(Detective Dee And The Mystery Of the Phantom Flame)
1.
I love going to film festivals. Not so much because the movies are that
much better than the average studio releases, but because of the surprises.
I just saw an Asian action film titled Detective Dee and the Mystery of
the Phantom Flame. It is advertised as a Crouching Tiger like martial arts
film. Detective Dee is that, but also is so much more. I went to see a Kunfu
movie and was sucker punched by a world class mystery.
I love mysteries, I love puzzles and this movie is just that. It confronts
you with a murder mystery during the first five minutes. The natural reaction
was that the mystery was nothing more that a way to get you from one action
sequence to another.
Understand this that the action sequences in this film are amazing. Detective Dee
has subplots on top of subplots that connect up perfectly in the end.
Directed by Hark Tsui, a man known for the films the Swordsman and Once
Upon a Time in China. He is considered by many to be the master of Kunfu action
films. Make no mistake about it Hark Tsui does not make little second rate
fight films. He makes martial arts epics and this time, after thirty plus years
in the business, he has made his masterpiece.
Allow me to give you a basic review of the plot before I continue. Detective
Dee is about the days leading up to the official crowning of the first and only
female Empress of China. While inspecting a giant Buddha (bigger than the
statue of Liberty) being built in her honor one of the inspectors burst into flames
and dies in front of those assembled. Five minutes later the chief officer investigating
the murder also is burned to dust. Is this a supernatural act? Did they offend
Buddha in some way? Was poison involved?
It’s a mystery that presents dozens of questions and answers every single
one of them. Walking away from this film you will find yourself longing for
the days when mysteries were a part of the film going landscape. It is playing
in a few art house theaters and will probably go unnoticed until it hits dvd, but
it is sure to become a minor classic.
Is this film worth searching for and seeking out?
If you love action films yes.
If you want to see the most interesting mystery in many years then absolutely
yes. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame will leave you guessing
until the last moment.
