Détective Dee : Le mystère de la flamme fantôme

It had been a while since I had seen a Tsui Hark movie. I now feel remiss in not better keeping up with his career.

Detective Dee is fantastic! The visuals are stunning. The sweeping, epic scenery and the HUGE set pieces transported me fully into the era of the Tang Dynasty. I was impressed by the CGI, often having trouble distinguishing where the real, physical parts of the set ended and the computer generated world began. The cinematography is superb.

The story was complex but still digestible. The filmmakers threw up enough red herrings to keep me guessing while making it believable that Detective Dee could solve the case without huge leaps in logic.

I found Andy Lau's performance effective, but was particularly impressed by Carina Lau who played Empress Wu. Her performance was both subtle and powerful. She was mesmerizing anytime she was on screen.

As for the fight scenes, well... wow. I mean, really, WOW! The complexity of the final fight between Dee and the person he figures out committed the crime made fight scenes in the Bourne series look like child's play. Seriously. Now, there was wire work - I know some people really dislike that stuff in Kung Fu style movies, but it really worked in this setting. I hope people will give this one a chance. I really thought Detective Dee was fantastic!

I loved many of Tsui Hark's epics from the 80s/90s, but haven't seen anything from the director recently, so I probably went in with fairly neutral expectations.

This was an enjoyable ride. Like others have noted, it's comparable to a Chinese "Sherlock Holmes" (the recent Guy Ritchie version), or a movie-length, Tang-dynasty-set "CSI". Overall, it was a rather original experience - more than I can say for most movies nowadays. There are several intriguing characters and the pace and acting are solid. While the central murder mystery - whodunnit and howdunnit - is not exactly a head-scratcher, it does provide a good structure for some exciting and beautiful visuals.

Was the CGI completely up to the director's vision? Definitely not, but to naysayers, I say, loosen up! The budget for this movie is less than that of a typical Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy! I appreciated and enjoyed the whole movie enough that I wasn't overly distracted by the not-so-special effects.

Eight years ago, Detective Dee (Andy Lau) and compatriot Shatuo (Tony Leung Ka-fai), among others, opposed the queen regent (Carina Lau) in her bid to become the first female Emperor of China; for their treason, Detective Dee was imprisoned and Shatuo lost a hand. Now it is eight years later and the regent is poised to fully become the Emperor, but her coronation is imperiled by mysterious deaths that occur inside the 66-storey high statue of Buddha that is being constructed in honour of the coronation. Not one, but two functionaries seemingly spontaneously combust, and there seems to be no explanation for this. After consulting the Chaplain (in the person of a deer), the Emperor-to-be decides to free Detective Dee to solve this crime before her coronation; not to be naive, she also assigns Shanguan Jing'er (Bingbing Li), her favourite female warrior, and Pei Donglai (Chao Deng), an albino warrior, to shadow and help Detective Dee, perhaps to his own peril. Meanwhile, Shatuo has become the architect and supervisor of the building of the Buddha, and only he knows the secret of the fire turtles....

There's a bit of everything in "Detective Dee," including mystery, romance, fighting, martial arts, intrigue and, perhaps, a touch or more of the supernatural. To be honest, it doesn't bear serious scrutiny in terms of logic or loopholes, but that's not why one watches a film like this anyway – this is the kind of movie where the audience should just go along for the ride. And a wild ride it is too. I'm still not entirely certain what happened in the end, but it hardly matters; it was enough just to watch the various goings-on and admire the scenery and the fighting.

Tsui Hark has done quite a few wrongs in recent years- think "Missing" and "The Legend of Zu"- but thankfully "Detective Dee" is not one of them. In fact, it is that one right which proves Tsui Hark isn't a has- been, a not-too unreasonable conclusion to draw considering the quality of his recent works. An engrossing historical whodunit in the vein of Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes", Tsui Hark's latest big-budget blockbuster is significant not only because it restores his status as one of the premier Hong Kong film directors, but also because it is game-changing entertainment for the Chinese film industry.

For far too long, the expensive Chinese historical epics have revelled in telling tales of war and sacrifice set amidst warring states or feuding emperors jostling for power. Not to say that they aren't any good- John Woo's "Red Cliff" and Peter Chan's "The Warlords" among some of the best- but their similarities were apparent, and with that came a distinct sense of staleness especially of late. Tsui Hark's entry into this genre however brings a welcome breeze of freshness, deftly combining the elements of an Agatha Christie novel with the aesthetics of a period epic.

The mystery to solve is the spontaneous combustion of two high-ranking court officials when exposed to sunlight, these 'murders' taking place in the wake of the coronation of China's first empress in 690 AD. Most have attributed their deaths to superstitious reasons, but our titular hero Detective Dee thinks otherwise. Released from prison by the very empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) whose ascendancy he opposed eight years ago, Detective Dee searches instead for rational explanations, believing in science and reason than black magic.

Though based on a real-life Tang Dynasty court official, Andy Lau's Detective Dee is more akin to the investigator made popular by a series of novels by Dutch diplomat Robert Van Gulik. Here, he has two uneasy allies- the empress' most trusted servant Jing'er (Li Bingbing) sent to keep an eye on him, as well as albino Supreme Cop officer Pei Donglei (Deng Chao)- both of whom he trusts little of. But that's all right since he can pretty much fight for himself, as evidenced in the numerous action sequences directed by "Ip Man's" Sammo Hung.

In the spirit of the best mystery thrillers, the real fun comes from trying to piece together the parts of the puzzle before the final reveal. Scripter Zheng Jialu doesn't make it easy, throwing plenty of red herrings this way and that to distract you from guessing the villain. There is divine intervention in the form of a talking deer, facial transfiguration that basically allows one person to assume two personas and exotic creatures such as the fire turtle. Yet Zheng's firm determination to keep the story grounded in reality prevents the film from descending into camp.

That same restraint is displayed admirably and wisely by Tsui Hark himself. Sure, there are still his familiar signs of excess- the massive Buddha bronze statue built for the occasion of the coronation; the peculiar characters Detective Dee encounters in an underground city; and even the empress' elaborate coiffure- but these visual touches add colour and sparkle to the fantasy world Tsui has dreamt up for his period mystery without diverting from the intrigue and suspense of the film. Tsui's flourishes are also brought gorgeously to life by rich production design and masterful art direction, matched occasionally by lavish costume design whenever the Empress appears on screen.

Sammo's action direction too deserves praise. While the action scenes do not rise to the same great heights as "Ip Man", he makes the best out of his main cast of Andy Lau, Li Bingbing, Deng Chao and Tony Leung Kar- Fai. The wire-ful choreography is thrilling enough to set your pulse racing, and two particular action sequences stand out- one set in the underground city between Dee and the Imperial Chaplain and his possum of masked assassins; and the other set in the towering Buddha statue where Dee finally unravels the nefarious plot in a thrilling climax.

As the lead character, Andy Lau brings plenty of charisma to the role of Detective Dee. Though the frenzied pace leaves little time for any character development, Andy nails down the titular character with the right amount of wit, intelligence and virtue. When you're not too distracted by what Tsui has placed on her head, Carina Lau will also impress you with her Machiavellian performance as the Empress. On a side note, cinephiles will also cheer the return of Teddy Robin- albeit in a small supporting role- after a long hiatus (preceded actually by last year's Gallants which sadly skipped local cinemas altogether).

With a generous dose of mystery, action spectacle and some classic palace intrigue sprinkled with some wit, Tsui Hark's "Detective Dee" is sure-fire epic entertainment that rivals Hollywood's "Sherlock Holmes". Indeed, if you've enjoyed the former, you're likely to feel likewise for the latter. It is a definite shot in the arm for the period historical epic that China has done to death over the past few years, and for Tsui Hark's floundering fortunes in the past few years. Possibilities for "Detective Dee" as a franchise are bright, and this may likely be Tsui's next big franchise a la "Aces Go Places" and "Once Upon A Time in China"

As far as wire trick movies go... this was actually rather good in my opinion. I really enjoyed the action scenes, the maneuvers seemed rather plausible and life like, no major glitches or hang ups, and for once you couldn't see the wires (big yay there!) As for the story plot.... neh not that real impressed, I got hung up a lot with story line, about surviving the shot through the chest... with the fire beetles, with the fight scenes that defy gravity and all that.

Characters were interesting... Not sure what to make of the acupuncture/transformation bit. Kind of weirded me out, although it wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen.

As for the name... I think its rather lame and/or something got lost in the translations.

Over all this was an interesting movie, though I'm not sure I'd watch it again.