Review: Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame


Set in 689 AD China, where Carina Lau’s Empress Wu Zeitan is about to take the throne, with a great big Buddha statue being built to commemorate the occasion. When a foreman and an architect both mysteriously and spontaneously combust, it appears to be a case for Detective Dee (Andy Lau). This is the very same Detective Dee whom has been serving a prison term for speaking out against the Empress, something neither has forgotten. The Empress frankly doesn’t trust the guy and has one of her handmaidens (played by Li Bingbing) accompany him on his investigation. Also assisting Detective Dee is a rather mysterious, and somewhat sinister-looking albino court official, played by Chao Deng. Richard Ng turns up as a key figure with the spectacularly silly name of Dr. Donkey Wang (!), whilst Tony Leing Ka Fai plays an introverted contractor, and old friend of Detective Dee’s. 

 

I had heard very good things about this Tsui Hark (“Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain”, “Once Upon a Time in China”, and... “Knock Off”) film from 2010 and although it took me a long time to get around to seeing it, I had hotly anticipated it. Unfortunately, it was completely different to the film I was expecting, and not in a good way. There are moments and the actors try hard (especially Andy Lau, Carina Lau, and Chao Deng) but for the most part this feels more like a murder mystery TV series than the mixture of mystery and wire-fu martial arts fantasy I was expecting.

 

Scripted by Zhang Jialu, there’s just way too much talking for my liking, stupid as that probably makes me sound. It’s not even as wonderfully opulent as the more recent crop of wuxia epics like the gorgeous “Curse of the Golden Flower” (Hark being one of the originators of the genre, of course). Some of the CGI in particular, looks a bit fake. Frankly, I’d rather watch the crazy HK films of the 80s and 90s like the aforementioned Tsui Hark films or “The Seventh Curse”. The only stretch of the film that even approaches that kind of schlocky lunacy is when a character named Dr. Donkey Wang (Richard Ng) turns up. Yes, Dr. Donkey Wang, but don’t hold that against him. At least in these scenes, the set design is somewhat reminiscent of “The Seventh Curse” or “Zu Warriors”.

 

Other than that (and the fucked up talking deer that I’m just not going to even talk about), the film takes itself too seriously, which is a real shame, as there are elements here that could’ve made for fun. The always wonderful Andy Lau in particular is terrific as the slightly prick-ish Detective Dee (he’s especially funny early on), but this strange and slow-moving film is best left to mystery buffs than anyone else, though even they will likely guess the mystery before the not terribly surprising conclusion.

 

I was expecting and hoping for something wilder, more imaginative, and exciting, but what I got was something in the vicinity of “Midsummer Tang Dynasty Murders” or something. The character of Detective Dee (AKA Di Renjie) is based on historical fact, so perhaps there wasn’t as much room for fantasy elements, but still, it’s a pretty dry affair and perhaps Hark wasn’t the best director for the job. Oh, well, at least it’s better than Hark’s Hollywood offerings like “Knock Off” and “Double Team”.

 

Rating: C+

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