- Tsui Hark's Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame has something for everyone. If you enjoy historical epics, the film's gorgeous recreation of the Tang dynasty capital Chang'an and its imposing Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) will captivate you. If you prefer fantasy tales, you'll encounter a magical talking deer and some unexpected acupuncture-related shape-shifting. Action fans will appreciate the great abundance of martial arts and a constant supply of poison-tipped arrows streaming through the windows. Admirers of suspense and detective stories will gladly accompany Detective Dee (Andy Lau) on his quest to discover why several instances of spontaneous human combustion have arisen just before the Empress' coronation ceremony.
- Initially, however, Detective Dee is in no position to investigate anything. Instead, he enters the film feigning blindness while imprisoned for his subversive opposition to the government. At the request of the sequestered Imperial Abbot, whom we gather speaks through the magical deer, Dee is brought in to assist Imperial officer Donglai (Chao Deng) and the Empress' personal attendent Jing'er (Bingbing Li) in discovering what really killed the two government officials. Workers constructing a towering Buddha for the Empress' ceremony claim that the deaths are a form of devine retribution, but even Dee's old friend Shatuo (Tony Leung Ka Fai) fails to convince the detective that these are anything other than human acts. After a failed ambush and a surprising case of non-human combustion, Dee begins to catch a sense of the scheme. But first, he'll have to consult with the elusive Donkey Wang (Richard Ng/Teddy Robin Kwan), which is a sentence I never thought I'd write.
- The best parts of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame result from an impressive synthesis of the film's generally terrific visual effects and wire-based martial arts choreography. Sure, there's no way any person, historic or otherwise, could ever really leap ten feet in the air, but suspend disbelief whenever fighting, deer, or beetles appear onscreen and you'll find yourself having fun. The settings, too, are pleasantly exaggerated, particularly the improbably large Buddha that forms the centerpiece of several scenes. The proceedings further benefit from strong lead performances, especially from Carina Lau and Andy Lau, the latter of whom is probably most familiar to Western audiences from Infernal Affairs. Late in the film -- maybe during the twentieth fight scene -- things begin to drag along a bit, but I suppose I can't complain too much about a film whose devotion to fun crosses so many genres. I think I'll always prefer action dramas to magical historic fantasies, but this film convinced me that I should approach all Hong Kong films with an open mind.
- Carina Lau is married to Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, who is not the Tony Leung (Ka Fai) in this movie. This is why I'm confused!
