Détective Dee: la légende des rois célestes

Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is quite different from the other two entries about the modest, intellectual and clever Tang Dynasty investigator. While the first movie relies on its mysterious atmosphere and investigative techniques and the second film explores the detective's early career, the third movie is set between the two and is best described as an intrigue with supernatural elements. This is a very entertaining fantasy movie with dynamic martial arts elements and colourful costumes and settings but it doesn't have much depth, doesn't feature a surprising plot and doesn't rely on investigative techniques. Some people might therefore consider this the weakest entry in the franchise thus far. However, I have a different opinion. If you are ready to accept this movie as a wu xia fantasy film inspired by classic Hongkong cinema of the late eighties with contemporary images and sounds, you will experience a most entertaining blockbuster that doesn't only equal contemporary Hollywood fantasy movies but also beats most of those thanks to its intriguing historical references.

The title of the movie is somewhat misleading. The four heavenly kings are only statues that are referenced in a note and then shown in one scene mid-way through the plot that lasts for about five minutes. They are never mentioned again afterwards and have no significant influence on the story. Detective Dee and the Dragon Taming Mace would have been a much more appropriate title.

The story is set between Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon and Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame. Emperor Gaozong appoints Di Renjie to head the Department of Justice and gives him the mysterious, powerful and prestigious Dragon Taming Mace. Empress Wu disapproves of this as she realizes that Detective Dee might be her biggest obstacle on her ambitious quest for ultimate authority. She orders Di Renjie's sworn brother Yuchi Zhenjin to steal the mace and discredit her opponent. She hires a group of sorcerers to see the plan through and promises to not assassinate Di Renjie and his family. Di Renjie has however realized that the Empress wants to steal the mace from him and starts to investigate her motivations. He quickly realizes that she is manipulated by a group of discredited Indian sorcerers who want to take revenge for having been used and abused by Tang Dynasty officials. Di Renjie has to rely on his colleagues, a renegade criminal and a Buddhist monk to save the empire.

The movie convinces with a steady pace and introduces the main plot right from the first scene. The film keeps this pace from start to finish and remains highly entertaining despite a running time over two hours. The most important characters are introduced quickly and coherently. The settings in old Tang Dynasty look incredible even though they appear to be a little bit too extravagant, polished and shiny. The visual special effects are astonishing and show a fascinating world between fantasy and history. The martial arts sequences are creative, dynamic and inspiring. The intrigues at the court are interesting to follow even though they don't offer anything new to the formula. The film's showdown is quite intense and of epic proportions in the key of something you would expect from The Lord of the Rings and the likes.

On the negative side, the plot is somewhat predictable and lacks the wit, precision and cretaivity of previous installments. The investigative techniques that characterized the first two films of the franchise are certainly lacking in this movie. Still, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is such a colourful, dynamic and imaginative movie that these minor flaws don't drag the film down.

Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings might be a cinematic blockbuster that is lacking depth and precision from time to time but it's the perfect film to escape your everyday life and explore a fascinating world between fantasy and history. You might feel disappointed if you are looking for a profound drama or clever thriller but you will explore a dreamy martial movie and an entertaining fantasy flick for sure. If you take this film for what it is without comapring it too much to the style of the previous two installments, you will get your money's worth while watching this Chinese blockbuster at your local cinema or at home.

I missed my chance to see the earlier Judge Dee movie, but I assumed that this and it were historical mysteries derived from the work of Robert van Gulik. Apparently there was a Dee during the Tang dynasty who was a judge and an imperial courtier. During the Ming dynasty, there were some folk novels about him, and this tradition fell into van Gulik's hands. His novels about this investigative judge were popular enough that others wrote further sequels after his death, and I assumed this was derived from one of those.

I was wrong. Although within the first few minutes, Mark Chao was on the scene of the crime as Dee making acute observations, it soon turned into a fantasy movie about magic maces, wicked empresses, court intrigue, evil Indian sorcerers and monks who are so good they'll let the world go to heck in a handbasket before they'll interrupt their quests for enlightenment.

Plus fiery demons and dragons and such, and it was at that point I began to wince. I enjoy a lot of fantasy movies, and many CGI special effects are well done, but there are film makers who seem convinced that if you render your impossible chimera in sufficient detail, the audience will accept it as real. There may indeed be audience members who feel that way, and they may be numerous enough to make a fine audience for the commercial art that is cinema. Alas for me, I am not part of that particular audience and if you show me something that doesn't exist and render it in sufficient detail to look real.... well, it starts to look cartoonish to me, like a Rube Goldberg alarm clock or what you get when you cross a hippopotamus with an abacus. "That's very nice, but why did you go to such trouble?" is my emotional reaction, as I tap my foot and wait impatiently for the fiery people to stop flying through the air so the movie can get on with it.

It seems a pity, because there are some lovely production values in this movie, in set design and costuming, camerawork and editing seem well covered and the actors hit their marks and seem to speak their lines well -- it's in Mandarin, so I have to rely on subtitles. There's also not a particle of doubt in my mind that if I had gone in knowing I was going to be looking at a fantasy instead of a mystery, I would not have been so disappointed.

Except by the continuing belief that spending lots of money on incredibly elaborate special effects can make up for foolish plotting. I'm sorry about that, but it can't.

The scale and texture of special effects have surpassed the previous one, which is a benchmark in the industry, but it is somewhat radical compared with the first episode. Personally feel that if the film is made into a pure fantasy movie, it will be more in line with the original idea of the director Hark Tsui, and will be more reasonable and exciting. Because the imagination is limited by the existing script, many of the topics worth exploring are ultimately designed to showcase the background of special effects. In addition, the lack of persuasive performances remains a major issue in the film.

Beside Chinese Ghost Stories and Wu Ji - originally chines version - the Detective Dee Trilogie are my favourite Chinese fantasy movies. Maybe some people have a problem if the Asian story telling - not always the classic western act driven - or with the stayle of acting and homie, but that is exactly the charming side of that movies. They a well done craft work and released with a wonderful style of love to the story. A fresh experience "out side of the box". I can't wait to see part 4 whenever they will make a bother one. OhI forgot, you can see also again that are good actresses and actors, storyteller and director, movie artist behind and in front of the camera. are exaist without an English native language.

'Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings' is the third in this series of Chinese kung fu films, after the original 'Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame' back in 2010 and 'Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon' (2013). The plot follows Dee (Chao) as he leads an ancient FBI and his friendship/rivalry with Yuchi (Feng) and mentorship of Shatuo (Lin), as they try to protect/hide the Dragon Taming Mace, which has powers (like Excalibur).

Despite the four 'heavenly kings' of the title, they barely make an appearance or have an impact on the story. Rather, it's all about sorcery and a clan (the "Wind Warriors") who want to topple the dynasty. The sorcery aspect means there's plenty of special effects, most of it really well done. The dragon and the battle at the end are exceptional. Even the "illusionists", including Water Moon (Ma), are pretty cool.

There's still some mystery and police work for Dee to solve, but it's also merged well with the sorcery and political intrigue with the Empress and Emperor. It's well paced, not too long, with some funny moments and, obviously has excellent stunts and fight-scene choreography that's more than worth the price of admission. It all adds up to a fun ride!