Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Directed by: Tsui Hark
Written by: Kuo-fu Chen, Lin Qianyu (story), Jialu Zhang (screenplay)
Starring: Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Li Bingbing, Chao Deng, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Jean-Michel Casanova

If you thought Guy Ritchie was the only one capable of taking a well-known detective and turning him into an over-the-top action hero, well, then you haven’t seen Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. Directed by Hong Kong veteran Tsui Hark, the movie is inspired by a real-life historical figure from the Zhou Dynasty named Di Renjie, who served as chancellor to Wu Zetian, the first and only female Emperor of China. Prior to that he had been a magistrate and judge, which was the basis for the 18th century novel The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. This new big budget wuxia film re-imagines him as not only a crime-solving super sleuth, but also a martial arts master with almost superhuman abilities.

As the movie begins, Dee has been in prison for eight years, serving out a sentence for treason. The Empress is preparing for her coronation ceremony by building a giant Buddha statue, but her ascension to the throne is threatened when senior officials start getting killed off, one by one. To complicate matters, the victims seem to be dying of spontaneous combustion, bursting into flames and leaving behind no clue as to who their killer might be. Clearly only one man who can solve a mystery like this, and so the Empress retrieves Detective Dee from his cell and puts him to work for her. Dee reluctantly obliges.

The initial mystery is an intriguing one, but it soon gives way to a lot of political scheming and conspiracies which I found slightly less compelling. Ultimately it’s not a big deal because at its core, this is a fantasy action film in the vein of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. The movie may border on being incoherent at times, but there is always more than enough eye candy to keep you entertained and it never takes itself too seriously.

Andy Lau brings his usual stoic charm to the role of Detective Dee, and although his martial arts skills are the main draw here, he also convinces us that Dee is a person who prefers to think his way out of a situation where possible. The character does feel like Sherlock Holmes in a lot of ways, and is able to deduce things about people through the power of observation. Unfortunately, he is lacking a loyal Watson at his side, and instead Dee is assigned two assistants to accompany him, neither of whom he can fully trust.

One is Shangguan Jing’er, a martial artist and maid to the Empress, played by Li Bingbing (The Forbidden Kingdom). She is there to keep tabs on Dee, but she also helps out in a pinch by wielding a pretty bad ass whip. The other is Pei Donglai (Deng Chao) a hot-headed albino who is assigned to the case by the Supreme Court. Together, they combine their skills and resources to try and get to the bottom of things.

While much of Tsui Hark’s recent output has been panned, he certainly knows his way around a big budget blockbuster, pouring money into lavish costumes and intricate sets. The action is choreographed by Jackie Chan’s good buddy Sammo Hung, who also did the fights for the recent Ip Man movies. Some of the slow-mo feels a little bit cliched but the elaborate set pieces and choice of weaponry more than make up for it. In particular, there are memorable fights in a water-filled underground cavern and an elevator platform suspended high in the air with pulleys. Yes, there is a lot of wire work, but it kind of fits the tone, adding some fantastical flare to the mix.

The biggest problem with this movie is the inconsistent quality in CG effects. Many Asian films have a tendency to be overly reliant on CGI, mainly because of budgetary issues, but it also seems that many Eastern directors don’t know their limitations and Eastern audiences don’t demand a high level of realism either. Some of the effects in this movie hold up (the Buddha statue is pretty gorgeous both inside and outside), but some of them definitely do not (the fire effects when people burst into flames are not at all convincing). The weakest of all is a surreal showdown between Detective Dee and a bunch of CG deer… not that I really wanted to see Andy Lau punching out a real live deer either.

The movie definitely takes some strange turns, from the shape-shifting magical talking deer to a worm-eating herbalist named Donkey Wang, and it’s probably not for everyone. At the same time, it is audacious and unique enough to earn a recommendation from me. If “Sherlock Holmes meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” seems like something you’d want to see, you should probably give Detective Dee a try. As for whether or not we can expect a sequel, well, I think that’s elementary. — Sean

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