen a film do recently. It combines a courtroom drama with a high-octane action movie while handling both parts equally well in a way that fits together. It has an action hero who’s a lawyer, and its lawyer hero is what would be called in the United States — probably derisively — a “progressive prosecutor.”
Based, at least the credits claimed, on a real-life case, The Prosecutor is directed by Donnie Yen, who also stars as Fok Chi-ho, a cop-turned-prosecutor who is usually referred to as “Prosecutor Fok.” Freshly arrived at the Department of Justice after years of legal study, Fok is placed in charge of a case involving two young men accused of drug trafficking.
One of the men, who has a bit of a tragic backstory, received a package that he didn’t know contained drugs but ended up screwed by the justice system, looking at a long prison sentence. But it’s up to Fok, the newly-minted prosecutor, to push for justice, even if it goes against the wishes of his bosses or the demands of his profession.
Like in Anatomy of a Fall, it’s fascinating to see the slight differences in a foreign court setup. The courtroom scenes feature wigs like in the English courts, while the English language pops up occasionally.
But the case isn’t what it first seems, and corruption is afoot. The kind in which the courtroom scenes are interrupted by occasional urban action blowouts.
And those action scenes are uniformly great, with perfectly good spatial continuity.
The action finale, set on a subway train, is especially well done, although if this is based on a true story, I’m guessing that part wasn’t nearly as exciting.
Yen did the Ip Man movies and is known to American audiences in part for his memorable turn in the most recent John Wick movie. He also hasn’t lost a step at all, despite being 61 years old.
Not enough action movies have a hero who’s a lawyer. I guess Daredevil is one, and Enemy of the State with Will Smith. While The Firm had some chase scenes, it was more of a legal thriller than an action-adventure film. Jack Ryan was a CIA analyst; maybe he had a law degree, in one of the versions? I don’t know. It’s the sort of thing I’d like to see movies explore further- especially the part where he’s a prosecutor who has a conscience about not letting a guy go to prison for decades who doesn’t deserve it.
Much as I’d love to see The Prosecutor remade by Hollywood, I have a feeling they’d have trouble, in the current political moment, making the hero someone with the legal posture of Larry Krasner.
The Prosecutor opens in theaters this Friday.