The Prosecutor (4k) Review

Lately, in addition to expanding his acting chops, Donnie Yen has found himself a seat in the director’s chair. Prior to 2023, he directed a few films during the 90’s, but these were mostly hit or miss affairs like Legend of the Wolf and Ballistic Kiss. However, in 2023 he starred and directed Sakra which actually gathered a lot of praise. With Donnie now passing 60 years of age, it would appear that the eventual turn to being a director was bound to happen. At least at this point though, he still loves to act and is not solely directing just yet. Today’s movie is The Prosecutor, a Donnie Yen directed and starred vehicle. Donnie tackles the “based on a true story” theme, this one involving a policeman who turns into a lawyer and kicks a lot of butt along the way. Well, we did say “based on”, let’s take a look.

After the text “Based on True Events” flashes on the screen, we open to Fok Chi-ho (played by Donnie Yen) in a neck brace telling the audience that he is about give us all the facts. We flashback to July 27th, 2017 where we join a crime scene in Kam Tin where there are 15 heavily armed suspects who have taken out a police vehicle and caused general mayhem. A brutal fight scene ensues, one where the police are able to dispatch the suspects but not without casualties. Fok along with fellow police personnel, Lee King-wai (played by MC Cheung Tin-fu) and Leung May-yee (played by Sisley Choi) are able to capture the criminals.

However, during this high action affair, we lay witness to a court case where the prosecution is not able to win over the jury to convict the leader of this gang, Cheung Man Bing (played by Justin Cheung). He is subsequently released and assumingly will continue to commit crimes. Fok does not react well to this decision and due to his advancing age, he decides to leave the police force and study law. The next seven years are tough but through patience and lots of studying, he emerges a full fledged lawyer and joins the Department of Justice as a prosecutor. He is working under mentor Bao Ding (played by Kent Cheng) and receives his first case. A young man, Ma Ka-Kit (played by Mason Fung) has been accused of drug possession through the mail.

Ma Ka-Kit has been advised by the barristers’ Au Pak-Man (played by Julian Cheung) and Li Sze-man (played by Shirley Chan) who are acting as legal aid to the young man to plead guilty in order to gain leniency from the court. However, Ma Ka-Kit only lent his address through the mail and apparently didn’t do anything criminal enough that would warrant jail time. Fok finds this suspicious as well but agrees to the terms since they are his best chance at a conviction.

What starts out as a simple case turns out to be something far more sinister when Ma Ka-Kit realizes that he was lead astray by the two barristers into opting into the plea agreement. He begs to change his plea so that he still has a chance to see his grandfather (played by Lau Kong) before he passes. Fok accepts this change in plea as he believes in the young man’s innocence. However, this angers the chief prosecutor of the Department of Justice, Yeung Dit-lap (played by Francis Ng) who argues that they are there to prosecute, not to determine who is innocent or guilty. Fok must work within the system and find a way to keep Ma Ka-Kit out of jail. But perhaps at the end of the day, he can use his fighting skills to serve his own brand of justice.

After watching Polar Rescue, I thought we were going to see a less active Donnie Yen as far as on screen fighting, but boy was I wrong. This movie was on level action wise with the later Ip Man movies and while I do believe Donnie was trying to extend his acting chops, this is not the legal thriller that some are probably expecting. There are 12 Angry Men (more actually) but they aren’t jurors, I can tell you that much. The action is intense and the fight scenes are satisfying even if the thought of a aged cop turned lawyer premise is hard to take seriously. Once they shift back to the court room, it’s not horribly jarring but it does feel like two different movies sometimes.

Besides Donnie, there are many great supporting leads here including Kent Cheng, Julian Cheung and Francis Ng who all perform their roles with the simplest of ease. Despite the well done supporting efforts, the film can feel like somewhat hokey because of the “Based on True Events” moniker. It leads me to believe that being a Chinese prosecutor is extremely dangerous work if nothing else.

I also find it interesting that this film does make some jabs at the Chinese courts in regards to pleading guilty for crimes not committed in order to gain leniency. Remember Red Corner? That film found a lot of controversy since it was Richard Gere but there are similar themes for sure. One does get the sense that originally The Prosecutor was meant to be very much a legal thriller type film before the studio leaned into Donnie’s martial arts and his usual fans. It was probably for the best though as the film performed very well in many parts of China, Taiwan and Singapore and was nominated for several awards in the 2025 Hong Kong Film Awards.

Video

This 4k Upscale presentation is portrayed in 2.39:1 Widescreen running at about ~50 Mbps on a BD-66 disc. It also has HDR as well as Dolby Vision. The video looks fantastic regardless of whether we are in the courtroom or on a dirty subway fighting the bad guys. Colors are accurate, vibrant and represent the film well. Despite the digital quality to the film, there is a great amount of depth to the action and scenery. HDR and DV really help to add to the film which which will be sure to appease those looking for a well rounded 4k presentation. I also detected a little bit of teal in the shading of the film which seems to be all of the rage in action flics these days.

Audio

Cantonese Dolby Atmos 7.1 is the sound of choice for this audio track. There is also a 5.1 DTS-HD track in both Cantonese as well as English. Subtitles are provided in English and French. If you were impressed by the video, you will be blown away by the audio track. Action is heavy and intense and there is some really great separation here in the gunfire and of course, the martial arts. In the courtroom, there was no issue with discerning voices or confusing subtitles, and they were loud and distinctive. Basically, we are talking about a reference quality track and I can’t think of a single negative. Heck, I tend to play my movies at night (for obvious reasons) and I had to change my schedule on this one so I could actually appreciate how fantastic the audio was during the day.

Special Features

No Special Features on this one unfortunately, not even a trailer. In fact, there is only a 4k disc (no blu-ray) in a regular black case. First pressings do have a decent looking slipcover though.

Final Thoughts

It does not look like Donnie Yen is leaving the director’s chair anytime soon. He is actually directing the John Wick spinoff film which highlights his Caine character which should be a treat for us English speakers who are not familiar with his impressive international resume. In addition to that, he is staying busy by starring in Ip Man 5 (not necessary, but I’ll go see it) and a sequel to Flash Point, an excellent martial-arts film that I need a rewatch of in my near future. The Prosecutor is a great film that of course has the trademark Donnie Yen action scenes but also some interesting moments in the courtroom where he is able to stretch his resume. The string of quality supporting actors and actresses also help turn this movie into a very worthwhile watch.

Well Go did a great job here on the audio and video but failed to produce any extras, not even a simple trailer which should be mandatory at this point. While I do appreciate that I was able to afford this one at release (only $15.99 at Amazon), I sometimes wish these releases would get a little more besides a nice looking slipcover. However, despite the lack of extra content, I do give this one a hearty recommendation, even beyond fans of Donnie Yen. Beyond the wig and sometimes cliched writing, Donnie Yen can certainly still go at 60 plus years of age. Enjoy.