As a big fan of Asian cinema I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Hark Tsui’s film, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. The film stars Andrew Lau as Detective Dee, the Asian equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, whose mission is to figure out why important political or powerful figures are spontaneously combusting as the country builds up to the coronation of the first female emperor. He accepted this mission when the Empress brought him out of exile because she was worried about an attempt on her life.
Like many of the popular films coming out of Asia, Detective Dee is nothing short of a grandiose blockbuster. It literally felt like the mystical version of Sherlock Holmes, with the added bonus of martial arts and an albino Asian. Like many fans of Asian cinema, I’m a fan of Andrew Lau and thought he pulled of his role as Detective Dee very well. Early on in the film he is a shaggy guy who knows that looks can be deceiving and makes it a point to prove to Shangguan Jing’er, the Empress’ maid and right hand woman (she’s good at martial arts), (Bingbing Li) that just because he doesn’t look like a smart and agile detective, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the suave moves of a martial arts grandmaster.
Personally, when a movie is good, I can sit in a theater all day and not complain. With that said, I started to get pretty tired by the end of Dee, it felt just a little too long, coming in at a modest 122 min. I may attribute this sudden tiredness to staying out late the night before, but I think I’d still have the same feeling on a second viewing.
So here’s my breakdown of the film. Be prepared for a fantasy oriented action mystery, if you go in knowing that you may, or may not, enjoy the film more. Personally, I liked that aspect except in the climactic fight scene between Detective Dee and someone who will not be named for spoiler reasons. As for the acting, I have no complaints, people did their job and I didn’t find any particular character overbearing, underutilized, or just plain terrible. The effects were outstanding and really helped to make the film stand out from other major Chinese/Hong Kong productions of this caliber. The fight scenes were pretty good as well, you could definitely tell that Sammo Hung was the choreographer and action director with some scenes reminiscent of Ip Man. As for Hark Tsui’s directing, I haven’t seen enough of his work to make any comparison but I thought he did a good job of guiding his team and creating a beautiful piece of Sherlockian cinema.
If you liked Sherlock Holmes, I think you’ll really enjoy Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.
Rating: A fun film chock full of everything you’d want from a good Asian blockbuster (6.5/10)
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