Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Film poster
Traditional	HK狄仁傑之通天帝國 TW通天神探狄仁傑
Simplified	狄仁杰之通天帝国
Mandarin	Dí Rénjié Zhī Tōngtiān Dìguó
Cantonese	Dik6 Jan4 Git6 Zi1 Tung1 Tin1 Dai3 Gwok3
Directed by	Tsui Hark
Produced by	Tsui Hark Nansun Shi Peggy Lee
Screenplay by	Chen Kuofu
Based on	Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame by Lin Qianyu
Starring	Andy Lau Carina Lau Li Bingbing Deng Chao Tony Leung Ka-fai
Music by	Peter Kam
Cinematography	Parkie Chan Chan Chi-ying
Edited by	Yau Chi-wai
Production company	Huayi Brothers Film Workshop
Distributed by	Huayi Brothers Emperor Motion Pictures
Release date	29 September 2010 (2010-09-29) (China) 30 September 2010 (2010-09-30) (Hong Kong)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	China Hong Kong
Language	Mandarin[1]
Budget	US$20 million
Box office	US$51.7 million[2]

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame is a 2010 Chinese-Hong Kong action-adventure mystery film directed and produced by Tsui Hark. The film tells a fictional story featuring Di Renjie (Andy Lau), one of the most celebrated officials of the Tang Dynasty, who is tasked by the Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) to solve a series of inexplicable murders in which victims suddenly burst into flames.

Principal photography for Detective Dee began in May 2009; the film was shot at Hengdian World Studios in Zhejiang, China. It features art direction and fight choreography by Sammo Hung, and co-stars Li Bingbing, Deng Chao with Tony Leung Ka-fai making a special appearance. Detective Dee was released in China on 29 September 2010 and in Hong Kong on 30 September 2010; in North American, it premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.^[1]

The film grossed US$51.7 million and won six awards at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards, more than any other film, including Best Director and Best Actress for Lau; it was also nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.^[3][4] It was followed by two prequels, Rise of the Sea Dragon (2013) and The Four Heavenly Kings (2018), also directed by Tsui and starring Lau, and with Mark Chao as a young Detective Di.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

Plot

In year 689 of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian is to be crowned the first Empress in China despite opposition from Tang officials. She has a Buddha figure built overlooking her palace in Luoyang, but an official inspecting the progress mysteriously erupts into flames. Penal officer Pei Donglai and his superior investigate and interrogate the supervising builder, Shatuo, who was formerly imprisoned after he took part in a rebellion. They find nothing and Pei's superior dies soon after erupting into flames.

The Empress orders former detective and rebel Di Renjie be released from prison after the Imperial Abbot states that he must solve the mystery of the fire. She sends her attendant Shangguan Jing'er to fetch Di from prison, where they are attacked by assassins. Wu reinstates Di as the royal detective and assigns Jing'er to be both an assistant and spy. Jing'er attempts to seduce Di, but is interrupted by assassins. Di meets Prince Li, who fails to recruit him into leading a rebel army. When Pei takes Di and Jing'er to inspect the charred corpses, Di deduces the assassins use a poison that ignites upon contact with sunlight.

Pei joins Di in his investigation. Di reunites with his friend Shatuo, who suspects the poison to be the venom of "fire beetles". He points Di to Donkey Wang, who is hiding in a network of caverns called the Phantom Bazaar. Pei orders Shatuo arrested for not telling him of this before, but Di stops him. At the Phantom Bazaar, Di, Pei, and Jing'er are attacked by a figure who seems to be the Imperial Abbot. After Jing'er and Pei fight him, Pei pursues him to the Abbot's forbidden residence. Donkey Wang reveals that he was the court physician and tried to use fire beetles as medicine. Finding their true danger, he disguised his appearance using acupoints and fled.

Prince Li returns Di's mace to him, which was taken after he was imprisoned. Di maintains his political neutrality, and Li is assassinated soon after. Di suspects the Abbot's involvement, but Wu warns him that he will be killed if attempts to enter the monastery. Pei finds the first inspector discovered something in his inspection and takes the diagrams, but he is taken captive. At the monastery, Di learns that the Imperial Abbot is Jing'er disguised using acupoints. Di speculates that the Empress used the Imperial Abbot to justify her tyranny. Jing'er attacks Di but is unable to kill him. She stumbles into several traps set by the assassins and is mortally wounded. Di fulfills her final request by sending her back to court, and she dies in the Empress's arms.

Di finds Pei but is unable to save him. He directs Di to the diagrams, which implicate Shatuo, whom he confronts at the Buddha. Shatuo plans to kill the Empress by collapsing the Buddha upon the palace as revenge. He killed the officials after they noticed his changes to the Buddha and killed Prince Li for insulting him. He took the late Prince Li's army to invade and kill Wu if she survives. As Di and Shatuo fight, Di is drenched in poison. Di is able to divert the statue, and Shatuo heads to the coronation to poison Wu. Di catches up with Shatuo and spills it on him instead, causing him to burn to death in the sun.

Di saves Wu from the collapsing statue and warns her of Prince Li's rebel army. The Empress promises to be a just ruler and to return power to the Tang Dynasty when her reign ends. Refusing Wu's offer of a place in her court, Di resigns as inspector and retreats into the Phantom Bazaar, where he will struggle to live on with Donkey Wang and the incurable poison.

Cast

• Andy Lau plays Di Renjie, an exiled detective of the Tang Dynasty.^[10] Lau felt that the character's psychic abilities was one of his greatest traits: "He is a forensic psychologist who knows what you're thinking, from your eyes, your breathing, the pauses in your speech, he could tell what you're withholding, a melancholic detective." To prepare for his role in the film, Lau studied criminal psychology.^[11] Lau had to practice horse riding for the film, accepting help from a professional trainer: "I have always been rather afraid of horseriding, afraid of such a large animal; but now I have overcome the mental obstacle and the lessons have been rather smooth."^[11] "He was someone very special, one possessing nerdiness, good deportment and great foresight. His mentality and philosophies were very different from Sherlock Holmes or James Bond. He can dwell forever in my heart, so I have a very romantic view on him, and must also be immaculate."
  —Director Tsui Hark on portraying Di Renjie.^[12]
• Carina Lau plays Wu Zetian, the Tang Dynasty empress of China. The film marks Lau's first feature film role in four years. On her role in the film, she commented on the strength of the empress: "I feel that Wu Zetian is a 'superman', her fate is very tragic, but she would find opportunities to defy her fate, to bring her, step by step, closer to her dreams. She has very strong willpower and is very wise, unlike myself."^[12]
• Li Bingbing plays Shangguan Jing'er, a highly skilled martial artist, who serves as Wu Zetian's maid and right-hand woman. The character is loosely based on Shangguan Wan'er, who was a poet, writer and politician of the Tang Dynasty.^[12] Director Tsui Hark decided to change the character, feeling that a more fictitious character would provide more room for creativity: "There're some things that Wan-er couldn't do, like being a top-notch martial arts expert."^[12]
• Deng Chao as Pei Donglai, an albino officer serving the empress. Fierce and determined to the point of cruelty, Pei is nevertheless devoted to his duty. He often clashes with Di over their differing investigative styles, but grows to respect Di.
• Tony Leung Ka-fai as Shatuo, a former friend of Di's who is now working on the construction of a massive Buddha statue.

Production

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, directed by Tsui Hark, who is also a co-producer with his wife,^[12] the Chinese production company Huayi Brothers (also the film's distributor) and production company Film Workshop (the 50th feature film produced by the company).

The screenplay was written by Chen Kuofu, the Chinese screenwriter of the 2008 films Forever Enthralled and If You Are the One. When asked to direct the film. Tsui said that he would only direct the project if he could make adjustments to the script, which he did. Tsui never divulged most of the changes that he made to the original script, but did mention that the character Shangguan Jing'er was previously a man. Fight choreography and art direction for the film was handled by Sammo Hung.

Reception

China Daily placed the film on their list of the best ten Chinese films of 2010.^[23] Time Magazine considered it the third best film of 2011, after The Artist and Hugo.^[24] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 80% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10.^[25]

Awards and nominations

See also

• Andy Lau filmography
• Sammo Hung filmography
• Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee

References

External links

• Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame on IMDb
• Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame at Box Office Mojo
• Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame at Rotten Tomatoes