Welcome to another edition of ‘Direct to DVD Dissection’, written by yours truly. This week, we look at a movie from Hong Kong & China, with the long title of “Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame”.
Released December 13th, 2011 (USA)
In theaters this week, we’ll see Robert Downey Jr return to the role of famous detective Sherlock Holmes in the sequel to Guy Ritchie’s movie adaptation of the character of Holmes. I should mention that we also have another famous detective here, our own Detective Dee. Though, this one isn’t really an attempt to rip it off like “Alien Armageddon” seemed last week. There’s a lot of differences in each to show both as their own movie.
The Story:
When several mysterious deaths occur with the victims burning alive from the inside, the soon to be crowned Empress Wu of China summons Detective Dee to find the cause of these incidents. Detective Dee, aided by Supreme Court members Donglai and Jing’er, seek to unravel the mystery of these deaths, as Dee finds himself seeing that everyone not being who they seem and everyone has something to gain and lose.
The Cast:
- Andy Lau is cast as the titular Detective Dee, or Di Renjie in his full non-Americanized name, the man in charge of this investigation who pieces everything together from close observation and forensics.
- Li Bingbing played Shangguan Jing’er, a woman that serves as sort of a second to the Empress and ordered to serve Dee during his investigation as a servant. She also is handy with her main weapon, a whip.
- Deng Chao/Chao Deng is playing Pei Donglai, one of the other members of the Supreme Court, who both aids Dee in his investigation and also seems to has his own issues over having him on the case.
- Carina Lau is cast as Empress Wu Zetian, the first and only Empress of China, who brings Detective Dee back from incarceration to investigate the deaths.
The Dissection:
I mentioned before how it has ties with Sherlock Holmes, though both Holmes and Dee are different people. Dee is more subdued in his investigations, not looking to show off like Holmes does. This leads you to wonder what happens with every move he does during the movie as it focuses more on the investigation and not the character himself. Another difference is that while Holmes usually dealt with issues of magic by breaking them down by the trick, Dee meanwhile, has a lot of elements that can only be explained by magic. It features sorcery, magic animals, and people who can fly.
Detective Dee (Andy Lau) using a bird in one of his investigations of the deaths.
This movie is really a drama, though it does have some action scenes. It has wires, and you see people jumping from great heights and doing these big twists and turns everywhere. It’s not the main draw, though, as it’s more the actual investigation by Dee that takes center stage. The action does turn up more in the climax, but there are a few scenes here or there during the course of the movie.
The mystery itself relies on a lot of red herrings. There are loads of suspects, and all have some good motives as to why they would decide to start this. The Empress is a cold bitch who probably killed her way to the throne. There are rebels who would see her dead before she can assume the throne officially. There is a general who wants to take over cause he doesn’t like the change. There’s a ton of different avenues, and it really does mess with how you view everyone by the end of it. Even Dee you feel different about after you reach the end of the movie. All in all, a great story well told
The movie also uses special effects and CG. While it’s not top end CG, it’s also not the lower end CG you would find in a Syfy channel original. It reminds me of the CG you find in movies like ‘Robo Geisha’ or ‘Machine Girl’, that CG that looks fake, but also feels stylized in a sense. The CG is used to make the world bigger and show long distances and big skies. It’s for atmosphere. But they also use CG for moments like showing deer attacking Dee or a puppet with blades for hands. It does look silly, especially the deer, but it doesn’t take away from much and you aren’t exposed to it too much.
There’s also CG when showing bodies burn up, but I will say that it looks fake but also horrifying to watch at the same time. It’s showing a person burn from inside their body, so you see them slowly turn to ash, and it’s kind of shocking to see, really.
In summary, it’s actually very interesting to see the characters interact and see their true motives come to light. By the end of it, you’ll be wondering what happens next as the plans start to unfold and you find out where each character lies.
Jing'er (Li Bingbing) during a tussle with Dee that ends a bit different from what you would expect at this point.
There’s some features on the DVD. You have some featurettes includes over the creation and production of the movie. There’s also cast photos, both film and behind the scenes, as well as a poster gallery. Ir also includes the international trailer. Also, on start up, it advertises an iPhone game based on the movie, as well as 2 movies named “Bodyguards & Assassins” and “Griff the Invisible”. The first is a period martial arts movie, while the second is a costumed hero love story.
When it comes to audio, it has the default Mandarin language, and English dubbing of the dialog. The subtitles are in English and French. The big pain is that the English dubbing and the subtitles occasionally don’t match. Most of it is different wording, but also different actions. It’s annoying to hear them both, so you should decide first which one you rather listen to. They don’t affect the story too much, but it can get a bit confusing when you’re trying to watch it. Also, there’s this weird differents in the movie. The animals used for the deaths were called turtles by the audio, but beetles in the subtitles. The animals are actually not turtles, but beetles. It does feel weird to hear them refered to as turtles in all the audio.
There’s also an issue with Dee’s weapon. See, it’s called a mace in both the dubbing and the subtitles, even though it looks like a sword. See it below?
Dee with his mace/sword during a stand off.
It’s just weird to see it referred to it as a mace, even if he uses it like a sword in every battle. It might be a culture difference, but it just felt weird hearing it.
The Verdict:
I say to give this a watch. It’s a movie that, if nothing else, will get you excited to see how it will all end up once the final frame of the movie occurs. Fans of the genre will find another movie that they can enjoy greatly, and even people without much experience with it can still find something to hold onto.
Recommended.