The Prosecutor review: A rather theatrical legal actioner

The Procecutor

Film: The Prosecutor
Cast: Donnie Yen, Francis Ng Chun-Yu, Julian Cheung Chi-Lam, Kent Cheng Jak-Si, Michael Hui Koon-Man, Lau Kong, Mason Fung Ho-Yeung, MC Cheung
Director: Donnie Yen
Rating: ' ' 1/2
Runtime: 117 min.

The 61 year old Donnie Yen directs and stars in this action-courtroom-drama as a cop turned public prosecutor to help a poor young man wrongfully charged with drug trafficking, get acquitted.

This film is a meretricious combination of Hong Kong crime story and legal drama where the veteran charismatic action star convinces despite a melodramatic screenplay that dashes in and out of the courtroom to make the hybrid genre cut. Yen's character in the film admits to getting old, "I can't catch thieves anymore" - so you can expect much less action than a regular Donnie Yen film.

Fok Chi-ho(Donnie Yen), a cop who quits the force in 2017 after being injured on the job and disillusioned with the system, studies for seven years, obtains a law degree and joins the Department of Justice. His first assignment is prosecuting Ma Ka-kit (Mason Fung), a naive young man pressured into pleading guilty to drug charges despite his innocence. Fok doesn't buy it. He digs deeper into the case and becomes convinced that Ma, who faces 27 years in jail, is the fall guy in a major drug trafficking operation. Fok finds evidence against Ma's previous lawyer Lee Sze-man (Shirley Chan) and her assistant Au Pak-man (Julian Chen) for providing legal representation for businesses connected to drug lords Tung (Mark Cheng) and Sang (Ray Lui). That's when the action hots up with a rooftop encounter between Fok and dozens of goons, and another on an MTR subway train in which Fok squares off against a hulking killer Kim Hung (Yu Kang).

The action takes some of the heat away from the courtroom drama. The film loses sight of the plight of Ma and his grandfather for a brief while and gets back into it with Fok playing crusader, pontificating that his work shines the glory and fairness of justice into the hearts of the people.

There are essentially three major conflicts in this tale. The legal proceedings come across pretty well with courtroom theatrics and heavy dramatic moments holding sway. The sequence involving Fok confronting and trying to convince his colleagues in the Department of Justice, is also persuasive.

This Donnie Yen vehicle, basically a showcase to the star's amazing physical prowess, also prepares the audience for his second coming as a dramatic actor. The second part is obviously a work in progress and will probably get better in time. The movie is fast paced, the proceedings are energised and the visuals keep you interested. Debut-making composer Choi Chul-ho does a good job providing an orchestral score that plies on emotion. Wong's script and Yen's direction gets over-the-top with melodrama and the narrative tends to lose grip and tension along the way. The film ends up being simplistic and contradictory because of its hybrid intransigence.

We are able to paper over some of these contradictions because of Yen's exemplary skill and talent as a martial artist and performer. The brutal and exciting action and the legal theatrics makes it a fairly ingratiating thriller.