The Prosecutor

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Donnie Yen directs. Noah Wong behind the camera. Choi Chul-Ho scores. Li Ka-Wing cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in China, Hong Kong. Dialogue in Cantonese, English, Mandarin, Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Made its money back 3.3× over at the box office.
• 2Released 2 years ago.
• 3Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Cantonese, English, Mandarin, Japanese.
• 4International production across 2 countries: China, Hong Kong.
• 5Directed by Donnie Yen, shot by Noah Wong. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Original score by Choi Chul-Ho. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Li Ka-Wing shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8Donnie Yen and Francis Ng Chun-Yu and Julian Cheung carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "Fight for justice.".
• 10IMDB entry: tt30024043 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Classified under 8 themes, including "court", "drug trafficking", "attempted murder", "based on true story".
• 12Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Noah Wong

Original score

Choi Chul-Ho

Editing

Li Ka-Wing

Costume design

Chan Ka-Yee

VFX supervisor

Dennis Yeung

Runtime

117 min · 1h 57m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$38,500,000

Box office

$128,093,757

Return

333% of budget

Original language

CN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

The Prosecutor (2024) ↗

Also by

Donnie Yen

• 
  Sakra

  2023 · ★ 6.5
• 
  Legend of the Wolf

  1997 · ★ 5.3
• 
  Shanghai Affairs

  1998 · ★ 5.1
• 
  Protégé de la Rose Noire

  2004 · ★ 4.8
• 
  Ballistic Kiss

  1998 · ★ 4.6

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Parking Lot

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Opening Scene

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  UK Trailer [Subtitled]

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  Clip

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Clip

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Official Trailer [Subtitled]

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Chris Sawin2025-01-17
  ★ 8/10

  In the Hong Kong action thriller The Prosecutor, a young man named Ma Ka-kit lives with his Uncle Ma in a low-income home. He rents out his address in an effort to make some extra money, but he receives a package containing a kilogram of cocaine and gets arrested for drug smuggling. Chan Kwok-wing, the second defendant in the drug smuggling case, is found to be the one who purchased Ma Ka-kit’s address. Ma Ka-kit (Mason Fung) is convinced by his defense lawyer Li Sze-man ( Shirley Chan) and legal executive Au Pak-man (Julian Cheung) to plead guilty to reduce his sentence. But once the case reaches leniency court, Ma Ka-kit is sentenced to 27 years in prison while Chan Kwok-wing (Locker Lam) is acquitted. Now, Ma Ka-kit’s fate rests in the hands of Fok Chi-ho (Donnie Yen), a former narcotics police detective turned public prosecutor. Written by Edmond Wong (Ip Man 1-4, The Monkey King: Havoc in Heaven’s Palace), The Prosecutor is inspired by the real case that transpired in 2016. The film is also directed and produced by Donnie Yen (who also directed Sakra). Fok Chi-ho is brought to the DOJ or Department of Justice under the tutelage of pupil master Bao Ding (Kent Cheng) and is told flat out upon arrival that the DOJ typically leaves decision-making in the hands of chief prosecutor Yeung Dit-lap (Francis Ng). Surprisingly, Donnie Yen was hesitant to accept this role since most of the action was injected into the film once he signed on. Yen wasn’t familiar with legal dramas initially, but worked with Edmond Wong and his stunt team to create a film that is dramatically engaging with dynamically unique action sequences. In foreign martial arts films, it’s often that the action is great but the story and acting are pure trash or lackluster at best. But The Prosecutor is a thrilling and engrossing drama first highlighted by its action. Donnie Yen turns 62 this year, but his martial arts is as hard-hitting and breathtaking as ever. What works in The Prosecutor’s favor is a solid script from Edmond Wong and Yen being surrounded by a talented cast. There’s an ongoing conflict between how the legal system and DOJ specifically operate and how Fok Chi-ho is as a new prosecutor. Fok fights hard for Ma Ka-kit and this one case specifically solely because he’s a young man with a bright future who is stuck thanks to his practically nonexistent relationship with money. Everyone at the DOJ is constantly ribbing Fok over Fok’s troublesome mindset of giving the little guy a fair shake despite whether or not it’s normal protocol. It’s essentially the government with endless wealth at its disposal and a cut-and-dry mentality versus the financially destitute underdog. The Prosecutor isn’t overloaded with action but features several memorable sequences that should be considered some of Donnie Yen’s best. The opening is a drug bust that shows Fok on his last big outing as a police officer. He gets a hold of a police shield and demolishes everyone as the camera shifts to a first-person POV. Donnie Yen throws in a few dropkicks for good measure. Once Fok shifts careers, former subordinate Lee King-wai (MC Cheung Tin-fu), takes over as police inspector. The two collaborate on an insane action sequence in an alley that features Lee King-wai doing MMA takedowns not unlike what Yen did in Flash Point. The scene is highlighted by Yen Tokyo Drifting a white car into the tiny alley flawlessly followed by jumping out of the car and beating everyone down with a hockey stick. There’s also the club sequence that’s already eye-catching thanks to its dynamic lighting, but features some crazy drone camera shots and Fok holding off 100 men on his own. The absolute best sequence in the film is the subway finale. Seeing so much bone-crunching action in a tiny moving space is jaw-droppingly great. My initial desire upon hearing about The Prosecutor is that Donnie Yen would shout OBJECTION! or OVERRULED! regularly and then he’d beat up criminals with a flurry of punches, no less than 17 dropkicks, and top it off with an emphatic suplex. That’s basically what you get with The Prosecutor, but it’s also surprisingly well-written with solid acting from an all-around superb cast.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Mandarin Motion Pictures

  HK

• SU

  Super Bullet Pictures 超级子弹影业

  HK

• 最高

  最高人民检察院影视中心

  CN

• 

  Maoyan Entertainment

  CN

• SH

  Shanghai Maoyan Film 上海猫眼影业

  CN

• HU

  Huace Film 华策电影

  CN

• 

  Huace Media

  CN

Key crew

• Fight ChoreographerTakahito Ouchi
• ProducerDonnie Yen
• ProducerRaymond Wong
• Assistant DirectorTerry Ng
• Art DirectionRenee Wong
• Costume DesignChan Ka-Yee
• EditorLi Ka-Wing
• Visual Effects SupervisorDennis Yeung
• Visual Effects SupervisorJules Lin
• Visual Effects SupervisorYee Kwok-Leung
• ChoreographerKenji Tanigaki
• First Assistant DirectorCarol Ng
• Assistant DirectorMak Ho-Pong
• GafferWong Chun-Wai
• StuntsAndy Yan
• Camera Production AssistantLaw Ka Kui
• Focus PullerYeung Hiu Tung
• Focus PullerTuesday Leung
• Focus PullerBill Lau

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• court
• drug trafficking
• attempted murder
• based on true story
• killer
• wrongful conviction
• political corruption
• gun fight

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2025-01-10NR

Also known as

International titles

• MisjudgementUS
• 誤判TW
• The ProsecutorUS
• 误判CN
• El FiscalMX
• Juicio ErroneoMX
• El Lado Oscuro de la JusticiaCL
• El Lado Oscuro de la JusticiaMX
• El Fiscal: El Lado Oscuro de la JusticiaMX
• ПрокурорRU