Review of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010) by R.john X — 09 Oct 2011
Nice string foo movie made by the damn Communist Chinese. Amid the action, the film drives home the historical point that the Emperor is beyond judgment. Regents on the other hand...
A silly plot unfolds surrounding revenge and a giant metal statue. The best aspect of which is not some molten lava tight rope punchfest, but the long shot elegance of the thing monstrously crashing down upon the palace. Its where the money was spent and not so much on the fire beetles or the acupuncture masking effect.
The albino battle axe was a nice touch as was the kicking of the stags. And the fact that everyone gets rocked was, also, a nice touch of staggering anti-heroism. I just lost a bit of my patience when after Dee is drenched in flame jooice, he manages to avoid sunlight and not combust like he should have, but that was a minor quibble, given some of the better fight scenes. I would have loved to have seen more of the puppeteers and their robed assassins.
And Bingbing Li - woah.
This review of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010) was written by R.john X on 09 Oct 2011.
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame has generally received positive reviews.
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