The Counterfeiter (2018)

The Hong Kong police are hunting a counterfeiting gang led by a mastermind code-named "Painter". In order to crack the true identity of him, the police recruits gang member Lee Man to unmask "Painter's" secret identity.

Director:

Felix Chong

Writer:

Felix Chong

Stars:

Yun-Fat Chow, Aaron Kwok, Jingchu Zhang

23 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Yun-Fat Chow	...	Painter
Aaron Kwok	...	Lee Man
Jingchu Zhang	...	Yuen Man
Catherine Chau	...	Inspector Ho
Joyce Wenjuan Feng	...	Sau Ching
David Yao-Qing Wang	...	Lee Wing Chit
Kai Chi Liu	...	Uncle Shing
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chung-chi Cheung
Justin Cheung
Alex Fong	...	Captain Ho
Jack Kao	...	Thai General
Dmitry Mazur	...	Auction Bidder
Phillip Mitchell	...	Superintendent
Jakob Nagy	...	(as Jason Moehring)
Carl Ng	...	Lok Man

Storyline

The Hong Kong police are hunting a counterfeiting gang led by a mastermind code-named "Painter". In order to crack the true identity of him, the police recruits gang member Lee Man to unmask "Painter's" secret identity.

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Plot Keywords:

counterfeit money | police | arrest | painting | fake banknote | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

China Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese English Thai Polish Mandarin

Release Date:

5 October 2018 (USA)

Also Known As:

Project Gutenberg

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$188,116,796

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bona Film Group, Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG), Pop Movies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1 Dolby Atmos DTS (DTS: X)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

User Reviews

A documentary about counterfeiting techniques that evolves into a plodding drama with some explosions

Project Gutenberg isn't an action movie but rather a crime drama that feels at times like a lengthy documentary about counterfeiting techniques. The film tells the story of Lee Man, a man who was part of a counterfeiting gang around a mastermind called Painter. Lee Man got arrested by the police who wants to know more about Painter in order to arrest him. Lee Man explains how they met in Canada and how he joined his gang while abandoning his dream of becoming a famous painter and having a family with his former girlfriend. After a theft had turned terribly wrong, Lee Man started to question his actions, grew distant from Painter and tried to find a way out of the gang. Their fatal conflict would soon lead to dramatic consequences for everyone involved.

Even though the movie is just above two hours long, it feels much longer than it was. It takes at least an hour before the actual rising action started and the film finally quickens up the pace. However, it loses some steam towards the end and despite an explosive finale, the resolution is somewhat unsatisfactory and exaggerated. The story is told with the help of numerous lengthy flashbacks instead of offering a coherent and fluid delivery.

However, there are also some positive elements about this movie. The acting performances are solid and the characters are quite fleshed out and intriguing. The locations are quite diversified as the film takes place in China, Taiwan and Thailand to just name a few locations. The few action sequences are quite vivid and visually stunning. The twisted story isn't predictable and will keep you interested until the very last scene.

In the end, Project Gutenberg is a movie with interesting characters and some great special effects that wastes some potential with its complicated storytelling and overlong delivery. The film would have been much better if it had been shortened by at least thirty minutes and scripted with a story in chronmological order. In the end, Project Gutenberg is good enough to be watched on a rainy or stormy autumn evening but nothing really worthwhile as the positive reviews are quite exaggerated.