This Chinese Actor Should Be Phoenix Wright, Says Chinese Internet

Former Asian teen heartthrob and current all around action movie super star Aaron Kwok has made big waves again on the Chinese blogosphere. This time, the waves have nothing to do with how good or how bad any of his movies are, but instead, about what he looks like in one of his movies.

Kwok, a Hong Kong singer, actor and amateur race car driver, has been a staple of the Chinese entertainment scene since his debut in the eighties. Mostly known for being in Hong Kong Action movies, Kwok’s most recent work has drawn the attention of Chinese video game fans.

In his latest movie, Silent Witness, which is about lawyers, Kwok is dressed quite similarly to another fictional character. With his blue suit, white shirt, red tie, and overly large and ornate pin, Kwok looks just like the titular character of Capcom’s Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

The pin on Kwok’s suit isn’t actually a lawyer’s badge, but instead, a communist pin. It serves the same purpose that an American flag pin does.

In Silent Witness, Kwok plays an attorney, except unlike Phoenix, he’s actually the prosecutor. Kwok’s character Tong is a lot more like Miles Edgeworth than Phoenix Wright, but his attire and look says different. His uncanny resemblance to Phoenix Wright has Chinese netizens calling for a Chinese version of the Ace Attorney movie, with some even saying that he might make a better Phoenix than Hiroki Narimiya did. At the same time, some have also called out the movie for ripping off their beloved bumbling defense attorney.

科研中的凤凰phoenix: Just watched the Silent Witness, it’s full of scenarios from Ace Attorney. Aaron Kwok is Edgeworth, Yu Nan is basically Phoenix.With my understanding of video games and comics, it feels like I’ve been betrayed by the director and screenwriter.

三年z组imba老师: Despite the fact that it clearly takes from Ace Attorney, this is a good movie! Aaron Kwok looks like a good middle-aged Phoenix Wright! The costume is too cool! Domestic movies should be like this, follow the path of good stories.

DanteKung: Aaron Kwok’s pose in Silent Witness must have come from Ace Attorney

Since I haven’t seen the movie yet, I can’t cast a vote on whether this movie rips off Ace Attorney or not. What I can say is, even though Kwok’s costume’s little red communist pin isn’t the same attorney’s badge that Phoenix sports, Kwok does look like a pretty good Phoenix Wright. Is he Narimiya good? I hope so, but that’s a hard one to top.

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Eric is a Beijing based writer and all around FAT man. You can contact him @[email protected] or follow him on Twitter @FatAsianTechie