Detective vs Sleuths

Detective vs Sleuths is a 2022 Hong Kong action thriller film directed, co-written and co-produced by Wai Ka-fai, starring Sean Lau, Charlene Choi, Raymond Lam and Carman Lee. The film follows a former police with a mental disorder (Lau), who works with an elite inspector (Choi) in a series of murders which are seemingly connected to past cases they've once inspected. They find themselves in a race against time to find out the truth and the mastermind behind these murders.

Originally announced in 2018, the film marks Wai's return to direct since the 2009 film Written By, and a reunion with frequent collaborator Sean Lau. Filming took place in Hong Kong and Guangzhou from 21 August 2018 to 17 December 2018, and the film entered the post-production process in April 2019.

Detective vs Sleuths was released in Hong Kong on 21 July 2022, after a postponed period due to COVID closure of Hong Kong and China theatres. The film has received critical acclaim and was won 4 of total 11 categories at the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Director for Wai Ka-fai, Best Screenplay, Best Actor for Sean Lau and Best Cinematography, and also nominated for Best Film.

Synopsis
Lee Jun, a former police chief inspector and elite detective in OCTB who has been expelled from the police force, after his serious mental breakdown and ensured a chaos happened in police headquarters due to a wrongly conviction of the Butcher case and the Devil Cop case.

Years later, a series of high profile murders done by a group of culprits who called themselves "The Sleuths" who left the crime scenes with police case file numbers of previous murder cases. The sleuths believed that they are killing the real murderers who were either not caught, police caught the wrong culprit and led to the death of the innocents, or not prosecuted by the law for medical reasons.

Lee hallucinates talking to victims and future victims of the murder cases by the sleuths and figures out the sleuths' next victims and locations of the crime scene, often a step ahead of OCTB, leading to OCTB suspecting Lee being a member of the sleuths. Chan, a senior inspector in OCTB, who also the only survivor in the Butcher case 17 years ago, believes Lee is the only hope to crack the Sleuths, requests his help. The deeper they investigate of the Sleuths' motive of crime, they discover the secrets of the past cases beyond their imagination.

Cast

 * Sean Lau as Jun Lee, a former police chief inspector and detective in OCTB who was expelled after experiencing hallucinations.
 * Charlene Choi as Yee Chan, an senior inspector, who is also the only survivor in the Butcher case, before got promoted to chief inspector in OCTB.
 * Raymond Lam as Fong Lai-shun, a chief inspector in OCTB.
 * Carman Lee as Yan Wong, Jun Lee's old colleague, a chief superintendent in OCTB, the superior of Yee Chan, Fong Lai-shun and Au Yeung Kim.
 * Tan Kai as Au Yeung Kim, an superintendent in OCTB, was caught and threatened by "The Sleuths" organisation to admit he is the real murderer of the Butcher Case and the Devil Cop Case.
 * Carlos Chan as Tsai Ka-chu, an OCTB senior inspector, but actually is a member of "The Sleuths" organisation. Chun Chi-to's son and Yeung Lai's boyfriend.
 * Kathy Yuen as Yeung Lai, an OCTB senior inspector, but actually is a member of "The Sleuths" organisation. Keung's daughter and Tsai Ka-chu's girlfriend.
 * Jeana Ho as Lynn Cheung, Jun Lee's rebellious daughter, action commander of "The Sleuths" organisation.
 * Deep Ng as Chun Chi-to, a deceased from the Devil Cop Case.
 * Timmy Hung as Keung, a deceased from the Butcher Case.
 * Stephanie Che as Fishmonger, one of the murderers of the Corpse Cooking Case.

Release
Detective vs Sleuths was originally planned for release in December 2019 but was postponed. Production company Emperor Motion Pictures did not gave any reasons for the delay.

Box office
Detective vs Sleuths has grossed a total of US$107.4 million worldwide combining its box office gross from Hong Kong (US$1,906,153), and China (US$105.5 million).

In Hong Kong, the film grossed HK$5,224,908 (US$645,603) during its first four days of release, debuting at No. 2. The film remained at No. 2 in its second weekend, grossing HK$5,318,944 and accumulating a total gross of HK$10,543,852 (US$1,343,166) by then. During its third weekend, the film grossed HK$2,999,499, moving down to No. 4, and have grossed a total of HK$13,543,351 (US$1,725,290) by then. On its fourth weekend, the film grossed HK$1,396,127, coming in at No. 7, accumulating a total gross of HK$14,939,478 (US$1,906,153) so far. Announced on August 15, 2022, the box office exceeded HK$15,000,000.

Critical reception
Edmund Lee of South China Morning Post gave the film three stars out of five, and writes "its relentless parade of shoot-outs and explosions also make this quite an exhausting watch".