Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

[Space]

I searched and didn't see any threads...anyone seen this yet? New Tsui Hark movie starring Andy Lau...looks fairly typical but who knows.

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[MERCONE]

If you like your MA movies done with equal story and action then you will like this movie. With Sammo as the choreographer, Tsui Hark in the directors chair. They turned out a winner in this movie. Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Bingbing Li, Chao Deng & Tony Leung Ka Fai are all suburb.

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[kingofkungfu2002]

Really enjoyed this one...Great action and production values, and Li Bing Bing reminded me a lot of Brigitte Lin

[lillippa328]

by the trailer it looks early 90s style....is it a lot of action? cuz again by the trailer it makes it look like hardly any

[David Rees]

ok, fun film lots of reliance on CGI which blends in with the story. Amazing how this has made so much more money than the far superior Reign Of Assassins in Hong Kong.

[BLfan]

ok, fun film lots of reliance on CGI which blends in with the story. Amazing how this has made so much more money than the far superior Reign Of Assassins in Hong Kong.

Probably due to the pulling power of Andy Lau. Although from what I seen of Reign Of Assassins, I hope it gets the recognition it deserves. Cannot wait to see both films to confirm this.

[JasonSolaris]

Hi. I watched both in Mandrain and Cantonese and was wondering about the subtitles. I can't undrestand Mandrain at all, but so-so with Cantonese.

The part in the prison after the fight and detective dee is chatting with the old man, I can understand the old guy saying "be careful of fire" in Cantonese, then laughs and fade away.

The Mandarin subtitles for that section seems to be different and ends with "Don't you think?". In Mandarin, it does sounds like the old guy is asking a question at the end.

Can anyone confirm if the Mandarin subtitles are mis-translated? Or whether the meaning of the Cantonese track was changed, or vice versa.

Thanks

[Yakuza954]

I liked this film more then Reign of Assassins. Reign of Assassins is a good film, but the run-of-the-mill storyline wasn't doing much for me and many of the action scenes ran a bit too short. This, on the other hand, had a thousand different plot twists, an epic Indiana Jones type storyline, and a breath-neck pace just like those old 80's Tsui Hark classics (peking opera blues, we're going to eat you) that felt like they were live-action manga. Did you like the "magician" character in Reign of Assassins? | did (my favorite), but Detective Dee easily surpasses that in the creativity department. Take just one scene, for example, where Andy Lau, a girl with a killer whip, and an albino have to protect Richard Ng in an underground canal system from a puppeteer controlled kung fu villain.

Finally, Tsui Hark's made a good film again. It's been a while.

[The Silver Fox]

Detective Dee seems like a return to form for Hark, I'm waiting for my copy from DDDHouse!

[xianzai]

While both films are flawed but worth seeing, Reign of Assassins is definitely my favorite of the two. RoA makes you care about the characters; DDMPF is hollow and slick, with a Chinese censorship-safe ending. I've rewatched a few of the fights in RoA a few times now; they really managed to capture magic on screen. I don't feel any urge to rewatch any part of Detective Dee.

Can anyone confirm if the Mandarin subtitles are mis-translated? Or whether the meaning of the Cantonese track was changed, or vice versa.

I watched in Mandarin with English subs; often English subs would appear when there was no spoken Mandarin dialogue, so I wouldn't doubt there was some problem with the Mandarin subs as well.

[JasonSolaris]

Also, can someone explain the significance of "speaking to the mace" that was done a few times in the movie? I'm not sure if I missed something or something cultural during that period.

Thanks

[JasonSolaris]

While both films are flawed but worth seeing, Reign of Assassins is definitely my favorite of the two. RoA makes you care about the characters; DDMPF is hollow and slick, with a Chinese censorship-safe ending. I've rewatched a few of the fights in RoA a few times now; they really managed to capture magic on screen. I don't feel any urge to rewatch any part of Detective Dee.

I watched in Mandarin with English subs; often English subs would appear when there was no spoken Mandarin dialogue, so I wouldn't doubt there was some problem with the Mandarin subs as well.

Hi. Even though my Mandarin non-existant, I can pick up a few words that seems to match the subtitles that doesn't seem to match the Cantonese version I was watching.

I know if anime they can totally change the meaning to try to match the mouth flaps when dubbing to English. Is this the same for Mandarin and Cantonese?

Thanks

[Delirious]

Also, can someone explain the significance of "speaking to the mace" that was done a few times in the movie? I'm not sure if I missed something or something cultural during that period.

Thanks

The mace is like the representation of the late King, seeing the mace is like seeing the King himself. Just think of it as the Royal Sword that granted to Judge Bao or the Royal Garment. And in that sense, you do not lie in front of the King, hence speaking the truth to mace.

[The Silver Fox]

I just watched Detective Dee and I thought it was excellent. There are about 5-6 really good action set pieces and in between enough mystery/intrigue to keep you interested.

DD is CGI heavy but since it is a fantasy type film I found that it worked and it was integrated well. I liked how it didn't take itself that serious-just a really entertaining popcorn movie.

[Ramji]

This movie was awesome, took me a second viewing to really appreciate it though as the first time for whatever reason I couldn't really follow it. Think I was tired!

Some proper Tsui Hark goodness in there, it's not vintage Hark but it's definately a nod to the past.

[kingofkungfu2002]

I'll definitely upgrade from my HK dvd to the UK Bluray

[Takuma]

I'm not entirely sure where to post my rant, since there are 6 threads for this movie (Hello, moderators. Good morning!)... anyway...

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (Hong Kong, 2010) – 1/5

Tsui Hark’s “comeback” features talking deer, unexciting wire-fu action, and terrible budget-CGI that covers most of the backgrounds, buildings, ships, towers, and even animals. Andy Lau’s performance and some tasty bits of humor aside the film is, frankly speaking, God-awful. Long gone are the days of good Tsui Hark films.

Speaking of, I should finally watch Shanghai Blues. I've had the dvd for years...

[QueMuchita]

I just watched Detective Dee and I thought it was excellent. There are about 5-6 really good action set pieces and in between enough mystery/intrigue to keep you interested.

DD is CGI heavy but since it is a fantasy type film I found that it worked and it was integrated well. I liked how it didn't take itself that serious-just a really entertaining popcorn movie.

I agree entirely with this, I thought it was great and I purchased it on DVD quite a while back.

[kingofkungfu2002]

I personally loved Detective Dee, and bought it on dvd & bluray

[pratty]

It might be worth noting for people interested in the UK disc, that it includes a solo Bey Logan commentary despite CineAsia's own website saying it features Mike Leeder also.

Not really a big deal, Mike Leeder is very knowledgeable but I've always preferred Bey's solo commentaries anyway.

I enjoyed the film also, good to see Tsui Hark back on form.

[SimonMW]

I just watched Detective Dee. I was looking forward to it, but ultimately I was disappointed.

Fights were short, and cut too quickly to see what was going on. The plot was ridiculous. What was hilarious was that in the run up to this film being released it was being claimed that the fights would be grounded and realistic! What we got instead was a wire fest, which I don't mind, but only if the fights are any good and have some decent length AND some proper MA skill on show.

Also, why do all films in recent times tease us with a super fighting villain, and then cop out at the end with some stupid big set piece special effect so that we never get to see the fight that we were expecting?

"Shaolin" was the same. There was a short fight near the beginning that showed us the main villains fighting skill, and then at the end all they did was blow up the set and we never got a fight pay off. Even the fight with Hung Yan-yan was disappointing, taking place as it did amongst a load of fireballs.

I thought that with SPL that HK films had finally found a new coming of age in fight choreography terms, but alas it was to be restricted to two films.

[BaronK]

Well Dee was wu xia, so I don't look at wu xia action as fights most times. It's action. Tsui Hark doesn't like "fights". He makes stuff according to his visual. He makes set pieces.

[DiP]

I thought that with SPL that HK films had finally found a new coming of age in fight choreography terms, but alas it was to be restricted to two films.

Not sure what you mean by that but it did give contemporary action films in HK a breath of fresh air and a rise of a new trend. We all know how that went. Fatal Contact, Twins Mission, Invisible Target, Fatal Move, Legendary Assassin etc. But like all things, trends come and go as other new trends show up. All it took to spark such thing was Ip Man, and now we see alot of copy-cat period action film productions cashing on the success.

Detective Dee was alright. Hark used to be hot with ideas but now he's out of steam. I respect Hark for redoing ideas he's already done by blending in new elements but in the end the results doesn't create anything impressive imo. Hark brought the work of his lifetime with The Blade and has since not done anything that matches the masterful craft of that one. Seven Swords was good in a good way but nowhere near the level of being great.

[The Dragon]

... Hark brought the work of his lifetime with The Blade and has since not done anything that matches the masterful craft of that one. Seven Swords was good in a good way but nowhere near the level of being great.

I agree to that point...

[Travis]

I just watched Detective Dee. I was looking forward to it, but ultimately I was disappointed.

Fights were short, and cut too quickly to see what was going on. The plot was ridiculous. What was hilarious was that in the run up to this film being released it was being claimed that the fights would be grounded and realistic! What we got instead was a wire fest, which I don't mind, but only if the fights are any good and have some decent length AND some proper MA skill on show.

I thought that with SPL that HK films had finally found a new coming of age in fight choreography terms, but alas it was to be restricted to two films.

It is funny how your viewpoint is almost exactly the same as mine, but I think we are the minority here.

Basically, I thought Detective Dee was not anything special and I loved SPL and Flashpoint but it seems things have gone backward since then with things like Ip Man.