After picking up two awards for best actor in the crime thriller The Dead End, A-list actor Deng Chao is back in familiar territory to star as a genius detective in the upcoming movie The Liquidator.

The new crime thriller, adapted from best-selling novelist Lei Mi's book Evil Minds: City Light, will hit Chinese mainland theaters on Dec 22.

The production also marks veteran TV drama director Xu Jizhou's first foray into movie directing.

Other than Deng, the cast also includes Taiwan actor Ethan Juan and actress Liu Shishi, who is known for her roles in historical TV dramas.

Inspired by real-life events, the movie unfolds with four cases: A teenager commits suicide as he can no longer endure a teacher's physical punishment; an elderly woman is forced to leave home by her ruthless son; firefighters fail to rescue residents from a burning building because the only exit is blocked by a car; a college student helps an injured elderly woman who in turn demands compensation.

While Juan stars as the man hired to kill those blamed for the four cases, Deng plays the detective tasked with hunting him down. But during the ensuing cat-and-mouse chase, the lines between justice and retribution soon become blurred.

The movie is more than a crime thriller, director Xu says at the Beijing event, and aims to explore the darker side of humanity.

In test screenings across China earlier this week, the movie attracted more than 100,000 viewers and won positive reviews, making it one of the holiday season's most anticipated films.