Hark Hsui is one of the most prestigious living HK director, his unconstrained imagination and the possess of a virtual martial world establishes his world-famously unique style in the world.
Detective Dee is his newest opus which is also a genuinely ambitious one, the big budget and costly cast seem to manifest that it is a venturous gamble, as his several previous films MISSING (2008), ALL ABOUT WOMEN (2008) and THE SEVEN SWORDS (2005)) all failed severely in the domestic box office.
As an admirer of his oeuvre, it's a great relief and I'm even somewhat surprised to find out that the film excels itself in the visual concussion, the cloud-kissing Empress statue and phantom bazaar are the steady proof of the top-notch mastery of CGI in a Chinese film.
By the contrast the script cannot be complacent, the well-drafted manoeuvre fail to convey certain convincing narrative, the dialogues are bland and the emotional link is sometimes even out of context. Anyway, as a detective story, the twist-and-turn is moderately predictable but a safe play as well, which I could appreciate it for a no-pee-moment 120 minutes.
In view of a crowded market of period films aiming at ancient China, the status quo is a bit disappointing because aesthetic fatigue makes audience pickier and pickier, plus a heavier budget could really hurt the investors, the current trend is unhealthy for the booming market, I am looking forward to expecting a more kaleidoscopic hotchpotch in Chinese cinematic region.
Detective Dee is his newest opus which is also a genuinely ambitious one, the big budget and costly cast seem to manifest that it is a venturous gamble, as his several previous films MISSING (2008), ALL ABOUT WOMEN (2008) and THE SEVEN SWORDS (2005)) all failed severely in the domestic box office.
As an admirer of his oeuvre, it's a great relief and I'm even somewhat surprised to find out that the film excels itself in the visual concussion, the cloud-kissing Empress statue and phantom bazaar are the steady proof of the top-notch mastery of CGI in a Chinese film.
By the contrast the script cannot be complacent, the well-drafted manoeuvre fail to convey certain convincing narrative, the dialogues are bland and the emotional link is sometimes even out of context. Anyway, as a detective story, the twist-and-turn is moderately predictable but a safe play as well, which I could appreciate it for a no-pee-moment 120 minutes.
In view of a crowded market of period films aiming at ancient China, the status quo is a bit disappointing because aesthetic fatigue makes audience pickier and pickier, plus a heavier budget could really hurt the investors, the current trend is unhealthy for the booming market, I am looking forward to expecting a more kaleidoscopic hotchpotch in Chinese cinematic region.