Murder most foul
So, whether you call him Judge Dee or Detective Dee, Di Renjie, one of the great officials of the Tang Dynasty, has a place in the popular Chinese popular culture that's all his own. He served Empress Wu Zetian in many important positions, and managed to do a great many good things while in government service. He was also, as legend would have it, an exceedingly perspicacious investigator.
He's also, in Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, an action hero. (Let me point out here that the Wikipedia article is full of spoilers.) The historicity of the plot may be considered as neglible. They have the correct era in history, instead of having Dee working for, say, the Guangxu Emperor, but after that I think you can forget it.
It's a fun movie, and worth seeing, if you like sword fights and imperial splendor and complicated plots and dirty work at the crossroads. Carina Lau makes Empress convincingly beautiful but not young, intelligent, and ruthless. There is a trope-breaking albino (who is not evil, but an intelligent, effective, and loyal official), and Tony Leung Ka-fai (not to be confused with Lau's husband, Tony Leung Chiu-wai) does more with body language and facial expression than many actors could hope for. Tsui Hark does what he does, and Andy Lau delivers what they pay him for.
The DVD from Netflix offers both Mandarin and English-dubbed versions; I find it depressing how poor the quality of the choices for most of the voice actors were; they didn't stumble over their lines, but with only a few exceptions, the American voices are badly pitched and thin.
He's also, in Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, an action hero. (Let me point out here that the Wikipedia article is full of spoilers.) The historicity of the plot may be considered as neglible. They have the correct era in history, instead of having Dee working for, say, the Guangxu Emperor, but after that I think you can forget it.
It's a fun movie, and worth seeing, if you like sword fights and imperial splendor and complicated plots and dirty work at the crossroads. Carina Lau makes Empress convincingly beautiful but not young, intelligent, and ruthless. There is a trope-breaking albino (who is not evil, but an intelligent, effective, and loyal official), and Tony Leung Ka-fai (not to be confused with Lau's husband, Tony Leung Chiu-wai) does more with body language and facial expression than many actors could hope for. Tsui Hark does what he does, and Andy Lau delivers what they pay him for.
The DVD from Netflix offers both Mandarin and English-dubbed versions; I find it depressing how poor the quality of the choices for most of the voice actors were; they didn't stumble over their lines, but with only a few exceptions, the American voices are badly pitched and thin.