“The Sin Trade” Poster
Director: Siyu Cheng
Cast: Ashton Chen, Lin Fengchao, Wang Zhen Er, Michael Mao, Liu Yitong, Rui Xiu
Running Time: 98 min.
By Paul Bramhall
An unexpected phenomena occurred in the 2020’s that I’d dare say won’t be fully appreciated until we have enough hindsight to look back on them – the Chinese streaming industry (or web movies as they’re known locally) elevated its action genre offerings to a level that effectively filled the void Hong Kong cinema left behind two decades earlier. When former HK action alumni like Xie Miao, Andy On, Ashton Chen, and Liu Fengchao started showing up in streaming movies made by the likes of iQIYI and YOUKU during the 2010’s, the general sentiment was that they were appearing in productions unworthy of their talents. However the streaming space hasn’t stood still, and from the format’s beginnings in the 2010’s, the 2020’s has seen the rise of directors like Siyu Cheng and Qin Pengfei who’ve breathed new life into the action genre.
The only tragedy is that many fans looking for a fix of Hong Kong style action may not even know of their existence. While HK cinema of old aimed to be as marketable to overseas territories as possible due to its small population locally, with a population over 1 billion productions made to appeal to Chinese audiences in the 21st century have no such concerns – if anyone watches them outside of China that’s just a bonus. Thankfully, astute fans have kept their eye on the web movie space, and the aforementioned Ashton Chen has become one of the genres legitimate leading men. Much like Xie Miao, Chen also got his break as a kung-fu fighting child actor. At just 6 years old he’d headline 1994’s Shaolin Popey and its sequel, and would get to appear alongside such legendary names as Donnie Yen in 1995’s Saint of Gamblers (and again in Ip Man 2 15 years later!) and Yuen Biao in 1996’s Dragon from Shaolin.
After spending the 2000’s in low budget outings that are best left forgotten (Kung Fu Cooker or Black Mask VS Gambling Mastermind anyone?), Chen would get his first taste of being a web movie lead with 2021’s Demon Hunter Yan Chixia and hasn’t looked back since. His latest comes in the form of The Sin Trade, which maintains the contemporary setting of recent outings like Detective Chen and Black Storm. Per usual for these productions Chen is playing a cop (who works for a branch of “the public security organs” – as the awkwardly worded subtitle points out), this time one who’s specialty is breaking up human trafficking rings. His character was almost a victim of trafficking himself as a child, only rescued due to his sister’s intervention, but at the cost she was taken, a trauma that sees him personally invested in his job.
When one of the college student girls from his hometown village is reported as missing, an elder makes a plea to Chen to help out, so he does exactly what you’d expect him to do – starts investigating and punching a lot of people in the face. In many ways The Sin Trade feels like the spiritual successor to the Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen collaborations from the 2000’s – Sha Po Lang and Flash Point. Like those productions, we’re told that the story unfolds in the 1990’s, allowing for a greater degree of violence and more criminal activity to be on display than if it was set in present day. There’s specifically a very clear nod to Flash Point in Chen’s wardrobe of a black leather jacket and jeans, as if we’re watching an unofficial sequel that continues the adventures of Yen’s angry cop from almost 20 years ago.
Directed by Siyu Cheng, along with Qin Pengfei he’s become one of the most reliable filmmakers to exclusively work in the streaming arena, responsible for the likes of Tai Chi Master and Striking Rescue. The latter saw him working with Tony Jaa for a story set in the fictional country of Palivina Republic, with fictional Southeast Asian countries being a prominent element of any web movie with a contemporary setting, providing a functional get out clause to pass the Chinese censorship board. In The Sin Trade it’s refreshing to see that the 1990’s setting now seems to be enough to appease the censors, allowing the story to play out in China, as here the plot is very much tied into Chinese traditions.
A trafficker played by Lin Fengchao (The Butcher’s Blade, The Four 3) has his underlings kidnap prostitutes from the brothels in the nearest city, receiving payment from the villagers in the remote mountains to have their young men married off to them. Forced into marriage, with the most important factor being they can bear a child to continue the bloodline, the child is then used as a cruel form of ensuring the kidnapped bride never leaves the village. Rough around the edges and sporting a dangerous temper, Fengchao plays his character like a distant relative of Kim Yun-seok’s Yanbian gangster in the 2010 classic The Yellow Sea, channelled through someone who knows kung-fu.
Interestingly The Sin Trade offers up two sets of villains, with a nightclub owner played by Wang Zhen Er (Monster Run, Sea Monster 2: Black Forest) and her fearsome bodyguard, played by Michael Mao (Blade of Flame, Golden Spider City) adding another layer to the story. It turns out one of Fengchao’s underlings is in love with the same girl Chen has been asked to look for, and decides to go on a rogue mission to rescue her from the club she’s being forced to work at so he can marry her himself. When Zhen Er finds out who was behind one of her employees being taken, it sets her on a collision course with Fengchao, and Chen is left to desperately track the girl down before she’s sold off to one of the remote mountain villages, after which it’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.
It’s a somewhat convoluted set of circumstances, however it works well, as Chen’s cop is expectedly one-dimensional, so cramming the plot with a number of villains who are far more interesting keeps the pace moving. Most importantly though, it also offers up plenty of opportunities for fists to start flying, and on that front The Sin Trade definitely doesn’t disappoint. The action is choreographed by Yulong Guo, who contributed to the action on display in Striking Rescue (and is a director himself, whose credits include the fantastically named Rising Boas in a Girl’s School), and its brutal stuff. There are various one versus group melees with a noticeable focus on impact shots, as kicks satisfyingly send lackeys flying into the nearest immovable object. The filming of the fights is fluid and clear, and they’re performed with a franticness that once more shows how much more time these productions now have dedicated to the action.
It’s actually Fengchao who arguably gets the lion’s share of the action highlights, when a visit to Zhen Er’s club to negotiate his captured underlings return segues into a vicious throwdown against Michael Mao, one that sees bones broken and faces pummelled into a swollen mess. Essentially pitting one ferocious bad guy against another ferocious bad guy, if there was a limit to how much violence was seen as acceptable to be shown onscreen before, it’s safe to say that whatever that was has now been lifted. The true highlight of course goes to the inevitable showdown between Chen and Fengchao, offering up a re-match from their brutal showdown in Black Storm, with the latter’s form of resisting arrest resulting in an epic fight both inside and outside a small restaurant. There’s a subtle nod to the epic Donnie Yen versus Collin Chou finale in Flash Point thrown in at one point, and if you enjoyed that one, there’ll be plenty to enjoy here.
There’s been plenty of quality coming out of China’s streaming platforms in 2026, from The Butcher’s Blade to Fight Against Evil 3, however I’m willing to put it on the line and say that The Sin Trade represents the pinnacle so far of what can be done within the genres limitations. The storyline is gritty, the characters are despicable, but most of all, the action delivers every time it hits, which is frequent. Check it out, it’d be a sin not to.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8.5/10
