Explosive
Summary
The Prosecutor isn’t wall to wall action but there are enough fight scenes to keep things moving and it’s one of Donnie Yen’s best films in years.
Plot: A poor young man is wrongly charged with drug trafficking after being deceived. An ex-prosecutor investigates the case, uncovers a corrupt lawyer team’s scheme, and restores justice despite obstruction from evil forces.
Review: A new Donnie Yen film is usually worth getting excited over as we can expect plenty of bone crunching fight scenes and The Prosecutor is no different. Yen also directs and this is one of his best films in years.
Inspired by true events, The Prosecutor has Donnie playing Fok Zi Hou, a former cop turned prosecutor trying to find justice for a young man who has been incarcerated for 27 years due to drug possession; with corruption at every turn, Fok relies on his particular set of skills to find justice while breaking some limbs along the way.
The Prosecutor has an engaging story with Yen giving a powerful performance as a man trying to go the right thing; some may find the earlier court scenes hurt the pacing, but they are essential to setup the story and characters. There is still no shortage of fight scenes with Donnie Yen proving he’s still one of the best in the business. A final showdown on a subway train is a particular highlight, but personally it’s when Fok is battling endless goons on a rooftop which is classic Donnie.
Julian Cheung is wonderfully smug as Au Paak Man; he’s a great character though and I don’t want to say anything else about him due to spoilers.
The music score is swelling and heroic when it needs to be and works well in the action and dramatic scenes.
Overall, The Prosecutor feels like a passion project for Donnie Yen and it has the right amount of drama and action. The first half is a little slow and may put some viewers off, but the second half ramps up the action to make this one of Donnie’s best films in years.