Review for Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame

Introduction

Every so often, I'm reminded of just how limited my exposure to Far Eastern cinema is, even though I devote most of my reviewing hours to it in one form or another. For many, the mention of a new Tsui Hark film would have pulses quickening, excitement rising, and hands reaching pre-emptively for a wallet. For me, it's just another name that goes over my head. For all the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese cinema that I have watched over the years, it turns out that I have only seen one Tsui Hark movie, Seven Swords. I haven't even watched a Wong Fei Hung movie, which surely is a deficiency I need to remedy. I didn't think much of Seven Swords when I saw it, which probably makes it a good thing that I'm not as aware of Tsui Hark's name as I ought to be. I requested Detective Dee on the strength of its trailer alone, a period action piece, rich in historical lushness, plenty of wire-fu and a whole lot of fantasy and magic to it. That combination in Seven Swords fell flat, so it's good that I had no preconceptions regarding the director when I put Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame into the Blu-ray player. I was expecting a kung fu Sherlock Holmes though.


The year is 689AD. The Emperor of China has died, leaving the Empress Regent in line to inherit the throne. Never before has a woman ruled the country, and the thought of her coronation leave many disgruntled and angry, with some plotting her removal. Nevertheless, plans for the coronation progress quickly, and chief among the celebrations will be the erection of a statue of Buddha, a giant bronze colossus that dwarfs the Forbidden City. As the finishing touches to the edifice are being applied, foreign dignitaries are shown Chinese technological prowess. It's during one such tour that the unthinkable happens. The master engineer in charge of the construction, Master Jia, recently committed the sin of moving the sacred amulets warding the statue from evil. That sin comes back to haunt him when during the tour, he literally ignites, burns up from within, leaving nothing but charred bones and ashes. Then when investigators come to question the workers, the same thing happens to the chief investigator. It appears the statue, the coronation, and the Empress herself are cursed, and disquiet spreads through the land.


Then the court Chaplain appears, in the form of his magical stag, and tells the Empress that chaos will return to order when Detective Dee is released. Dee was imprisoned eight years previously, when the Empress was first made Regent, as he spoke against her elevation. Now the Empress has him restored to his position as Imperial Commissioner, in charge of the Phantom Flame case. He has to solve it before the coronation, and just to keep him focussed, she assigns her loyal vassal Shangguan Jing'er to work with him. He also gets the dubious aid of the murdered investigator's albino deputy Pei Donglai, a brutal and ruthless official. But the conspiracy spreads its insidious tentacles far, and even before Dee is freed from his chains, assassins are on his tail to offer a premature end to his investigation.

Picture

Detective Dee gets a 2.35:1 widescreen 1080p transfer on this Blu-ray disc, and I have to say that it is most agreeable. This is very much a period film, with Chinese royalty at its heart. The Production and Costume Design is exquisite. The lush, vibrant sets, rich with colour and detail, the intricate silk costumes, with metallic embroidery and delicate stitching, the fine craftsmanship in terms of gold jewellery, it's all what high definition was created for. When you can see the detail of the finest filigree (I never thought I'd use the word filigree), you'll probably wind up watching this film twice, once for the story, and once just to look at it and marvel. The stunts and action sequences come across well. The only nitpicks I have are with some rather obvious, and plastic looking CGI used to recreate China of the ancient past, and one or two moments of softness in close-ups where the digital cinematography doesn't quite match up to the detail of the rest of the film.

Sound

You have the choice between DTS-HD MA 5.1 Mandarin, and a simple DD 2.0 Mandarin track for those who aren't HD audio ready yet, along with optional English subtitles. It's a nice effective surround track, which adequately brings across the action sequences, the music and the subtle ambience when required, and gets the old subwoofer woofing at the appropriate moments. The music suits the tone of the film well, but I do think the subtitles could have used a little more proofreading before being pressed to disc. I don't believe any monarch in history has ever been 'coronated'.

Extras

I didn't have the time to partake of the extras, other than to confirm that they exist. The DVD released on the same day will be a two-disc set. This Blu-ray manages to pack it all onto one disc.

From the animated menu screen, you'll be able to get to the Trailer Gallery, where you'll find the UK, Original and Teaser Trailers. There are also 12 other Cine Asia trailers in the Also Available section.


The big draw, as always is the Bey Logan audio commentary. Brilliant, and densely packed as always, the ten minutes alone that I sampled intrigued me with notions such as this could very well have been a Hollywood movie directed by none other than John McTiernan!

In the Extra Features menu, you'll find the Original Poster Artwork Gallery with 5 images, an Interview Gallery gathering soundbite interviews with the cast and crew, running to a total of 39 minutes, the Intro to Cine Asia promo reel, and the Behind the Scenes Footage. This b-roll footage takes a look at the making of the film, without any commentary to place it in context. There's also no time code, so there's no way of figuring out how long it is, without timing it with a stopwatch, but my guess is that there is at least half an hour's worth of footage here, if not more. All of these extras other than the artwork are presented in SD.

Conclusion

Detective Dee turned out to be a whole lot of fun, certainly more fun than I was expecting from a film of this genre. To date, the historical Chinese fantasy has left me cold, beginning with the tiresome Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. These films set in the distant past usually involve larger than life characters, with fantastic powers and abilities, committing egregious acts of wire-fu against the laws of physics, and all with a degree of seriousness and po-faced integrity that sits at odds with the subject matter. I've never really been a fan of Wuxia genre, and Detective Dee looked like another entry in the list. But for once, this is a film that realises that it's playing in a comic book medium, it has a sense of fun about it, an understanding that its sole purpose is to tell a good fantasy story, not present itself as historical fact. It has a twinkle in its eye with every new burst of unreality, and that makes all the difference. Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame is exciting, fast-paced, and entertaining.


The characters all have dimension for one thing. Even the titular sleuth may have you questioning his motives. After all, when we meet him, he's in prison for speaking out against the Empress. He's released to solve the spontaneous combustion cases, and reinstated by the Empress, but it isn't always clear if his loyalty is assured. Certainly he has more than enough temptation to act against her during the course of the story. His partners on the case also have mixed motives. Jing-er is ordered by the Empress to help him, a euphemism for keeping an eye on him and spying on him, but she herself may be under suspicion by the Empress, especially if it appears that she and Dee are working together a little too smoothly. Then there is Pei, who when we meet him is a brutal investigator, quick to torture and deliver punishment when answers aren't forthcoming. With the death of his superior, he may have thought that he would be promoted, but instead he has to work under a former criminal. His loyalties also remain suspect. Then there is the Empress herself, capricious, cruel, guarded, secretive and duplicitous. And these are the film's protagonists. The various suspects and villains that Detective Dee and his assistants encounter during the investigation simply confuse the matter.

The second thing that really stands out about Detective Dee is the quality of the writing. This is a mystery worthy of the name, not just a kung fu movie with a mystery tacked on as an afterthought. The investigation is detailed, complex, and full of wrong turns and red herrings. It's interesting to watch it unfold, a seemingly supernatural occurrence that turns out to have a very human, and malicious intent behind it. What's most important is that the solution to the crime, the way that it was actually accomplished, and the surrounding plots and conspiracies, all work according to the film's internal logic. There aren't any glaring plot holes and inconsistencies to complain about.


The story is well constructed, the action sequences are grand and masterfully choreographed (by Sammo Hung, who else?), the characters hold the attention, and the film itself looks and sounds divine. If ever there were a film worth watching on Blu-ray for the production design alone, Detective Dee would be it. Fortunately there is much more to the film than just looks. It may just be the start of a whole new franchise. I certainly would be delighted if there would be more Detective Dee films in the future.