Back to the Past

寻秦记

Hong Kong/China, 2025, colour, 2.35:1, 106 mins.

Directors: Wu Xuanhui 吴炫辉 [Ng Yuen-fai], Li Zhenlong 黎震龙 [Jack Lai].

Rating: 6/10.

Time-travel costume-action movie, set during the Qin dynasty, is a generic, over-stuffed but enjoyable romp spun off of a famous Hong Kong TV series from 2001.

STORY

Hong Kong, 1999. As part of a time-travel experiment, VIP Protection Unit inspector Xiang Shaolong (Gu Tianle) is sent back to witness the accession of the first Qin dynasty king (and a united China’s first emperor), Ying Zheng, in 247 BC. However, he is mistakenly sent back three years earlier, to 250 BC, and finds himself in neighbouring Zhao state during the final years of the Warring States era that led to the Qin dynasty becoming triumphant. As the real Ying Zheng is secretly long dead, Xiang Shaolong ends up training Zhao Pan (Lin Feng), the ambitious son of a Zhao general, to pose as Ying Zheng and become the the first emperor of China, known as Qin Shi Huang. However, as Zhao Pan becomes increasingly cruel and tyrannical, Xiang Shaolong flees the capital and settles in the countryside with his two wives, Wu Tingfang (Xuan Xuan), the daughter of a wealthy nobleman, and Qinqing (Guo Xianni), a scholar who reminds him of a former girlfriend back in Hong Kong with an identical-sounding name. It is there that Xiang Shaolong and Wu Tingfang have a son, Xiang Bao’er. Meawhile, back in Hong Kong, Li Xiaochao (Deng Yijun), CEO of the time machine’s owner Lee Group, blamed the time-travel mistake on the machine’s inventor, Ken (Miao Qiaowei), and had him imprisoned for 20 years. Ken had oiginally wanted to transport himself back in time but also wanted to change history; he had been replaced by Li Xiaochao with Xiang Shaolong. In 2025 the vengeful Ken breaks into Lee Towers with his brother-in-law Phil (Hong Tianming) and a group of mercenaries and demands that Li Xiaochao and professor Wu You (Liao Qizhi) send them back in time, along with his daughter Galie (Bai Baihe) who works for Wu You. Ken intends to seize the throne from Zhao Pan and become China’s first emperor instead. He and his gang arrive in the countryside with their machine guns and motorbikes but by mistake grab and wound a member of Zhao Pan’s army which is returning victorious from a military expedition. Zhao Pan and his army are incapable of fighting the modern weapons of Ken & Co.; instead, Zhao Pan and some of his men escape to Xiang Shaolong’s home, asking for help. Though he doesn’t trust Zhao Pan at all, Xiang Shaolong extracts a bullet from the wounded man. Unlike Zhao Pan & Co., who have never seen guns, bullets or motorbikes in their lives, Xiang Shaolong understands what is going on. When one of Ken’s men arrives at the home with a gun, Xiang Shaolong disarms him; but one of Zhao Pan’s men kills the man before Xiang Shaolong can question him. Ken and the rest of his gang arrive and Xiang Shaolong, his family and Zhao Pan & Co. escape by a secret underground passage that Xiang Shaolong prepared years earlier in case Zhao Pan came to kill them. After being chased on motorbikes by Ken & Co., they take refuge in a large forest, where they are joined by members of a Mohist sect led by professional female assassin Shanrou (Teng Liming), an old friend of Xiang Shaolong, and Tao Fang (Ou Ruiwei), steward of the sect’s mountain fortress. During all the chaotic fighting in the forest, complicated by Ken’s high-tech disguise that can impersonate Zhao Pan, Zhao Pan is first captured but then rescued by Xiang Shaolong, Galie is captured by the Mohists, and Wu Tingfang is held hostage by the mercenaries. Held in the mountain fortress, Galie becomes disillusioned with her father, not wanting him to change history and become emperor. However, Ken manages to infiltrate the fortress, wound Zhao Pan and Shanrou, and escape with Galie on a motorbike. Steward Tao Fang, who has been shot in the forest, is brought back by Xiang Shaolong to the fortress, where he dies, much mourned by the Mohist community there. Meanwhile, Ken continues with his plan to seize power from Zhao Pan.

REVIEW

Twenty-five years after time-travelling back to Ancient China and deciding to stay there, a Hong Kong police officer has to deal with a group of modern-day mercenaries who’ve used the same time machine in order to change history in Back to the Past 寻秦记, a big-screen sequel to TVB’s iconic TV drama, A Step into the Past 寻秦记 (2001), that reunites many of the original cast in a new story set some two decades later. Largely financed by Mainland money, but creatively produced 监制 by Hong Kong actor Gu Tianle 古天乐 [Louis Koo] and made with a majority Hong Kong crew and a cast drawn from Greater China, the film will resonate most strongly with fans of the original TV series, given the huge amount of character background that the movie relies on but hardly has time to recap.

However, even for newcomers there’s plenty to enjoy here in a slickly mounted production that, while thoroughly generic, doesn’t take itself too seriously, sports a strong cast in depth, and keeps moving – with none of the VFX overload and bloated running time that has become the norm with Chinese costume dramas. Shot six years ago – in Guizhou province, southwest China, during Apr-Jul 2019 – it had an elongated post-production due to Covid and the final cut was passed for Mainland release only in autumn 2025. It was finally released in both Hong Kong and the Mainland on the last day of 2025, taking a hunky (by today’s standards) HK$84 million in the former but only a rather polite RMB291 million in the latter.

The 40-part TV series (see left) was Gu’s final TVD before committing fully to a career on the big screen. But it clearly meant a lot to him, as in 2015 he bought the rights (via his company One Cool Film Production) to make a movie spin-off and confirmed he would repeat his leading role as the time-travelling Hong Kong police officer Xiang Shaolong. In 2018 Lin Feng 林峰 [Raymond Lam], for whom the series was a career breakthrough, signed on to repeat his part as the ambitious Zhao Pan who plotted to take over as the first emperor of a united China under the Qin dynasty, as well as fellow Hong Konger Xuan Xuan 宣萱 as one of Xiang Shaolong’s two wives.

In all, almost a dozen actors return in their original roles, including Hong Kong actresses Guo Xianni 郭羡妮 as the other wife and Teng Liming 滕丽名 as a professional assassin. Newcomers include Hong Kong veteran Miao Qiaowei 苗侨伟 as Ken, the main villain who travels back in time with a group of mercenaries to change history and take over as emperor, plus Mainland actress Bai Baihe 白百何 as his disillusioned daughter and Hong Kong’s Hong Tianming 洪天明 as his brother-in-law. Hong’s father, legendary action star Hong Jinbao 洪金宝 [Sammo Hung], handled the action scenes.

The most obvious source for both humour and offbeat action is the difference between Qin dynasty and modern-day artifacts – when Ken and his guerrillas arrive in 3rd-century China, Zhao Pan and his men don’t even know what bullets are, let alone machine guns and motorbikes, and Xiang Shaolong acts as a kind of middleman between the two eras. Things like that provide some passing humour in the early stages but don’t become a mainstay of the whole movie. The screenplay by Mainland-born, Hong Kong-based writer He Xin 贺鑫 (Love in Time 等我爱你, 2012; Gangster Payday 大茶饭, 2014; Robbery 老笠, 2015; Good Game 触电, 2025) – in what was then her biggest undertaking after a series of larky action-comedies – mostly concentrates on the relations between the many characters as events continue to snowball and become more unpredictable.

The problem for newcomers to the story is that relatively little background is explained, so a lot has to be read into knowing looks and other hints – especially with Xiang Shaolong’s relations with various women, not just the two wives with whom he has set up a ménage à trois but also a professional assassin with whom he shares meaningful glances that further suggest his busy past love-life. In addition to the large number of supporting characters, the film also never stops moving, with Hong Jinbao’s always inventive action sequences, cross-crossing personal stories and a plot that keeps throwing up reverses just when everything seems settled. He’s script is so restless and busy that it’s a wonder any of the cast make much impression.

With a handsome crop of silvery hair, Gu, then 48, looks more natural than usual and very much the elder statesman of the cast, his character now a long way removed from the lothario of the TV series (briefly seen in some flashbacks). Lin, then 39, makes a strong partner as his Qin dynasty frenemy, and Miao, then 60, a reliable villain from the present. Then 35, Bai – unfortunately not a common sight on screens nowadays – looks somewhat out of place in a costume-action picture like this but is at least given a storyline of her own, as the main villain’s disillusioned daughter. Other roles are all solidly played, often leaving the viewer wanting more – especially TV veteran Teng, then 43, in a rare film outing as a smokey female assassin.

Technical credits are smooth throughout, starting with direction by Hong Kong’s Wu Xuanhui 吴炫辉 [Ng Yuen-fai] (a VFX specialist who previously directed the generic mecha movie Warriors of Future 明日战记, 2022, also for Gu) and Li Zhenlong 黎震龙 [Jack Lai] (zombie horror Possession Street 邪Mall, 2024) showing no joins. For Li, originally announced as the solo director, Back to the Past was his directing debut. Other crew are experienced Hong Kong hands, from d.p. Xie Zhongdao 谢忠道 [Kenny Tse], through editor Huang Hai 黄海, to composer Chen Guangrong 陈光荣 [Comfort Chan].

The original TV series was based on a novel (see left) by Hong Kong martial arts/sci-fi writer Huang Yi 黄易 [Wong Yik], pen name of Huang Zuqiang 黄祖强 [Wong Cho-keung], who died in 2017, aged 65. It was first serialised in Hong Kong Daily News 新报 and then published in 25 volumes from mid-1994 to mid-1996 by Huang’s own company. The novel, TVD and film all have the same Chinese title, which literally means “The Chronicle of Searching for Qin”.

CREDITS

Presented by Zhejiang Huace Film & TV (CN), One Cool Film Production (HK), Huace Pictures (Tianjin) (CN), China Star Movie (HK), Shenzhen Chao People Media (CN), Wuhan Legendary People Film & TV Art (CN). Produced by One Cool Film Production (HK).

Script: He Xin. Script advice: Fu Xiuling. Photography: Xie Zhongdao [Kenny Tse]. Editing: Huang Hai, Lu Zhihao. Music: Chen Guangrong [Comfort Chan], Chen Yongjian, Li Minglang. Art direction: Lin Weijian. Costume design: Zhang Zhaokang. Sound: Shi Junjian. Action: Hong Jinbao [Sammo Hung]. Visual effects: Guo Weiting, Lin Junyu, Huang Xinyan, Yu Guoliang, Lin Jiexiong, Guo Tai, Yang Minjie.

Cast: Gu Tianle [Louis Koo] (Xiang Shaolong), Lin Feng [Raymond Lam] (Zhao Pan/Ying Zheng), Bai Baihe (Gaili/Galie, Ken’s daughter, Phil’s niece), Xuan Xuan (Wu Tingfang), Guo Xianni (Qin Qing/Qinqing), Teng Liming (Shanrou, professional assassin), Miao Qiaowei (Ken), Zhang Jicong (Shitou/Stone), Zhu Jianran (Xiang Bao’er/Bowie/Xiang Yu, Xiang Shaolong’s son), Wu Yue (Max), Hong Tianming (Phil, Ken’s brother-in-law), Chris Collins (Tim), Deng Yijun (Li Xiaochao, Li Group CEO), Liao Qizhi [Liu Kai-chi] (Wu You, professor), Ou Ruiwei (Tao Fang, steward), Chen Guobang (Li Si, prime minister), Huang Wenbiao (Teng Yi), Cai Yizhi (Wan Liang), Liao Ziyu (Wensang), Zheng Xue’er [Michelle Saram] (Zhao Qian, princess/Maggie), Xu Weidong (Dan), Hong Tianzhao (Wushu), Yang Yuteng, Chen Junting, Xu Haochang, Wu Yongshi, Tao Zhizun, Yan Zifei, Hong Yang (villagers in fortress), He Guoxuan (Wuyun, general).

Release: Hong Kong/China, 31 Dec 2025.