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Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame Image
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Metascore
75 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.1 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 14 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: A bizarre murder mystery brings together the most powerful woman in China, the soon-to-be-Empress Wu Zetian, and a formerly exiled detective, Dee Renjie, at the infamous Imperial Palace. Hoping that he will solve the crime before her coronation, Wu appoints Dee Chief Judge of the Empire and implores him to combine his indisputable wisdom with his unparalleled martial arts skills to save the future of her dynasty. (Indomina Releasing)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Stephen Cole
    Sep 22, 2011
    100
    Detective Dee is the action flick of the year, a two-hour epic that blows the "Pirates of the Caribbean" to the Bermuda Triangle.
  2. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    Sep 1, 2011
    100
    The pulp-fictional hero is inhabited by the charismatic Andy Lau who, together with Chinese stars Bingbing Li, Ms. Lau and Tony Leung Ka-fai, makes Detective Dee the most purely entertaining film of our vanishing summer.
  3. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Richard Nilsen
    Sep 29, 2011
    60
    If you can ignore the implausibility -- nay, the opacity -- of the plot, the film is wonderfully cinematic, with great photography, exciting editing, fresh camera angles and some impressive CGI.

See all 23 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. JHackworth
    8
    Detective Dee is not a Western Action flick. That sort of big-budget explodey-CGI belongs to Hollywood, and that's where it should stay. Instead, it delivers a sort of goofy mashup between solid physical stunts, and the floaty impossibility of Crouching Tiger-style acrobatics. Yeah, there's some sleuthing too - the plot is rooted in Detective Dee's ability to solve a series of mysterious murders before the first ever female emperor is coronated - but the mystery aspect (and much of the dialogue, actually) is, if possible, even less probable than the rest of the film. Part of this can be explained by the cultural divide. Detective Dee is very much a Chinese film, both in setting and content. Don't expect a Sherlock Holmes clone, and you won't be disappointed... but don't expect a Crouching Tiger knockoff either. Detective Dee makes its own place somewhere in-between, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable adventure flick awash with kooky sight gags, some questionable CGI, and a few instances of honest to goodness suspense.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. HotchaCuppies1
    8
    I'm pretty open minded when it comes to movies...just looking to be entertained. And I fully was! Sure, the plot is sometimes hard to follow with subtitles, but it was so adventurous and really fun to watch. It felt epic at times, woozy weird at times and kept my eyes wide. All over the place. I haven't seen anything like it before, so I'm glad I got to see it.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. Light
    4
    I walked out of this film after about an hour. It's well shot, edited, acted, scored...the CGI is really good, the vistas are occasionally breathtaking....but it seemed like it was part of a Chinese series that I wasn't familiar with,and so I became bored. It was like watching an Indiana Jones movie when you didn't understand any of the cultural references, so the goings-on seemed disconnected and empty. Not enough action, intrigue or suspense from my point of view.… Expand
    • 1 of 2 users said yes

See all 7 User Reviews

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