It’s time for a trip down memory lane, as we see the return, of sorts, of one of the most legendary figures in Chinese history. The Dissection takes a look at an origin story that involves sea monsters, eunuch pee soup, and horse crashes. Where’s your pee soup, YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES? What about you, BATMAN BEGINS? Yeah, Didn’t think so….
The Story
From legendary action director Tsui Hark and the creators of international smash hit DETECTIVE DEE: MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME comes the captivating tale of Dee Renjie s beginnings in the Imperial police force. His very first case, investigating reports of a sea monster terrorizing the town, reveals a sinister conspiracy of treachery and betrayal, leading to the highest reaches of the Imperial family.
The Cast
Mark Chao as Dee, the titular detective, and detailing the events of his first case. Considering his first case involves sea monsters, tribal ninjas, and a lot of magic,
Feng Shaofeng as Yuchi Zhenjin. The Chief of the police force and a great martial artist, he finds himself in a rush to discover the cause of a recent monster attack, on threat of death from the Empress. No pressure, though.
Angelababy as Yin Ruiji. A courtesan known for refusing all offers for her company, and thus showing her lack of understanding of what a courtesan is, she finds herself being the central point of this mystery involving monsters and warring factions.
Lin Gengxin as Shatuo Zhong. A prison doctor who finds himself partnered with Dee in solving the case. He’s less Dee’s Watson and more his Shaggy.
The Dissection
A few years ago, the Dissection looked at a film called DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME, a film that featured a fictional version of a famous Chinese historical figure. Similar to Abraham Lincoln, where he fought zombies, vampires, and mall cops, the Detective Dee in the films was also involved in fighting forest ninjas, doing gravity defying martial arts, and communing with spirits. This film drags it even more into the fantasy realm, with him rescuing maidens from swamp monsters, fighting in the air, and leading a battle against a giant sea monster on a swimming horse.
Dee (Chao) and something something ATTACK ON TITAN joke.
The story of the movie revolves around Dee investigating a case that involves a sea monster attack and a mysterious group hell bent on destroying two warring kingdoms, and a hint of a love story. Throughout the film, we see how Dee goes from being assigned to the police force, meeting young version of characters from the last film, friend and foe alike, and rising in the ranks and his skills.
First off, there are a ton of fantasy elements in this film, with sea monsters and magic and gravity defying moves. It’s insane. Some of the most notable moments from the film are outlandish things like a horse that is galloping underwater like a fish, a horse ramming into another horse like a car crash, and one of the main characters getting shot out of a catapult, shooting multiple arrows into the eyes of a sea monster, and landing back on his ship like it was nothing. It’s a superhero movie, right down to the stingers that are in the credits.
It plays like a cartoon, especially in the visuals. It’s hard to tell if the effects were a stylistic choice or a coincidence. The effects don’t look realistic, but they fit in with the movie with this type of fantastical elements in it.
The movie really wants you to know it was shot for 3D.
Also, this movie bumps up a lot of the action, compared to the first one, which was more of a drama with fights mixed in. This film is really an action blockbuster, with a lot of crowd battles special effect scenes. The fight scenes themselves are pretty varied, though the amount of tricks and jumps in them do make it difficult to follow at times.
With the first film, an issue arose with the audio being a bit confusing, as the English and Mandarin told different stories. The film solves this, basically by not having an English dub track in the first place. The movie is subtitled in English, and so if you’re someone who doesn’t like reading subtitles, this might be a big negative. Also, the movie is pretty long, going past 2 hours. While it does go along at a nice pace, there are a few moments in the film that felt like they could have been cut.
There’s no real extras on the disc, unlike in the previous film, aside from a few trailers for this and other films. Also, while the movie has several shots that seem made for a 3D release, the film only comes in either the DVD or a Blu Ray, with no 3D release for home theater.
The Verdict
The movie is an improvement on the first film, which as already a good film in its own right, and shines as a good prequel, apart from a few warts that can be brushed aside. All in all, highly recommended.