Detective Chinatown

Mixing Crime, Comedy is never easy. You could succeed with awards or flop into winning in Rotten Tomatoes.

I am fortunate as I speak English, Chinese and Thai so it was easy to follow the plot and this is truly a winner.

Everyone having a bad day at work should watch this and be entertained.. which is after all what comedy means. Enjoy.

As for the comedy, the slapstick escapades sequence is just great tribute to Charlie Chaplin. If any reviewers take offense to the farce, they must have not watch Mr Chaplin epic slapstick routines.

I really enjoy the sequences of another lead getting his nose busted in every scene he appear... a tribute and parody to another Hollywood detective that has his nose plastered from start to finish...

The crime is a lock room mystery with a twist. And as one of the main role idolize Sherlock Holmes, the tribute to the cinematography in the Hollywood version with Downey is not lost and thoroughly enjoyable.

And then there are the actions... the actions are surprising. I agreed. Watch the car chase scene and the fight scenes... no spoilers here..

And finally the black comedy portion. The Hospital shoot out and the reference to the sound track at that moment is truly a genius. R&D on the meaning of the song and you will enjoy the shootout scene!! I see a lot of tribute to Thai black comedy style which I enjoy. And I hope this will encourage viewer to look into more Thai black comedies if you enjoy this movie. A lot of gems there.

To top it off...the film squeeze in a hidden moral message. See the other reviews for a clue.

As lost in translation goes, I am afraid its true... easily some of the conversation true meaning might be lost if you watch the subtitles.

Fortunately "using a deity as a hostage" meaning is not lost in subtitles.

If you are a film buff, you will be truly occupied spotting the parodies and tribute and amaze at how all these can be spliced in effortlessly.

And when do big budget movie see an ending sequence where you know the entire cast have a roaring good time? The ending itself put you in a humming mode and remind you to laugh and be entertain.

If you watch this film to spot continuity errors, and be critical on every scene and plot.. you should not be watching this film.

Do watch if you think you want to be entertained.

As a detective movie, the mystery is decent, but squashed into the last quarter of the film. The first half of the movie is "silly fun". It is funny, but mostly physical comedy and "wu li tou". After a lot of chaos, finally they start to analyze and detect. In the last 1/4, the film also manages to squeeze in a twist and surprise.

Without giving out spoilers, one of scenes has a facial expression reminding me of Edward Norton's brilliant portrait of Roy in Primal Fear.

Overall enjoyable but nothing unforgettable.

After failing his police academy entrance exam, Qin Feng (Haoran Liu) visits his uncle (or cousin) Tang Ren (Baoqiang Wan) in Bangkok. When Tang Ren finds himself the chief suspect in a murder case, Qin Feng uses his powers of observation and deductive skills to solve the crime and clear his uncle's (or cousin's) name.

I've long been a fan of Far Eastern cinema, but have often struggled with Asian comedies. When I clapped eyes on Baoqiang Wang in Detective Chinatown, with his inane grin and stupid hair, I thought 'here we go again', positive that I was in for 2 hours of excruciatingly unfunny nonsense, and the first half an hour did little to change my mind, especially with Wang's silly voice adding to the irritation.

But then something unexpected happened: I laughed. And then soon after, I laughed again. Then, to my surprise, I found myself caught up in the murder mystery plot, and admiring Sicheng Chen's assured direction (especially the visual manner in which Qin Feng mentally processes clues, which reminded me of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes). Wang's daft character grew less and less irksome, to the point that I actually looked forward to his next wacky exploit. Detective Chinatown had finally won me over.

A colourful mix of comedy, adventure, and intrigue, the film ultimately delivers thrills, spills and, yes, even laughs, and although it is half an hour too long at 136 minutes, the reasonably fast pace ensures that it is an entertaining ride, right up to the final twist and the fun song and dance number during the end credits.

6/10 - it takes a while to warm to, but is worth the effort.

I don't speak Mandarin, but I thought it was a quality movie. 100 gags; the audience was laughing lightly through most of the movie. This movie was produced in China and has similarities to a Jackie Chan movie, except that it is slightly better. It has a silly, comedic timing mixed with some serious, violent scenes.

The audience was filled. I only speak English, but it had subtitles. They spoke rather fast, so I could not keep up with their words, but the scenes told the story. Basically, two detectives are on a hunt for gold and a murderer.

There is everything in this movie: a beauty queen, a tiny amount of sexiness, mobster actors, a straight man comedic partnership, racing scenes, dancing, excellent marital arts fights and beautiful scenes.

I have seen lot of Chinese movies, mostly garbage in terms of story line and quality of production. However this movie was quite well made movie. I'm impressed. Some people may don't like this movie because it is not right taste, but I think this movie was enjoyable and truly entertained. I recommend for who like comedy, action, thriller movie. I do not recommend if you like dark and serious movie.