Tang tan 1900

Though I had high expectations for this movie for being much spoiled of how great it is, I was still pleasantly surprised by Detective Chinatown 1900. As a Chinese immigrant, I'm proud that it's a mainland Chinese director who decided to touch upon topics of immigrant laborers, the Yellow Peril, and the Chinese Exclusionary Act, and further at how well this part of history is adopted, recreated, and incorporated with the overall storyline of the movie --- as it goes, Chen Sicheng is a true merchant in terms of selecting film subjects. Chow Yun-Fat gives hell of a performance for a multilayered Chinese-American hero: a loving father, an approachable elder, a cunning diplomat, and an authoritative (mob) leader. Bai's speech at the court is a rare scene of cultural outcry that struck me personally and inspired new reflections.

Notice how I never mentioned the "detective" bit of the movie? The crime/investigation storyline is decent but not amazing compared to the rest of the franchise, complexity and portrayal wise. Some parts of the murder even took me out in terms of the absurdity and logistics, which leads me to question if the director has a thing with pregnant women (cue his last film Lost in the Stars).

Overall, enjoyable comedy, ambitious multi-storylines, and great performances across the board. Keep in mind, however, that this film is targeted toward the Chinese market/audiences and it's meant to educate, provoke, and moralize, perhaps in a way you might not agree with.

Despite a broad brush of very serious subjects the movie is trying to deal with. The Magical Native American man/ a certain idea of Native Americans is resurrected from the Hollywood golden age of cowboy movies, in order to immediately be subverted, a multilayer plot gives even the tiniest characters some closure by the end, and the intrigue remains whole until the very end of the movie, even though it leans more on the side of a gory comedy rather than an investigative drama, or maybe a mix of the two, but, I guess such is life itself as well.

This all ends with an instructive exchange, a sort of a meta-dialogue, between two secondary characters, tycoons, talking about taking ascendance in the world through "power wields everything and, money, wields power" , and indeed , this movie is in of itsellf, showing that the Chinese movie studios can indeed take ascendance as a new, welcome tool of diversifying the sources of power in this world, through their ability of making fun movies which can get the money needed for that.

Honestly, considering Chen Sicheng's usual... performance, this movie is way better than the third one.

A miracle, really.

(He's tortured my expectations so low, it's kinda sad.)

But you gotta admit - dude knows how to make a Chinese New Year blockbuster.

He single-handedly invented "Spring Festival Gala: The Movie."

Whatever's trending on Douyin?

He throws it in.

Musical numbers? Check.

Plot twists? Check.

Stand-up comedy vibes? Yup.

Magic tricks?? Bro, even those.

A big happy ending with a cheesy group song? You bet.

Chen Sicheng really took the recent Spring Festival Gala vibes to heart: "Teach a lesson first, then let people have fun." Man's getting older - just wants that iron rice bowl now.

When it comes to cashing in on patriotism, even Wu Jing would have to bow and call him the godfather.

Honestly, if it weren't for Chow Yun-fat's acting saving those cringy lines, I would've been rolling my eyes halfway through.

While Detective Chinatown 1900 tries to blend comedy with a dark chapter of history, its tonal imbalance weakens the overall experience. The film relies too much on exposition rather than strong storytelling, making its mystery feel contrived and overly reliant on coincidences. Comedy feels misplaced given the heavy subject matter, and while the cast delivers solid performances, the writing struggles to treat its audience with intelligence. A more serious approach, with only minimal humor, would have made for a much stronger film. Ultimately, it's a forgettable entry that fails to leave a lasting impact.

This is a film released on the first day of Chinese New Year 2025. I have watch none of the Chinatown Detective series, nor other films in the same time period. I find it an okay one.

This movie is characterized as comedy. In fact, I do not find such scenes particularly cleverly developed, and am not amused by these. However, it does entertain the majority of the audience.

What makes it okay is the plot. It is, of course, not a very surprising story, and some people may say it is boring. But the movie tells the story to the audience completely and well. Forgetting about the technologies nowadays, telling a story is a film does, and this one does it fine.