Detective Chinatown 1900 唐探1900 (2025) Review: An Entertaining, Though Overstuffed Murder Mystery
After solving mysteries from Bangkok to New York and Tokyo, the investigative duo is back in Detective Chinatown 1900, albeit in a prequel form as the film series takes us back to 1900 in San Francisco. The story begins with the Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty, who deployed three of her Yellow Banner imperial guards to locate a fugitive who had fled China. The fugitive in question is subsequently revealed in the movie since the story — credited to Chen Sicheng, who also co-directed Detective Chinatown 1900 with Dai Mo — spreads in multiple directions.
First, we are introduced to Qin Fu (Liu Haoran), a Chinese medicine practitioner who works as a translator and serves as an apprentice of Sherlock Holmes. The latter offers Qin the opportunity to take over his case, which requires him to travel to San Francisco because Holmes believes he will make “an exceptional detective”. Qin gladly accepts the task and upon arriving in the city, he learns about the political and racial turmoil between the Americans and the Chinese, particularly after the death of a Republican senator’s (John Cusack’s Grant) daughter Alice (Ana) is murdered alongside an elderly chief of the Navajo tribe, Six-Hands.
The murder suspect turns out to be Bai Zhenbang (Steven Zhang), the son of the highly influential Hip Sing Tong leader Bai Xuanling (Chow Yun-Fat) from Chinatown. Bai relies on Qin to help clear his son’s name by solving the case. Meanwhile, Ghost (Wang Baoqiang) is devastated about his father’s death and determined to find the killer, which leads him to San Francisco.
That’s when the familiar buddy-comedy elements which define the film series’ enduring popularity finally take place: an elaborate sequence where Qin falls from the building and coincidentally hits into Ghost before the two roll on the ground while The Platters’ “Only You” playing in the background. Sicheng and Mo’s direction showcases their flair for blending action and comedy with Ghost possessing the skill of a Hulk-like strength through acupuncture as he takes down several assailants.
Back to the aforementioned three imperial guards led by Fei Yanggu (Yue Yunpeng), they arrive in San Francisco to fulfil their mission, only to find themselves in an embarrassingly comical moment. The movie does take time to get to the point, which will be around an hour or so before Qin and Ghost team up to investigate the murder and look for clues using the former’s traditional Chinese medicine principles.
The best scene of the movie comes from the magic show, specifically, the disappearing box act revolving around several characters including Qin and Ghost, which reminds me of something Tsui Hark and Jackie Chan would do if such a scene were made in the ’80s era during the golden age of Hong Kong cinema. The buddy-movie chemistry between Haoran and particularly, the hilariously deadpan Baoqiang remains the film series’ MVPs but let’s not forget about the franchise newcomer played by Chow Yun-Fat, whose charismatic supporting turn as Bai Xuanling is a nice addition.
At nearly 140 minutes, Detective Chinatown 1900 tends to suffer from the overstuffed plot and this is especially true with the second half’s propaganda-heavy tones. At one point, the otherwise jovial direction turns into a hard-hitting moment of bloodshed, sacrifice and racial injustice, complete with Bai’s related speech during a court hearing. The lengthy structure that tries to encompass everything does hurt the pace, which in turn, prevents the movie from reaching its fullest potential.
It’s far from the best in the Detective Chinatown film series but this prequel remains reasonably entertaining, thanks to the combination of Liu Haoran and Wang Baoqiang’s chemistry alongside Chow Yun-Fat’s strong support and the occasional deducing along with the risible action-comedy tropes.
