Chen Sicheng’s nationalist mystery comedy brings more of what we love about the Detective China series.
“Save China…”
I haven’t seen too many of China’s now iconic Detective Chinatown series of buddy cop films. The one I have seen (the first one), was a pretty good time largely due to a great foundation between leads Liu Haoran and Wang Baoqiang. I don’t recall being blown away by the plot, or anything, but I don’t think I’ve ever really thought too hard about the actual mystery in these sorts of films. But a good buddy cop film combines both so that the chemistry and drama between the two heroes interacts in some meaningful way to the story to give the film extra depth and meaning. Such is the case with Detective Chinatown 1900.
Bringing things back in time over a century, Detective Chinatown 1900 is naturally set at the turn of the 20th century, in San Francisco. The film has a lot of moving parts, but its central story focuses on Qin Fu (Liu Haoran), a royal physician in the Manchu empire, who is currently acting as Sherlock Holmes’ translator for whatever reason. Sherlock has been tasked with helping Chinatown kingpin Bai Xuanling (Chow Yun-fat as charming as ever), to defend his son (Zhang Xincheng), accused of killing the daughter of governor Grant (John Cusack!). Sherlock can’t be bothered, and Fu is suddenly assigned to the position. While investigating, Fu runs into a Chinese man named Gui (Wang Baoqiang), who was integrated into Native society after he lost his family. Together, they work together to solve the crime before Governor Grant riles up anti-Chinese tensions and strengthens the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Detective Chinatown, like I mentioned earlier, is a film with a good few things going. At its core, it’s a film that celebrates China, and the modern Chinese people. The film’s biggest hero comes in the form of Mr Bai, Chow Yun-fat’s benevolent overlord. He runs Chinatown, and despite his gangster airs and his hired goons, is actually a good person simply trying to protect his people from harassment and abuse. His son is also a revolutionary being hunted by the empress’s own guards, in a b-story that doesn’t really go anywhere but helps emphasise the film’s pro-modern China stance. At least the officials sent to capture make great comedic foils. They get the lion’s share of action scenes, which does mean that Wang Baoqiang gets left out, despite his incredible acrobatic skills.
But underneath all of this is a halfway decent mystery that, after about twenty minutes, becomes immediately obvious. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Detective Chinatown does not pretend to be a brain-buster of a murder mystery, and it presents what it does have very well, with entertainment being top of the list of priorities over elegant crime creation. And in this everyone playing in the film was clearly given the memo. John Cusack plays an excellent foil to Chow’s endearing Bai. His Grant is so impeccably moustache-twirling in his villainy it’s impossible not to be entertained by him as he growls and yells obscenities at our heroes.
In the end, I suppose I don’t have much to say about Detective Chinatown 1900 because, well, there isn’t that much to say. It’s a good time, if a bit bloated at 135 minutes, and if you like buddy cop shenanigans, this will give you everything you want, and a bit more. The action, comedy and mystery elements are good enough on their own, but what makes it stand out more is the occasionally bold moments of racial and cultural tensions between the white characters and the Chinese. Especially with how much it plays into the film’s overall plot. It’s ham-fisted in a lot of places, and almost entirely ignores the suffering felt by plenty of other minorities who helped build America, but it’s still good to see a film like this be about something more than just Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper But American.
Verdict: Blending saccharine story beats, strong performances and more buddy cop greatness, Detective Chinatown 1900 is another strong addition to the series.
Overall entertainment: 8/10
Violence: 4/10
Sex: Forbidden love/10
Action: Not as much as I’d have liked.
Laugh out loud moments: More than I expected
Extended Magic show gag: gets better as it goes on
Detective Chinatown 1900 (2025)
Also known as: 唐探1900
Mandarin, English
Director: Chen Sicheng
Writer: Chen Sicheng
CAST
Wang Baoqiang – Ah Gui
Liu Haoran – Qin Fu
Chow Yun-fat – Bai Xuanling
Bai Ke – Zheng Shiliang
Zhang Xincheng – Bai Zhenbang
Yue Yunpeng – Fei Yanggu
Yin Zheng – Feng Ma
John Cusack – Grant
Li Xuejian – Chan
AJ Donnelly – Thomas Lawrence
The Asian Cinema Critic 