I didn't know that "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" (aka Di Renjie: Shen du long wang") was directed by legendary director Tsui Hark. So of course, seeing this definitely put some expectations to the movie.
I must admit that while this Wu Shu action drama definitely has a good production, the storyline just failed short of being overly interesting. The plot and script just felt too generic and failed to stand up to the usual level of movies from Tsui Hark.
The acting in the 2013 movie "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" was actually good, and they had some nicely cast Chinese actors and actresses in the movie to perform the various roles. Now, I am not overly familiar with Mark Chao (playing Dee Renjie), but he definitely carried the movie quite well.
There is a lot of action in the movie, lots of wire-fu of course, as this is a Wu Shu martial arts movie. So expect lots of over-the-top jumping around and performing feats that no one ever could actually do. So that is of course an acquired taste, some like it, some don't.
For me, then "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" just felt like Tsui Hark embarked on a journey of wanted to accomplish a little bit more than he could muster here. And the movie felt like it didn't come full circle, leaving me somewhat disappointed when it ended.
"Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" is definitely watchable, however it is not a movie that stands out as being remarkable in the mainland Chinese cinema, nor is it the finest moment in Tsui Hark's director career. Watchable sure, but mildly enjoyable.
I must admit that while this Wu Shu action drama definitely has a good production, the storyline just failed short of being overly interesting. The plot and script just felt too generic and failed to stand up to the usual level of movies from Tsui Hark.
The acting in the 2013 movie "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" was actually good, and they had some nicely cast Chinese actors and actresses in the movie to perform the various roles. Now, I am not overly familiar with Mark Chao (playing Dee Renjie), but he definitely carried the movie quite well.
There is a lot of action in the movie, lots of wire-fu of course, as this is a Wu Shu martial arts movie. So expect lots of over-the-top jumping around and performing feats that no one ever could actually do. So that is of course an acquired taste, some like it, some don't.
For me, then "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" just felt like Tsui Hark embarked on a journey of wanted to accomplish a little bit more than he could muster here. And the movie felt like it didn't come full circle, leaving me somewhat disappointed when it ended.
"Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" is definitely watchable, however it is not a movie that stands out as being remarkable in the mainland Chinese cinema, nor is it the finest moment in Tsui Hark's director career. Watchable sure, but mildly enjoyable.