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狄仁傑之通天帝國 (2010)
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame


Reviewed by: j.crawford
Date: 06/10/2012
Summary: stylish action adventure

In Big Brother Tsui Hark's 2010 film when unexplained spontaneous combustion kills a pair of dignitaries in 7th-century China, the nation's first female emperor, Wu Zetian calls upon the troublesome Di Renjei aka Detective Dee to solve the mystery in this stylish action adventure.
The director returns to his classic form with this fantasy epic. His decision to cast the lovely and talented Carina Lau as the Empress alongside the seemingly ageless Andy Lau as the title character assures his success with the project. Blend in Hong Kong mainstay actors Leung Ka-Fai and Richard Ng, the compelling scenario glides right along sweeping the viewer up in the never boring 120 minute journey.
In a word, wow! In four words, definitely check it out!

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: ewaffle
Date: 01/18/2012

In “Detective Dee and the Secret of the Phantom Flame” Tsui Hark creates a world based on historical fact—the beginning of the reign of Wu Zetian, the first (and, so far, only female ruler of China) in 690 AD. It has square rigged ships from the 18th century, industrial techniques from the 19th century and a relatively modern view of the role of women in society. It includes trusted advisors to the Empress dying while bursting into flame, a band of assassins armed with deadly dart-like arrows who, like the Spanish Inquisition, are never expected but who always show up and people with the ability to change gender and age by twisting wires implanted in their brains. There are talking deer, exploding beetles and a bird that senses danger. Everyone—the good, the bad and the ambiguous—can jump to and from rooftops, stack up the bodies of enemies like cordwood and always look great while doing it. It is a wuxia historical mystery with sumptuous costumes and flashy, perfectly planned and executed action choreography (Sammo Hung) and astonishing sets whether they were built in a CGI computer, a model shop or on a soundstage. It doesn’t quite hold together and nitpickers will find some loose ends but “Detective Dee” is a terrific movie: exciting, romantic and lots of fun.

Andy Lau and Li Bing-Bing take care of most of the human element. Carina Lau does a good job with a thankless role, the evil Empress; Tony Leung Ka-Fai rings the changes from cringing to stoic to insane and makes us believe him; Deng Chao has a good time as the extremely pale (and creepy) official who figures things out. Li Bing-Bing smolders and pouts, making no secret of her total dedication to the Empress, willing to die or kill in her service while Any Lau is stoic, charming where appropriate, ruthless where necessary. The shaving scene with the two of them (actually much more than just shaving) is a high point of the movie.

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: evirei
Date: 11/14/2011

Director Tsui Hark is back with a bigger and bolder movie, which tastefully blends in fantasy, action as well as style. Together with all the powerful and shining stars, it makes the movie glow even more.

It's been a while since I've watched such a great action movie that has great and tight storyline. More to that, all the casting for the roles were perfect, whereby all of the cast practically nailed their role spot on.

Tsui Hark never gave his audience a rest. The movie was exciting and intellegently paved on since the beginning, making audience craving for more.

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: Gaijin84
Date: 07/26/2011


Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: dandan
Date: 02/28/2011
Summary: di renjie

china, 690: wu zetian (carina lau) is about to be installed as the first female emperor and there are rumblings of discontent afoot. when the man who is supervising the construction of colossus sized buddha bursts into flames, soon followed by one of wu's soldiers, the empress-to-be decides that the cause of these deaths needs investigating. deciding that this matter needs resolving swiftly, she calls upon detective dee (andy lau), who is currently in prison for supporting those who opposed her reign after her husband's death. still, there's no reason to bear a grudge and detective dee, flanked by wu's right-hand woman, jing'er (li bing bing), and a military investigator, donglai (deng chao), sets out to solve this mystery...

well, it's been five years since tsui hark's return to the wu xi genre, which treated him so well (and vice versa) in the past. now, despite its flaws, i did quite enjoy large swathes of 'seven swords' and i could certainly see the potential, had the time and money been afforded to hark to complete it the way he wanted to. with 'detective dee and the mystery of the phantom flame' it seems as if no such constraints had been placed upon him. this is a lavish, opulent production, with the huge sets, some pretty high quality cgi, lots of locations and a pretty huge scale. my mind is currently thinking how i'd like to watch 'seven swords' again, which means that you can probably pre-empt my overall opinion of 'detective dee...'

this is a film which is okay. okay, at best. sure, i enjoyed the scale and execution of the film: it is, without a doubt, well made. i enjoyed andy lau, who was working his slightly smug persona very well, carina lau had some amazing eyebrows, li bing bing was a treasure (she always is) and deng chou really impressed me.

however, it all seemed a little vacuous and i found that i was only mildly engaged by the narrative, which didn't ask too many questions of its viewer. the majority of the set-pieces were only just passable but, for something with this epic scale, shouldn't we be demanding something a little more than passable?

all in all, a little underwhelming...


Reviewed by: mrblue
Date: 02/26/2011

For the most part, Tsui Hark's output during the last ten years was filled with its' share of ups (Seven Swords) and downs (Missing), resulting in some questioning if he could ever return to the top form he showed during the 1980's, when he was considered one of Hong Kong's top directors. While his latest film, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, is more a piece of populist entertainment than an out-and-out artistic cinematic experience, it's a very well-made popcorn film that should please fans of his work, as well as Hong Kong movies in general.

Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 12/04/2010

Tsui Hark returns, at last, to the wu xia genre that he reinvented and reinvigorated in the 80's and 90's, with a tale in the vein of the Chor Yuen interpretations of Gu Long's novels (I don't think there's any actual Gu Long connection to this story?). Andy Lau plays the titular detective, who is called in to investigate some mysterious autocombustions in the court of China's first & only empress. The trail leads to conspiracy of the highest order.

Tsui Hark has always been ambitious, never one to rest on his laurels - which is sometimes frustrating given what solid laurels he has to rest on, especially since his largely mediocre films post-1995, many of which have been thwarted by excessive ambition at the expense of the basics of storytelling. Detective Dee is quite ambitious, but manages to keep its eye on the fundamentals - character, plot, etc. There is heavy use of CGI to create the world, which actually suggests that he was working with a relatively low budget - cheaper to use CGI sets than build them. Occasionally the CGI is intrusive, but mostly it's pretty good, though when they use honest solid reality it's invariably an improvement... but some of the sets could never have been realised that way.

There's quite a bit of action, choreographed by Sammo Hung with an emphasis on the wirework - people rarely just walk anywhere, it's mostly leaping and flying - often quite subtly. There's some really cool action sequences with bits of the scenery being turned into weapons, reminiscent of early 90's style of wirefu more than anything - not especially Sammo's forte, but he does a good job here. Had to wonder what Ching Siu-Tung would have come up with though.

Tsui Hark does have a tendency to cram too much story into his films, often making them hard to follow - DD&TMOTPF is certainly busy, but doesn't get too confusing - it moves along briskly enough to keep you from wondering/worrying whether it all really makes sense, but frankly it's not that important whether it does or not (I think it does though). It's all about the spectacle, and it delivers this far more satisfyingly than anything Tsui has produced in a long time. It's good to see him, finally, back on form. Here's hoping he gets a bigger budget for the next project, and then uses it wisely.

Oh, forgot to note - Andy Lau is great as the titular detective, wouldn't mind seeing him in the role again :)

7.5/10

Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: Brian Thibodeau
Date: 11/02/2010

A super-sized fantasy epic -- and a cracking good mystery story -- from a director who, for this viewer's money, has never completely lost his mojo, despite some box-office and critical misfires in recent years. DETECTIVE DEE carries on the tradition of exhilarating visual craftsmanship that Tsui Hark has demonstrated on many of his pictures over the years, only here it's fronted by a franchise-worthy leading figure in real-life Tang Dynasty forensic detective De Renjie (Andy Lau), and buttressed with Tsui's inimitable visual zest and a smart, politically-tinged and ultimately very satisfying mystery narrative in which senior government officials spontaneously combust from the inside out. As in his best costume fantasies (and even a couple of his not-so-best, such as LEGEND OF ZU), Tsui again conjures some of the most captivating scenery yet seen in a Chinese film, including a 200-foot tall statue-in-progress of Buddha (complete with scaffolding and suspension bridges connected to a central tower) that figures prominently into a spectacular plot to kill the wicked and divisive Empress Wu (Carina Lau), and the underground Phantom Market, a massive, forbidding, fire-lit city of caves wherein a key witness (Richard Ng) resides. Opulent palace interiors have been seen in countless Chinese films and TV series over the years, but they honestly feel fresh here -- I don't know if it's simply new sets, new set dressing or new camera angles, but it all feels purpose-built for this production (perhaps it was?). Sammo Hung's choreography is impeccably designed and flawlessly edited, and loaded with the kind of soaring wireworked wuxia you may not realize you sorely missed in Hong Kong/Chinese action movies because so many people have knocked it nearly every time it has been used in the last decade. The film's plentiful CG is, for the most part, seamlessly integrated, such is the level of technical expertise of contemporary effects houses across Asia, in this case armies of computer jockeys in Korea and Hong Kong (their only weak spot perhaps being an onslaught of battling deer, which are just enough left-of-field to make up for any weaknesses in their rendering). Despite being largely a Mainland production (as far as I know), this has the heart and soul of a classic Hong Kong fantasy, particularly those of it's ace director, albeit one made with much cooler modern filmmaking toys. (Viewed at TIFF 2010)

Reviewer Score: 10

Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 10/25/2010
Summary: Tsui still has it

Flat out flashy entertainment. This is a triumphant return to what Tsui Hark does so well. Many of his trademark motifs are evident. Eerie blue light in the forest around a temple. Colourful flowing silks as lovers and enemies do battle in the air. Surprise attacks by outrageous and vastly-overdone means. Huge structures collapsing. Skin-crawling netherworlds. Ah, I'm in heaven.

Sumptuous colourful images glide or flash past. Eye-popping historical (and pseudo-historical) costumes everywhere. Stuntpeople contort to Sammo Hung's frenetic choreography, ably assisted by some great CGI effects. Wow.

If you *really* want to be picky, nearly everyone except Andy hams it up wildly. But that's all part of the fun. And if you care to ponder, it is puzzling why characters who can easily take off in one scene are pretty much earthbound in another. Some of the rest breaks between the frenetic action pieces are a bit too long, but one can easily forgive these.

Is there much depth to the plot ? Well, Agatha Christie it ain't, but it kept me guessing. Welcome back, Tsui. Don't stay away so long next time, okay ?

Reviewer Score: 10