Detective Dee und der Fluch des Seeungeheuers

Legendary Hong Kong director Tsui Hark returns to the Tang Dynasty Sherlock Holmes character which, three years ago, gave his then-flailing film career a much needed shot in the arm. A prequel that sees Taiwanese actor Mark Chao stepping into the titular role once played so memorably by Andy Lau, 'Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon' also sees Tsui Hark building on his much-lauded maiden stereoscopic movie 'Flying Swords of Dragon Gate' by delivering a 3D spectacle that puts many of its Hollywood counterparts to shame. Yes, this is one of the rare films which boast of the 3D format that we will actually recommend paying to extra dollars just to see it with a pair of glasses on - and that is, we may add, from watching the 2D version no less.

Following a rousing prologue that sees the mighty navy of the Tang Dynasty decimated at sea by a massive underwater creature, Chao's opening narration establishes the time and place of the events that follow. It is 665 AD, the joint reign of Emperor Gaozong (Sheng Chien) and the Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) during a time when the country is at war with the Fuyu kingdom. Dee is set to take a job as a magistrate at the Dalisi based in the capital of Luoyang, an organisation whose mission is to keep the peace and investigate any disturbances.

No thanks to the superstition of the common folk, the beautiful courtesan Yin Ruiji (Angelababy) is held as sacrifice to the sea monster at a temple. After he lip-reads a plot by some bad men to hold her ransom, Dee rushes to her rescue, only to be confronted by a human-like reptilian beast that slips away in the melee. Unfortunately for Dee, he isn't that lucky, his initiative to take action on his own earning the wrath of the head of the Dalisi, Yuchi Zhenjin (Feng Shaofeng), who throws him into prison.

Dee's rivalry with Yuchi is one of the recurring themes of the story, which pits the two as intellectual equals racing to crack the case before Zetian has the latter's head for incompetence. It is in prison that Dee meets the Uighur prison doctor Shaluo Zhong (Lin Gengxin), who will become an effectual sidekick Dee relies on for advice - especially as it becomes clear that the explanations he seeks to the phenomena going on around them are medical in nature.

Reunited with his 'Dee' scribe Zhang Jialu, Tsui Hark spins an intriguing mystery revolving around a nefarious conspiracy to overthrow the entire kingdom and its noblemen by an obscure fishing tribe known simply as the Dongdoers. Tsui's penchant for the fantastical remains intact here; and while the earlier 'Dee' had a talking deer, this one figures to throw in a white horse that can swim above and under water on its way to uncovering the origins of the 'Kraken'-like gargantuan monster as well as the half-human, half-reptile animal that seems obsessed with Ruiji. Granted that it does require some suspension of disbelief on the part of its viewer, but Tsui ultimately leaves no stone unturned in rationalising every single detail of his twisty plot.

More so than in the first 'Dee' movie, this one finds Tsui on a much more assured directorial footing juggling a detective story with a good bit of palace intrigue and even tongue-in-cheek humour thrown in for good measure. One of the most amusing bits of the movie is the antidote Shaluo and his master (Chen Kun) comes up with to purge the palace officials of the parasitic infestation taking root in them, a truly delightful little detail that Tsui even uses to end the movie on a high note in a special scene in the middle of the closing credits. Tsui's storytelling is brisk and engaging from start to finish, connecting the dots ever so fluidly from clue to clue as he pieces together a mesmerising tapestry of schemes and secrets.

Enabling his work at top form is an excellent technical team, most notably Kenneth Mak's exquisite production design, Lee Pik-kwan's opulent costumes and Bruce Yu's overall immaculate image design. It is as sumptuous a period epic as you have ever seen, and a most exciting one at that thanks to veteran action director Yuen Bun's cornucopia of gravity-defying wire-ful sequences. Bun and Lam Feng's choreography here most resembles that of Tsui's earlier 'wuxia' pictures, their integration with plenty of impressive CGI work clearly a product and testament of Tsui's vivid - and rather awe-inspiring - imagination that had also undoubtedly conceived the action in 3D right from the get-go.

Amid the visual spectacle, it is to the actors' credit that their characters remain more than one-dimensional. Feng does solid work as the stern Yuchi whose initial strong distrust of Dee gives way to admiration and even respect. Carina Lau doesn't have much screen time as the Empress, but where she appears, is never less than captivating in her regalness. But perhaps the greatest surprise here is Chao, who tempers Andy Lau's showiness with quiet charisma and wry intelligence that gives the titular character a more down-to-earth but no less humbling stature.

And once again therefore, Tsui Hark is back at the very top of his game with yet another outing of this Tang Dynasty sleuth. Coupling a finely spun mystery with splendid visuals and spellbinding martial arts action, Tsui cements his 'Dee' franchise as Asia's answer to Guy Ritchie's 'Sherlock Holmes'. Indeed, the title of this movie is a befitting metaphor of Tsui's own work here, he the metaphorical sea dragon that has risen from the depths of his own doldrums to set the gold standard in blockbuster entertainment for Chinese cinema.

This is the first time i write a review at IMDb, please go easy on me, thanks! I was not expecting high on this movie because i was accompany my friend to watch it, what this movie got? High def quality in video & audio - checked! Good kungfu fighting scene - checked! Battle with sea monster(better than Pirate of the Caribbean) - checked! With these 3 factors, it already worth my money and time spent in the cinema! Acting is average among the casts, but Carina Lau definitely nailed it, WuZheTian is alive with her acting! The story is average, although it want to be like Sherlock Holmes, but the case they investigating didn't left much clue, just waiting the director to show us. Overall, it is the best Chinese WuXia film i watched in the recent years!

The vase is beautiful and the music is pleasant. Unfortunately, besides pretending to be mysterious, the story has no trap at all, that is, telling a story in a straight line. In other words, the best part of the film is the sketch of the ending story. If it's all finished, it's really a big series.

You have to have a soft spot for eastern movies and the fantasy world they are able to create. But then again, if you didn't why would you even bother watching or reading this, right? Maybe you are just curious because of the title. If that's the case, I'm not sure this is the best movie to start your "experience" with, but it is a very rock solid one and is entertaining.

The "detective" aspect is like an added bonus to the fight scenes and the humor that drives the movie throughout. The effects are pretty decent and fight scenes are very well choreographed. You don't have to have seen the previous movie to enjoy this either. A nice little movie to have fun with then

"Di Renjie: Shen Du Long Wang" or "Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon" is a prequel to "Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Dragon Flame". It takes place in the beginning years of Tang Dynasty under the reign of the weak Emperor Gaozong and just a few years before his cruel wife Wu Zetian would take his position and declare the second Zhou dynasty for fifteen years. This second movie shows us a young detective who arrives at the imperial city and has to face a lot of adversary, jealousy and mistrust. The case itself features two different story lines. First of all, there is a giant sea monster controlled by a mysterious enemy that attacks the imperial fleet. The other story features the beautiful courtesan Yin who is about to be sacrificed in order to appease the Gods and therefor the sea monster but who gets first kidnapped by a gang of thieves and later on by a strange human lizard creature. Both stories are loosely bound together and lead the detective and his new colleagues and friends to an adventurous mission on Bat Island.

If you liked the first movie of the franchise, my guess is that you will also appreciate the sequel. It's really a matter of nuance if you prefer the first or the second movie as both pretty much have the same flaws and strengths. Just as the first instalment, the sequel convinces with elegant and typically exaggerated fighting scenes in Tsui Hark's unique signature style that goes back to classic Hongkong movies of the late eighties and early nineties like "A Chinese Ghost Story" or "Once Upon A Time In China". I must admit that the over-the-top fighting scenes on the ships towards the end of the movie are probably the most impressive sequences of both movies.

The modern elements can be found in several decent CGI effects for the monsters in this movie as well as during the destruction of the fleet and the showdown on and around Bat Island. I must admit that I thought that some of these modern elements did not fit to the historical settings which are colourful and beautiful to watch but not always authentic. It's simply strange to see ultra-modern visual elements in a movie that takes place in the seventh century. I prefer the more limited but authentic settings of more traditional Hongkong movies.

While the first movie had some more investigative elements, the sequel only features a couple of these. Detective Dee surely passes as a smart person and some of his investigative methods are still really impressive. Sadly, the movie quickly reveals friends and foes which means that there aren't any real mysteries to solve. The only element I would have liked to know isn't really answered after all. We don't get to know how the sea monster was created and how comes that it sometimes obeys the villains and sometimes it doesn't.

As for the acting, the leading actors do an average job as some of them lack depth. Angela Yeung is simply a good-looking woman in love with a poet, that's it. The makers of the movie could have chosen any of the many good-looking Chinese actresses as Angela Young's character lacks uniqueness and feels like a hollow puppet to me. The jealous chief minister portrayed by Feng Shaofeng, the young prison doctor played by Lin Gengxin as well as Detective Dee himself who is now portrayed by Taiwanese-Canadian actor Mark Chao instead of Hongkong actor Andy Lau who was a little bit more charming in my opinion, all have interesting characteristics but remain somewhat superficial. Instead of focusing on special effects, the makers of the movie should have worked a little bit more on the character development.

This sequel is a colourful, effect-ridden, fast-paced movie that doesn't fail to entertain and which includes a few impressive investigative methods, beautiful settings and stunning fighting scenes. On the other side, the story is much simpler than in the first film and the actors are mostly exchangeable or stereotypical as in the case of the crazy doctor for example. Fans of modern Hongkong cinema and historical fiction where traditional elements are overrun by modern effects will like this movie. Everyone else is invited to watch this fun ride once but more sophisticated viewers will probably forget about this film pretty soon. I still think that the concept behind this franchise has some potential and hope that there will be a third movie and that's why I'm willing to rate this film seven points instead of only six.