The Prosecutor

The Prosecutor (Chinese: 誤判) is a 2024 action thriller film directed and co-produced by Donnie Yen, who also stars in the film alongside an ensemble cast that includes Julian Cheung, Michael Hui, Francis Ng, and MC Cheung Tin-fu. Loosely based on a real-life 2016 drug-trafficking case, the story follows a police detective-turned-public prosecutor (Yen) who seeks to overturn the conviction of a misjudged defendant (Mason Fung) entangled with a crime syndicate led by a law-educated drug lord (Julian Cheung). Driven by the Supreme People's Procuratorate and co-produced by Hong Kong's Mandarin Motion Pictures and China's Shanghai Huace Film, the project was initially conceived as a legal drama film. The screenplay began development by Edmond Wong during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, co-producer Raymond Wong approached Donnie Yen for the lead role, leading to a reimagining of the film as a hybrid of action and legal thriller. Pre-production started in May 2023, with principal photography taking place from October 2023 to February 2024 in Hong Kong. Japanese action choreographer Takahito Ouchi acted as the film's action director. The film was theatrically released in Hong Kong and China on 21 and 27 December 2024, respectively. It secured three nominations in the 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the action, innovative genre blend, and performances of the cast, particularly Donnie Yen and Michael Hui, but the screenplay and the lack of exploration of themes regarding justice in Hong Kong were subject to criticism. The box office performance was also considered satisfactory and the film became the fifth-highest-grossing Hong Kong film of 2024.