Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2011)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Good movie but grossly overrated

Boring

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

When it comes to this particular movie franchise, I viewed the 2013 prequel Young Detective Dee first, after being wowed by the unanimous praise showered upon it. Although the action sequences were very well accomplished and the special effects were above par, the focus on these listed aspects appeared to sacrifice characterization and mystery, a flaw that the original, Detective Dee, does not suffer from.It's 689 A.D., and Empress Wu (Carina Lau) is set to be coronated, and though a series of mysterious deaths, which involve internal combustion, are striking fear throughout the land, she is adamant that nothing affect her ceremony. Contemporary investigative methods will inevitably fail to achieve results, and so, she calls upon the assistance of Dee (Andy Lau), a brilliant detective she had jailed for treasonous offenses. Although the Empress has faith in Dee's abilities to bring order in this time of chaos, she doesn't trust him, appointing her right hand woman Jing'er (Li Bingbing) to assist, while penal officer Pei (Deng Chao) accompanies them in their quest for answers.Mr. Lau is fantastic in the role of Dee, appearing as equally likable as he is intellectually and physically competent, vying for truth and justice, while the always attractive Ms. Bingbing's depiction of Jing'er is as comparatively confident and adept in her abilities as the male lead. Ms. Lau's interpretation of the Empress proves to be frighteningly cold, though at the same time she is capable of feeling a variety of warmer emotions.Unlike the prequel, which seemed to contain one action scene after another, Detective Dee has an equal focus on plot, which not only develops the characters and makes us genuinely care for their well-being, but the world in which they inhabit. Also unlike the prequel, the lead antagonists behind the plot are shrouded in mystery until the end, this tactic entrenching the viewer in a suspenseful action packed thrill ride that never ceases to keep the viewer's interest.The acrobatic fight scenes are a joy to watch, their flawless execution being as mesmerizing as they are brilliant, many of the scenes not only looking fresh and unique, but feeling so as well. The special effects are a visual treat for the eyes, and where the prequel seemed to become infatuated with drowning the viewer in such beauty, Detective Dee appears to provide an equal blend of live action and computer generated scenes which compliment the material.A very intelligent, gripping and entertaining action mystery, which is as sublimely magical as it is dark and poignant, Detective Dee is a fantastic movie that not only doesn't compromise the quintessential Chinese features often present in similar action films, but proves to be just as immersive as American features of the same genre, if not even more so.

Di Renjie zhi tongtian diguo or Detective Dee and the mystery of the phantom flame is a Chinese fantasy movie that takes place during the Zhou Dynasty when the first and only Chinese empress Wu Zetian started her reign. The cold, cruel and somewhat megalomaniac woman that wants to rule on her own accord and who killed several potential enemies in the past is now menaced days before her crowning. After the mysterious death of two people during the construction of a giant Buddha statue in front of the emperor's residence, she asks the Chaplain, a sort of state preceptor who speaks through a magical deer, for help. He gives her the advice to recruit the banned Detective Dee who had openly accused the empress for having possibly killed her late husband and who was one of the leading persons in a growing revolution eight years ago. Even before Detective Dee can be contacted, a group of assassins tries to kill him and another prisoner but they ultimately fail. Intrigued by the strange murders and the will to make peace with his past, Detective Dee soon discovers that black magic seems to be the cause of the deaths. Accompanied by the empress' charming but mysterious attendant and an albinistic officer in the penal system, Detective Dee has to put the pieces of the puzzle together before the crowning of the empress takes place and soon discovers a well organized conspiracy with the goal to kill the empress.This movie has a historic background that is though not developed in a profound way. The film rather focuses on fantastic elements around black magic, a few mild suspension moments and a couple of artistic action choreographies done by some of the best experts of several outstanding Hongkong action movies of the late eighties and early nineties. This film though wastes a little bit of potential on here as it turns out to be too diversified to truly convince in any of the genres it touches and as it lacks of a few more developed cultural and historical bits and pieces that would make the final result more authentic.Apart of the action choreographies, a true highlight are definitely the buildings, costumes and masquerades in the movie that were created in a very precise and professional way as it often happens to be in contemporary Chinese movies. On the other side, the special effects are less impressive and often to artificially flavoured so that they destroy the movie's certain kind of magic a few times. That's where Hollywood is still slightly ahead of modern Asian cinema.While the story of this movie definitely has a few good points and a couple of small twists as well, there are still some negative factors. One never really gets to know why the two persons in the beginning of the movie really had to die instead of killing the empress in an unexpected way during her crowning. The movie also has a few anachronisms such as way too modern ships in the harbour and the diplomat in the beginning of the film whose identity and role remains strangely unresolved. These flaws are pardonable if you take this movie as a fictional film only.In the end, you get an entertaining fantasy movie with a solidly suspenseful story, well done choreographies and stunning costumes. The movie though has no truly innovating elements, surprising moments or touching scenes. It has without a doubt a certain kind of magic after all but it is sometimes too professionally done to touch the people. This movie is rather ordinary in comparison to what the gifted director Tsui Hark has done in the past but it's still one of the more entertaining Asian movies from 2010. After all, I guess I would only recommend this film to long time fans of Asian cinema as well as of stunning costumes and artistic choreographies. I would go for a loan instead of an immediate purchase as the film is surely entertaining but nothing outstanding enough to be a worthy addition to a film collection of an Asian cinema maniac.

After watching this, I ran to IMDb to see just how much the American distributor had cut out of it. For some reason, many American distributors who buy up martial arts movies think that story doesn't really matter, so they should be able to cut all of it out. Well, if there were cuts, IMDb doesn't know about them. It lists just the one runtime of 119 minutes. So how is this movie so incoherent? Apparently that's just how it is. Andy Lau plays an inspector in mytho-historical China who has been imprisoned since he challenged the ascension of the new Empress (Carina Lau, who, back in the day, starred in many Wong Kar-Wai films). After a mysterious crime which resulted in several people spontaneously combusting, the Empress recruits Lau to investigate, teamed with an albino, Chao Deng, and the Empress' personal guard, Bingbing Li. Deng and Li have their own loyalties. So, okay, the story up to here is followable, even if there is a completely unexplained talking deer (they'll deal with it later). Then it just goes nuts. At first, this is amusing. I'm all for nuts. At one point they have to go find a guy named Donkey Wang, which is awesome. Then... a whole bunch of incomprehensible crap happens, and the film completely lost me. The story seems cut to pieces, but even worse is the way the action sequences are edited. I had no idea what the heck was going on. Eventually, I got so bored I nodded off (not before Andy Lau beat up a couple of CGI deer, which was certainly worth seeing). The whole thing seemed like a huge mess to me.

This holiday season, Indomina invites you to share in the love, the laughter and the epic martial arts! This year Indomina released not just one, but four films full of the best in martial arts filmmaking. TRUE LEGEND, the latest film from action choreography master Yuen Woo Ping (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Kill Bill). CLASH, which the LA Times proclaims is "a dazzling Vietnamese martial arts movie with a soul, a stylish, gorgeously photographed film." BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS, an epic, action-packed historical drama with global superstar Donnie Yen (Blade II, Hero, Ip Man). DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME, Tsui Hark's latest wildly imaginative and heart pounding action film that had the critics raving. TIME magazine calls it "A Masterpiece!" and New York Magazine describes it as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Sherlock Holmes...only a lot more fun!". Bring home all of these titles on Blu-ray or DVD for a special holiday! Visit Holidays.Indomina.com for more.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWqWqbzh0hU