"The Prosecutor" is a solid dramatic entry from martial arts legend Donnie Yen
"The Prosecutor" is a thrilling ride that expertly balances action and cerebral engagement.
While courtroom dramas often straddle the border between cliché and action thriller, "The Prosecutor" finds a place of its own with Donnie Yen's dominance and the story's complexity that keeps you hooked until the very end. And while Yen also directs the film (from a script by Edmond Wong), and both know right and wrong, this is not just a battle of good and evil; it's a fight of the middle ground.
The film opens with the devastating story of a young man named Kit (Mason Fung) being charged with drug trafficking. It begins with an engorged courtroom crammed with whispers. Kit, under the immense stress of a legal system, pleaded guilty to what turned out to be unjust enrichment, an act of terror that remains an icky scar on audiences' faces.
Donnie Yen's Fok is no ordinary prosecutor; he's an indefatigable former cop with a heart of gold and an unyielding conscience. Yen's personality is complex, and his tough exterior is juxtaposed with moral insecurities. The friends and enemies that come his way as Fok plunges into the black ocean of corruption and fraud add suspense to the narrative.
Even the interaction between Fok and the supporting characters (a veteran detective and rookie analyst in particular) brought the various tints of justice into a more vivid light, with their characters feeling genuine and relatable.
What truly elevates "The Prosecutor" is its narrative. The movie does a good job at pacing, blending courtroom drama with Fok's investigative expedition into the city's dark streets. The filming is brutal but beautiful, and it brings to life the emotions of the characters and the urgency of the conflict. Key action scenes showcase Yen's acrobatic skill and the filmmaker's ability to strike a powerful emotional note – to witness a former cop who has turned himself into an unstoppable vigilante is a visual and narrative treat.
It's a very tight script, using punchlines that raise profound questions about the legal profession's ethics. Viewers are asked to criticize the exact mechanism that was supposed to protect them. "The Prosecutor" carries risks that most movies do not by accepting an ugly ethical terrain that anyone who has ever questioned the existence of justice in a broken world can understand.
With each twist, Fok is drawn into greater danger and intrigue from undercover agents intent on concealing the truth. The stakes go up, and the movie maintains its suspenseful pace, never retreating from the danger of justice. The final act contains some thrilling surprises and some heart-rending emotional chords.
With a strong cast, especially Yen, and an overarching thriller with no bluffs, "The Prosecutor" is an action-filled ride that perfectly balances fun and thought.
"The Prosecutor" opens in theaters today.