This is a weird one to write about. I recall first seeing this a few years ago. One night, creeping through page after page of movies on Amazon Prime, I decided: how many times am I going to watch the same stuff? I need something a bit different. Let’s look through the foreign films since I love a good Italian 70s cop film or a good spaghetti western. I happened to come across this movie; I know nothing about it and hit play. I don’t even think the trailer was attached, so I went in blind. Let’s just say I was hooked about six minutes into this film.
But a bit more of a back story. When I was old enough to drive, there was this amazing Flea Market on Route 22 that I would go to all the time. Pretty much every Saturday, I would head over there and buy bootleg VHS copies of old Kung Fu movies. Pretty much anything Wu-tang or Shoalin, I bought. 8 Diagram Pole Fighters, Return to the 36 Chambers, Five Deadly Venoms, Five Fingers of Death, Crippled Avengers, I can go on. Let’s just say I had 40-50 plus of these flicks… and I watched the shit out of them. Love old Kung Fu flicks like it is my job. Two of my absolute favorites are Once Upon a Time in China starring Jet Li and Zu Warriors of the Magic Mountain. I had both on VHS and wish I knew who I rented them to. Anyway, to my amazement, the director of these two gems directed this. And now I can give you a rundown of this movie.
Let me speed through the plot: set during the Tang Dynasty, we follow Detective Dee, a kung fu Sherlock Holmes. He is called forward to the New Empress Wu to find out why all her officials are dying mysterious deaths. The weird thing is that the officials are being engulfed in flames without any visible cause. So, like any good detective thriller, it is a race against time before everyone is up in flames. I will talk later about the sequels and prequels, but for now we will stay with just this one film, and it is damn near perfect.
As I am frequently watching anything with any acclaim coming out of Asia, I am aware of some of the actors, but let me explain who some people are. Detective Dee is played by the amazing Andy Lau. As any good Hong Kong superstar does, Andy has starred in films, sings, and kind of does it all. But where would you know him from? In Hong Kong, they were making like 10 films a year, so he is in so much stuff. But my Top 3: 1989 God of Gamblers with Chow-Yun Fat, 1995 Full Throttle, and 2002 Infernal Affairs. That last one is the basis for The Departed. The guy is great and in this he is charming, smart, and just cool. Like I said earlier, you will be asking where are the other ten? But let’s keep talking about the cast. Because I mentioned the Empress, let’s tackle her next. She is played by the wonderful Carina Lau. And like any other actress in Hong Kong, she is also a singer. But before I get too far ahead, she won the Best Actress award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, so you know she is amazing. The last two because I am sure all of these names are flying right over your head. The insanely beautiful Li Bingbing plays the right hand of the Empress. This time a Chinese actress and, like any good superstar… also a singer. I believe I have seen her recently in a few American films such as Resident Evil: Retribution, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and everyone’s favorite, the new classic The Meg. She is beautiful, and a fantastic actress. The last actor in this I will mention is Deng Chao. He plays an albino police officer again for the Empress, which ends up helping Dee in the flick. He is not albino in real life, but you may know him from what? Think Steve. Something people who are not watching the 600th recommended movie on Tubi to them. Have you ever seen the 2016 Chinese film called The Mermaid? He is in that. I am sure you have seen a GIF from it. Anyway, I know I am naming movies and actors/actresses you have not heard of. Well, let me tell you, together they are awesome. Every scene gets 110% acting. Seriously. I cannot recommend a film more. But I still have more to say. Let’s talk about the crew.
Tsui Hark. He is great. See everything he has made, and you will understand action. I think he brings a unique style to his films with the wire kung fu that he has mastered. But getting ahead of myself; let’s talk about his films. Zu Warriors of Magic Mountain – Must See. A Better Tomorrow – Must See. The Killer (he produced it), you know the John Woo masterpiece – oh, right – Must See. Once Upon a Time in China – Must See, top five Kung Fu film of all time. Iron Monkey (he produced) – Must See. Black Mask (superhero Jet Li Kung Fu ) – Must See. Okay, I will stop. But even his 2001 remake of Zu Warriors is damn amazing. And let’s just say I forgot to mention anything since 1996, because you know he has three Detective Dee flicks there, and a bunch more. Let’s just say I love this guy’s films and you are doing yourself a disservice not seeing everything. The only other person I will call out from the crew is the action director. Not that Tsui has not absolutely mastered this aspect of film, he hires Sammo Hung. If you know film, he and Jackie Chan are essentially gods. So the fact that they brought him in to add another element to the fight scenes is just, i don’t know. I am running out of things to say.
Instead of my normal quotes that I shower this section of the article with, let’s just say I have watched this so many times that I feel like I know what they are saying. I don’t. I still need the subtitles, but the dialogue is perfect.
Not my normal article, sorry this one is a little different. If you are a fan of martial arts films, this is a must-see. If you enjoy well-crafted thrillers, this is a must-see. And it really has you watching this till the very end, not entirely sure you figured everything out. But back to the beginning, Tsui Hark is responsible for three of these films. The one mentioned in this article, but also Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, and Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings. And they are the perfect three. Can’t go wrong with any.
Oh man, I just found out that there are forty-seven Detective Dee films out there. Of course, all done by various directors and such. Well, these are the best, but like Sherlock Holmes, I will watch everything made. Time to get my Rosetta Stone Mandarin loaded. This is streaming on Amazon Prime, and weirdly, I don’t own a copy of it, but I must have it saved digitally somewhere. And like everything else, you hate it, and I owe you four bucks. But after you watch all three, I’ll feel like you owe me twelve.
