Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2011)
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 47
Fresh: 38 | Rotten: 9
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 20
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 3,996
My Rating
Movie Info
A period epic from genre master Tsui Hark, Detective Dee is an action-packed, visually breathtaking Sherlock Holmes-style mystery starring some of China's top acting talent. Stunningly choreographed by master Sammo Hung, this intricately plotted whodunit is set in an exquisitely realized steampunk version of ancient China. On the eve of her coronation as Empress (Carina Lau), China's most powerful woman is haunted by a chilling murder mystery: seven men under her command have burst into flames,
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Cast
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Andy Lau
Detective Dee (Di Renji... -
Carina Lau
Empress Wu , Wu Zetian... -
Bingbing Li
Shangguan Jing'er -
Tony Leung Ka Fai
Shatuo Zhong -
Deng Chao
Pei Donglai -
Jean-Michel Casanova
General Aspar -
Teddy Robin Kwan
Wang Lu (after face-lif... -
Richard Ng
Wang Lu (before face-li... -
Yao Lu
Li Xiao (The Duke) -
Jinshan Liu
Xue Yong (Crime Inspect... -
Michel
Umayyad Ambassador -
Sos Haroyan
Asst. to Umayyad Ambass... -
Zhao Jialin
Interpreter -
Qin Yan
Jia Yi (Construction In... -
Wang Deshun
Xiazi Ling (Blind Priso... -
He Shenming
Prison Officer -
Jiang Yanming
Undertaker -
Huang Yonggang
Zhang Xun -
Jia Xiao Chen
Lu Li -
Foo Liz Veronica
Wife of Jia Yi -
Xu Nan
Chamberlain -
Chai Jin
Qiu Shenji -
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Deng Chan
Pei Donglai
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All Critics (49) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (9) | DVD (5)
It is a peculiar conflation of history -- there really was an Empress Wu -- and pure cinematic fantasy.
Top CriticBy the end, with the running time pushing past the two-hour mark, it's reasonable to ask: Just who are these people?
Detective Dee is the action flick of the year, a two-hour epic that blows the Pirates of the Caribbean to the Bermuda Triangle.
"Dee" doesn't shoot for the gravitas of Zhang Yimou's "Hero." It doesn't approach that film's magnificent sensory impact, either, or the artistic romanticism that made "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" such a success here.
Three decades into his career, Tsui Hark stands as one of the movies' great entertainers, displaying a dancer's sense of rhythm and movement and manipulating physical space with an abandon worthy of Chuck Jones.
A colourful carnival of relentless action and artful images.
Tsui Hark's surreal wuxia gets problematic transfer, but lives to tell the tale.
The game's afoot, and the foot knows kung fu.
There is nothing wrong with its reach, but its grasp of genre elements is random.
In their best moments, Hark's action movies have a what-did-I-just-see giddiness, as if their choreography were springing straight from a cartoon id.
The film's visual style is at times so dense it simply overwhelms (ditto the plot).
The huge budget fails to hide a certain poverty of imagination.
Creative spectacle, humor, and suspense drive the film, and we can only hope that Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame kicks off a new mystery franchise.
Directed by the master Tsui Hark, 'Detective Dee' is one rip-snorting piece of action-movie eye candy,
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame is a thriller, an action movie, an effects-heavy mythical adventure and even a little bit of a love story. In short, it's every sort of film director Tsui Hark has made in the past all rolled into one.
A computer-generated fantasia where something as ridiculous as a fistfight that occurs while the fighters are on the backs of two different horses entertains us because it is so audaciously unreal.
...feels like a return to the thrilling salad days of HK action - but with a contemporary spin.
Audience Reviews for Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Empress Wu : Men have weak points, just like weapons. They will also break when struck.
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Latest News on Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
September 1, 2011:
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Foreign Titles
- Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (Di Renjie) (DE)
- Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (Di Renjie) (UK)
