Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame

Original title: Di Renjie: Tongtian diguo

2010
PG-13
1h 59m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

12K

YOUR RATING

Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)

An exiled detective is recruited to solve a series of mysterious deaths that threaten to delay the inauguration of Empress Wu.

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Wuxia Action Adventure Drama Fantasy Mystery Thriller

An exiled detective is recruited to solve a series of mysterious deaths that threaten to delay the inauguration of Empress Wu.An exiled detective is recruited to solve a series of mysterious deaths that threaten to delay the inauguration of Empress Wu.An exiled detective is recruited to solve a series of mysterious deaths that threaten to delay the inauguration of Empress Wu.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

12K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 10 wins & 17 nominations total

Shangguan Jing'er
(as Li Bing Bing)

Andy Lau

Detective Dee

Jean-Michel Casanova

General Aspar
(as Michel)

Sos Haroyan

Assistant to Umayyad Ambassador

Jialin Zhao

Interpreter

Yan Qin

Jia Yi

Jinshan Liu

Xue Yong

Aaron C. Shang

Shaizi
(as Aaron Shang)

Deshun Wang

Xiazi Ling

Mickey He

Prison Officer
(as Shenming He)

Lu Yao

Li Xiao
(as Yao Lu)

Yanming Jiang

Undertaker

Yonggang Huang

Zhang Xun

Richard Ng

Wang Lu - before face-lift

Teddy Robin Kwan

Wang Lu - after face-lift
(as Teddy Robin)

Director
- Hark Tsui
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Based on the Chinese folk hero Di Renjie, popularized in the West by a series of detective novels written by Robert Van Gulik, who called him "Judge Dee".

Goofs
General Asper, the Umayyad Ambassador, speaks modern day Spanish, a language that did not yet exist as such at the end of the 7th century CE.

Quotes
Detective Dee: Ruling requires power and strategy, but right and wrong cannot be confused.

Connections
Featured in At the Movies: Venice Film Festival 2010 (2010)

User reviews48

Review

Featured review

7/10

Enjoyed the original setting and storytelling

I loved many of Tsui Hark's epics from the 80s/90s, but haven't seen anything from the director recently, so I probably went in with fairly neutral expectations.

This was an enjoyable ride. Like others have noted, it's comparable to a Chinese "Sherlock Holmes" (the recent Guy Ritchie version), or a movie-length, Tang-dynasty-set "CSI". Overall, it was a rather original experience - more than I can say for most movies nowadays. There are several intriguing characters and the pace and acting are solid. While the central murder mystery - whodunnit and howdunnit - is not exactly a head-scratcher, it does provide a good structure for some exciting and beautiful visuals.

Was the CGI completely up to the director's vision? Definitely not, but to naysayers, I say, loosen up! The budget for this movie is less than that of a typical Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy! I appreciated and enjoyed the whole movie enough that I wasn't overly distracted by the not-so-special effects.