The fight scenes helped The Prosecutor stand out in international markets, and the movie’s director is ready to explain how. A Hong Kong release that debuted in theaters on December 21, 2024, the movie follows Donnie Yen’s Fok Chi-ho, a prosecutor looking to ensure the right sentences for various suspects. Despite a seemingly mundane premise, it remains a traditional Donnie Yen action movie, as the case quickly unravels into a full-scale attack. The movie has earned immense praise for its inventive action choreography, which featured several unique techniques.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Yen opened up about how the scenes were filmed. As he was also a director and producer, he went in depth about the exact process for planning the fight choreography. While he focused on serving as an action director, he elected to delegate choreography to another professional. For Yen, the primary focus should be on emotions, rather than each exact move. Check out his response below:
Well, I’ve been doing action films for the longest time, right? So, audiences may or may not understand how you define putting action on screen. Action choreography, action directing, and directing action movies are three different responsibilities. Choreography, in most cases in the industry, when you think of action choreography, that is choreographing pretty much physical movements, right? Action director is how you shoot these physical movements. You actually get to place a sH๏τ, sometimes you’re given the authority — depends on your seniority, as well as how much say you have in that production — you shoot the scene, and you put all this stuff together.
Directing an action movie is you’re actually directing action along with how you tell a story, overall, as a director, that is the big difference. That’s why, for the longest time, I would direct my own action. You’d see the difference between the quality and the style of these action deliveries, because I’d get to direct these action scenes, rather than just, “Oh, have Donnie Yen choreograph a couple moves.”
I don’t choreograph as much, nowadays, as when I was beginning decades ago. Because, to me, it’s not about the movements anymore. It’s about the emotion in that character. It could be simply one, two or three punches, but if the audience is not engaged with your character emotionally in the moment, then it doesn’t matter what type of extravagant choreographies you’re giving the audience. There will be no feedback. There’s just a bunch of blowing things up which, unfortunately, a lot of these action movies I find can go in that direction. You blow up buildings, you have these extravagant shootout scenes or fight scenes, but then there’s no feeling. You don’t feel, you’re not driving, you’re not cheering for the the hero.
So, right now, I have my own teams, and I work with different teams. I have a lot of different team members, and I let them choreograph the movements. And most of the time, I jump in, if I have time, and I say, “Oh, I don’t like it here and there,” not because the movements are not any better than the other movements. It’s just that it’s how I tell the story, ultimately. That is what I’m searching for. Choreography is like a part of a music composition, of composing this whole huge arrangement of certain notes. I know exactly what I need, and I don’t need. So, that is ultimately what I do.
What The Choreography Meant For The Prosecutor
Yen Does Not Necessarily Worry About It
Yen’s unique perspective offers fresh insight into The Prosecutor‘s success. Much of the discussion about the movie has revolved around the unique first-person action sequence. It plays out somewhat like a video game with third-person and first-person perspectives that change with every punch or gunsH๏τ. The scene helped the movie to garner some international attention, though its box office gross remains restricted to Hong Kong at the moment. Yet it is not the primary element that interests the movie.
The fights themselves matter, but none of them are quite as important as the movie’s leading man.
Instead, Yen focuses on the emotions and personality of the leading man. Donnie Yen’s best movies often feature a small twist from traditional narratives, and this movie manages it by balancing an action movie with a legal procedural. More often than not, the legal issues take precedence. The fights themselves matter, but none of them are quite as important as the movie’s leading man. Few courtroom dramas feature the prosecutors running out into the street to fight ᴀssᴀssins, and it is that mix that makes it so interesting. Any movie could have skilled choreography, but Yen prefers ensuring compelling characters.
Our Take On The Prosecutor’s Action Choreography
The Prosecutor Needed The Perfect Gimmick
It is hard to disagree with Yen’s perspective. Even without putting too much of his focus into the choreography, his team still managed excellent fight scenes. He never needed to give his attention to that side of the movie when he could instead worry about the emotional weight of every fight. The collaboration worked perfectly. It proved that Yen knows exactly how to direct any given action movie. He turned a legal drama into an action-packed thriller. Just as Yen turned Ip Man into an extraordinary franchise, he ensured that The Prosecutor would be brilliant.
