Review of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010) by Vinny T — 23 Jul 2011

A solid story with georgeous cinematography from the legendary director Tsui Hark, who is the gun responsible for Once Upon a Time in China and getting John Woo's action career off the ground, is well at home with this comically bizarre fantasy.

This period film has an interesting mystery at its heart with lots of red herrings and twists. The story follows Detective Dee (Andy Lau) as he's brought out of his political imprisonment to investigate a series of murders during the lead-up to the coronation of the first female Emperor. There some plot inconsistencies and problems, but they're small. The lead actors are all very good, including Lau, Bingbing Li, Carina Lau, and Chao Deng. All in all, it's a compelling film not overloaded with action-for-the-sake-of-action that looks at an interesting period in China's history.