FOX HUNT (猎狐行动) (2025)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director:  Leo Zhang
Cast: Tony Leung, Duan Yihong, Erica Xia-hou, Zhang Aoyue, Olga Kurylenko
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Violence and Nudity)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 8 May 2025

Synopsis: Based on true events. Dai Yichen (Tony Leung), the Shanghai-based mastermind of a massive financial fraud who has been on the run for seven years, resurfaces in Paris. Chinese economic crime detective Ye Jun (Duan Yihong) leads the “Fox Hunt Team” on a cross-border mission to recover the stolen assets. When the hunter becomes the hunted, can the Fox Hunt Team make a comeback against all odds?

Movie Review:

Where Were You Six Years Ago?

A time when Donald Trump was still in his first term as president (and now he’s back for a second!), Marvel movies dominated the box office, and no one had heard of COVID-19—a virus that would soon shut down the world.

Six years can feel like a lifetime. To put things into perspective, Fox Hunt was filmed back in 2019. It was pulled from theaters in 2021, only to be delayed until 2025 for a general release. For a film starring two respected actors—Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Duan Yihong—that kind of delay doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Leung plays Dai Yicheng, a cigar-smoking, art-loving man of refined tastes who also happens to be wanted by Chinese authorities for his alleged role in a financial scam. Captain Ye (Duan), along with teammates Jia (Erica Xia-Hou) and Yi (Zhang Aoye), is dispatched to Paris to assist French police in an extradition operation code-named “Fox Hunt.”

Directed and co-written by Leo Zhang (with co-writer and co-star Erica Xia-Hou), Fox Hunt struggles to find its footing. Dai Yicheng is meant to represent a real-life financial criminal, yet the film never clearly explains what crimes he committed. Viewers are left guessing about his shady dealings, which seem limited to vague investment schemes with his French partners.

Duan’s Captain Ye is a colorful character—he sings in French, charms a gruff French cop and dismantles bombs in seconds. Whether he’s a supercop or simply reckless is never clear, but at least he keeps things interesting.

Unfortunately, the film lacks the tension and momentum expected from a nearly two-hour thriller. It never delivers the sense of urgency promised by its title. Dai never feels dangerous or intelligent enough to justify an international manhunt. He’s more of a cipher than a character, despite Leung’s reliably stylish and composed performance.

In what seems to be an attempt to stay “grounded,” the Chinese police largely take a back seat until the final act. And that’s part of the problem. Zhang and Xia-Hou can’t seem to decide whether they’re making a grounded, fact-based actioner or a Hollywood-style action thriller. Most of the film was shot in Paris, and the production values are undeniably high. There are car chases and shootouts, but they’re marred by overuse of slow motion, frantic editing, and awkward close-ups. It’s worth noting that the editing is also credited to Erica Xia-Hou—a true multi-hyphenate for better or worse.

In the six years since filming, Tony Leung has impressed audiences with his English-speaking role in Shang-Chi and delivered a much better conman performance in The Goldfinger. Zhang, for his part, had previously directed the unintentionally bizarre Jackie Chan film Bleeding Steel, and there’s no word on whether he’s tackling another project anytime soon.

If Fox Hunt weren’t already frustrating enough, it ends with a heavy-handed, cringeworthy message extolling the virtues of China’s police force just in case you forgot the production is a collaboration with the authorities.

Movie Rating:

(Less of a fox hunt, more of a dull game of cat and mouse)

Review by Linus Tee