In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Friday 14 June 2013

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)

Dee is a kind of Chinese Sherlock that exists in a world based in reality that has a large dose of fantasy heaped on top. He’s tasked with uncovering the cause of some seemingly supernatural murders, all the while juggling political beliefs that differ from that of his employer.
Dee was a real individual (Di Renjie) that lived during the Tang Dynasty, but I'm confident in saying he couldn't do the things he does here.
It’s Tsui Hark through and through, but it has problems. The most obvious being the great Sammo Hung choreography gets smothered by a thick layer of unnecessary CGI; it does a good job hiding the wires but it cheapens the final product.  Stop with the CGI, Tsui; please, please, please stop.

2½ cases of extreme sunburn out of 5

3 comments:

cuckoo said...

I've been wondering about this one.

Didn't hear a whole lot of good about it so I skipped over it everytime.

Your juicy Nut only further confirms my suspicions.

Dr Faustus said...

The chuckle title gave me false hope but I know from past experience that the people involved can do much better, and that made it all the more disappointing.

If you’re in the mood for a Chinese action flick, and don’t hate the way they've been relying on CGI like I do, you may get more fun out of it than I did.

There’s a prequel due later this year. As a Tsui fan I’ll probably watch it. :sigh:

cuckoo said...

It's not on VoD anymore.

I'm not going to seek it out based on seeing so many lacklustre reactions to it.