Thursday Review: Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)

    Talking deer? Fire beetles? Kung fu? Yep - it’s a Tsui Hark movie.


    It’s a sad day when one of the great visual stylists of Chinese cinema has to resort to digital photography. Tsui Hark certainly knows how to make a pretty picture, but filtered through a RED One camera, the impact is somewhat diluted. A shame, since much of the movie is otherwise rather enjoyable. Loosely based on a real historical figure, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame chronicles the titular detective’s investigation into the murder of several prominent Chinese officials by way of spontaneous combustion. The first and only Empress in China’s history brings Dee out of hiding to solve the case, since she believes whoever’s behind the killings is planning her demise. Having been involved in a treasonous revolution against the Empress years earlier, Dee hesitantly accepts - understanding that he can trust no one and is under threat from all sides as he desperately hunts after the suspected killer.

    With the fine performance of Andy Lau, Hark crafts an instantly classic character in Detective Dee. Possessing the intellectualism and observational skills of Sherlock Holmes, Dee is still warm and friendly to all he encounters. Much like the great detective, it’s rather a lot of fun to watch Dee work out the particulars of the case while everyone around him struggles to keep up. Plus, he knows kung fu and fights with some kind of magic mace that can detect the weak spot in any object. So he’s got that going for him.

    The storyline takes many twists and turns, most of which I didn’t see coming. Dee encounters many friends and enemies throughout the story, and as events escalate it becomes increasingly difficult to tell which is which. Allegiances change, secrets are revealed and hidden natures come out up until the final scene - resulting in a refreshing change of pace where the scenes between all the fighting are not a bore to sit through. And speaking of the fighting, with the expert choreography of the incomparable Sammo Hung, it’s about as accomplished as they come. There’s perhaps an over-reliance of CGI, but the choreography itself keeps the movie ticking along at a fluid pace, while still finding a beat of originality or two along the way; such as the absolutely mental scene where Dee fights a horde of CG deer.

    But it all comes back to the look of the “film,” which is just cold and lifeless - a byproduct of shooting on digital. The poor CGI I can forgive, as that’s plagued Hark’s films for well over a decade now and at least somewhat contributes to the director’s overall vision. But by utilizing digital photography, the once lush and vivid vistas of the Hark of yore are now washed out and drained of all warmth. It may seem like a petty complaint, but the lifelessness took me out of the movie far more than I would care to admit; jarring an otherwise enjoyable experience. I’m not completely against digital, as several filmmakers have found a way to overcome the technology's flaws, but it’s a code that Hark seemingly has yet to crack. 

    In spite of it all Detective Dee is a fine movie, and possibly one of Hark’s best yet. Let’s just hope he works out the visual kinks for his future projects.