Image courtesy of Indomina GroupChinese filmmaker Tsui Hark has been making a career out of resurrecting and revising classic Chinese films and genres since receiving his film school diploma from the University of Texas at Austin in 1976. Shortly after graduation, Hark returned to his native Hong Kong, quickly became part of the Hong Kong New Wave film movement, created some of China’s biggest blockbuster movies (including the Once Upon a Time in China film series), and even managed to help launch the careers of such talents as John Woo, Jet Li, & Chow Yun-fat.
Hark’s latest film, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, is an adaptation of Lin Qianyu’s book of the same name. Hark’s period epic mystery (filmed for a measly $20 million) has already won several awards in China and received a Golden Lion nomination for best picture at last year’s Hong Kong Film Awards. Now, Hark’s fictitious tale about one of China’s most beloved folk heroes is gearing up for its American release.
Dutch author Robert van Gulik first introduced the Western literary world to the real Detective Dee (AKA “Judge Dee”) by writing 25 fictionalized novels about Dee’s early career as a district magistrate. Hark’s film picks up where Gulik’s book series draws to a close, taking place approximately 8 years later in 690 A.D., wherein Dee has been imprisoned for helping lead a rebellion against the ruthless political maneuvering of China’s first female emperor, Wu Zetian.
The film begins with the rush to finish the colossal Buddha statue Empress Wu (Carina Lau) has commissioned in her own image for the pending ceremony. Unfortunately for the Empress, two government officials spontaneously combust inside the statue before its completion. Ignoring the popular belief that supernatural elements are at play, Empress Wu pardons Detective Dee (Andy Lau), and commands him to find out who is using the strange deaths as part of a plot to overthrow her.
Wu assigns one of her own assistants, Shangguan Jing’er (Li Bingbing) to keep an eye on Dee as he begins his investigation, and the two grudgingly team up with Pei Donglai (Chao Deng). The trio then travels to the underground Ghost Market where they meet up with Dr. Donkey Wang (Richard Ng!) and discover the real cause of the spontaneous combustion. From there, our hero and his sidekicks battle their way through several assassination attempts, mystical creatures, and a slew of shady characters to find out who was doing it and why.
To call Detective Dee a “Chinese Sherlock Holmes” wouldn’t be much of a stretch. Like its Americanized British Gumshoe counterpart, Dee is a period piece about a master sleuth who speaks in expository dialogue, solves a baffling mystery, and looks cool doing it thanks to an overabundance of action sequences and CGI effects. The only difference is that Dee also incorporates the exaggerated martial arts skills (choreographed by Sammo Hung) of its wuxia hero. There’s even a vampire motif hidden in the subtext for those who look hard enough.
Because both the plot and the action move along at such a rapid pace, Hark barely gives his characters enough time to stop and breathe, let alone develop any real nuance or depth. At times, it’s hard to discern the visual difference between day/night, interiors/exteriors, and CGI/actual photography. Ironically, Pei wasn’t just referring to the Ghost Market when he called it a “spooky pandemonium.” He was referring to the visual aesthetics of the entire film.
Yet, in spite of all its decorative snow flurries, talking animals, makeshift plastic surgery via acupuncture, long-winded subtitles, magic weapons, and sleeping powder that creates more of a visual disturbance for the audience than a cognitive one for the characters, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame is still an enjoyable film. Preposterous at times, but enjoyably so.
© Left From Hollywood
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