Detective Chinatown

Two men prove their innocence by committing countless other crimes in Chen Sicheng’s buddy comedy.

“I’m not a detective and neither are you. But we can probably solve it together.”

Wang Baoqiang is a name I’m never unhappy to see on a poster.  His films aren’t always the best, but even when he’s doing something absurd like Iceman he’ll bring much-needed energy to them. I greatly enjoyed Lost in Thailand, so it’s wonder that I’ve been sleeping for so long on another Thailand-based Wang Baoqiang movie, Detective Chinatown.

When wannabe cop Qin Feng (Liu Haoran) fails to enter police academy, he is convinced to visit Thailand for a week to get his mind off it. His uncle – or rather, great-aunt’s husband’s cousin’s wife’s nephew – Tang Ren (Wang Baoqiang), supposedly the best cop in Bangkok’s Chinatown, is there to pick him up (eventually). Qin discovers quickly that Tang isn’t a detective, but a swindler and subordinate to an incompetent cop (Xiao Yang). But when Tang is framed for murder, he and Qin have to act like detectives, and solve the murder before gangster Yan (Chin Shih-chieh) and police sergeant Huang (Chen He) get to them.

So begins a buddy cop film that’s, I’ll admit, about as typical as you expect, though that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Though the story isn’t really worth writing home about, the central mystery is decent enough, with one pretty neat twist right at the end, but otherwise feels pretty by the numbers. Where the film shines is in its comedy, which is supported largely by its cast, and its reliance on a lot of slapstick silliness. Sometimes, physical comedy isn’t really worth talking about, but on occasion, a movie like this comes around that relies pretty heavily on people being smacked about, getting trampled and falling from one funny location to another. And it does it all pretty well. A major part of this is largely thanks to the fact that the film’s lead is an actor known for his monkey-like acrobatics.

Speaking of which, Wang is on top form again, and despite only being thirty or so during filming, gives off the vibe of a much older man. It’s a nice change of pace from the typical wide-eyed inexperienced goofballs he’s played in the past. His trademark grin is less innocent, instead comes off as purposefully forced: hiding regrets and a painful life in China from which Thailand’s loud, bright presence can distract him. I mean, it’s a dumb action comedy in the vein of Rush Hour so it’s not like Wang is bringing an Oscar-worthy performance, but he’s putting in the work to give his character more depth than a role like that might typically ask for.

Liu Haoran is the straight man of the partnership and plays his role well, and the two leads have pretty good chemistry. A buddy cop film can lose humour, action and story but remain entirely watchable as long as it has two main characters who work well off each other, so it’s great to see relative newcomer Liu Haoran go beat for beat with an experienced comic like Wang. The antagonists and supporting cast are, importantly, very memorable with acting choices and wardrobes that stick with you throughout, and even after the credits have finished rolling.

All in all, Detective Chinatown is a pretty enjoyable action comedy. It does a lot of what you want from the genre, and keeps things fresh by setting it in a vibrant, colourful and relatively chaotic environment. The sequels take place in New York and Tokyo respectively, so we’ll have to see whether the main characters can get up to the same level of shenanigans or not.

Verdict: With just enough jokes, mystery and buddy chemistry to keep things going, Detective Chinatown is a good start to a very promising franchise.

Overall entertainment: 7.5/10
Violence: Slapstick 4/10
Sex: 0/10
Nut shots: a thousand
Breakup sequences: One, wholly unnecessary
Best joke: No one recognising Tang when he’s a janitor
Recurring gags: The POV of arms holding something, which happened twice in quick succession and never again.

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Detective Chinatown (2015)
Also known as: 唐人街探案
Mandarin, Thai

Director: Chen Sicheng
Writer: Chen Sicheng

CAST

Wang Baoqiang – Tang Ren
Liu Haoran – Qin Feng
Tong Liya – Xiang
Chen He – Huang Landeng
Xiao Yang – Kon Tai
Xiaoshenyang – Bei Ge
Pan Yueming – Lee
Marc Ma – Tony
Zhang Zifeng – Snow