Detective Chinatown 1900
Directed by Chen Sicheng, Dai Mo · 2025 ·
Detective Chinatown 1900 (2025) earns a 68% Celluloid Score — Recommended. Recommended — recommended by most critics and audiences.Critics and audiences are closely aligned on this one.
Calculated from 3 available inputs: Celluloid editorial rating, Metascore, Letterboxd and IMDb. Audience sentiment is shown separately and never changes the composite. See how we calculate scores.
3-input transparent breakdown
Wanda Pictures Where to watch
Streaming availability varies by region — currently on Netflix, KlikFilm in Indonesia. Check local listings for your region.
Where to watch Detective Chinatown 1900 by country
| Country | Streaming on |
|---|---|
| Indonesia | Netflix, KlikFilm |
| Malaysia | Netflix |
| Philippines | Netflix |
| Thailand | Netflix |
Subscription availability, refreshed from TMDB. Rental and purchase options may differ.
Why this score?
- Celluloid's editorial rating is positive (85/100).
- General viewers mostly liked it (80%).
- Celluloid Score 68% combines 3 verified rating inputs; audience sentiment is shown separately.
Best for
- Fans of Comedy
Not ideal for
- Viewers who only watch top-tier, 90%+ rated films
Scores reflect data indexed at build time. Component sources are shown on this page; Celluloid Score is our composite, not a third-party trademark. Scoring policy
Streaming availability, artwork and title metadata courtesy of TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Is Detective Chinatown 1900 worth watching?
Yes — Detective Chinatown 1900 earns a 68% Celluloid Score. Recommended — recommended by most critics and audiences.
Celluloid Verdict
An unwieldy, overlong mix of slapstick and history lesson that still lands real points about exclusion-era America — Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran keep the sprawl watchable even when the mystery machinery creaks.
Celluloid editorial verdict
Critics and audiences are closely aligned on this one.
What is Detective Chinatown 1900 about?
Chen Sicheng's franchise rewinds to 1900 San Francisco, where the murder of a white woman in Chinatown puts the entire immigrant quarter on trial. Herbalist Qin Fu and frontier tracker Ah Gui — an unlikely Holmes-and-Watson pairing — must find the real killer before opportunistic politicians use the case as a pretext to raze Chinatown for good. Set against the machinery of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the period whodunit became one of the biggest hits of China's 2025 Lunar New Year season, grossing over $450 million.
Watch the Trailer
Critic Reviews
Detective Chinatown 1900 Review: A Lavish Prequel That Loses Its Own Case
★★½☆☆
Detective Chinatown 1900 rewinds Chen Sicheng's blockbuster franchise to Exclusion-era San Francisco with staggering production values and serious historical ambitions — then buries both under tonal whiplash, bloat, and jokes that curdle.
For franchise completists and admirers of Chow Yun-fat, who is worth the ticket alone. Everyone else can skip: the spectacle is real, but the film underneath it is a muddle.
Detective Chinatown 1900 stills
Official production imagery supplied through TMDB, kept with the movie instead of split into a thin gallery page.
Images courtesy of TMDB. TMDB does not endorse or certify Celluloid.
Reader takes
No reader takes published yet — be the first helpful voice.
More Like This
Ranked by genre overlap and Celluloid Score — full movies like Detective Chinatown 1900 page.
TIFF 2019 Knives Out
Comedy, Crime · 2h 11m
HKIFF 2018 Project Gutenberg
Action, Crime · 2h 10m
Featured One Battle After Another
Thriller, Crime · 2h 42m
Police Story
Action, Crime · 1h 39m