Movie Review: Detective Dee and Mystery of the Phantom Flame

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Another poor weekend movie choice for the big releases with last week having an animated 17 year old film converted to 3D taking the box office. This weekend didn’t look like any new releases were going to beat it. (update, yeah, Lion King 3D was the highest grossing movie for a second weekend) Back to the art house films I go although, my regular Regal theater is supposed to be cinema art house here in Honolulu, they haven’t shown art house films in a while. So I looked at Consolidated Theaters and one film leapt off the computer monitor at me. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame just has such an intriguing name I couldn’t pass it up.

The movie is rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and some sensuality and ran just over two hours at 122 minutes. The whole time my eyes were attentive to what was happening on the screen. Take beautiful cinematography, add in high wire martial arts (like a Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon), set it in 690 AD for a period movie and lay that on top of a murder mystery and you have an engaging film. The fact you that you have to keep looking at the screen in order to read the subtitles helps keep you engaged too.

Empress Wu (Carina Lau) is soon to be coronated as the first female Emperor of China. While a giant Buddha statue for the coronation is being constructed two of her high level officials mysteriously and suddenly burn up. Some think it is divine intervention signaling that Wu should not be crowned. Others believe there is plot afoot not by the gods but by man to stop the ceremony. The best person to solve the mystery is Detective Dee (Andy Lau), a man who eight years earlier was sent to prison for opposing the empress’ raise to power. To help ensure the now released detective stays on the case, the empress assigns Shangguan Jing’er (Li Bing Bing) and Pei Donglai (Chao Deng) to both assist and watch over Dee.

The martial arts staging was enthralling to watch. Flips, climbs, dives, jumps, spins and back bends done with the assistance of wires are staged with deft choreography bringing the fight scenes to life. Include weaponry with swords, arrows, whips and a special mace and you have some edge of your seat kick butt altercations. With assassins running rampant to stop Dee, Jing’er and Pei from trying to solve the mystery and you never know when a fight to save their lives will break out. Being high on the cinematography scale scenes with falling white petals adds to the mood of the film.

Two items that I found took away from the experience slightly were the subtitles and the massive CGI shots. For the CGI they needed to be tweaked slightly. I can’t put my finger on why, but any of the scenes showing massive amounts of boats in the harbor just didn’t look quite right. I’m not sure if it was the coloring, the movement or shapes that my mind automatically jumped to “those aren’t real.” For the subtitles, there was a few times when there were large sentences on display and not enough time to read them; sometimes they just flashed too quickly. Being what they are, your eyes focused on the bottom of the screen preventing you from focusing in on the beautiful details in intricate designs, patterns and background action and absorbed them fully. This is one film that a dubbed version might actually make it better allowing you to watch with eyes wide open across the entire screen rather than just the lower third.

Even though Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame was originally released in 2010 and received nominations for Best Film and Best Choreography while winning for Best Director and Best Costume Design at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards, it has just now made its way to American shores. If you have a chance to see the film on the big screen, I think you’ll enjoy it.

The Movie Monkey

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Movie Review: Shinjuku Incident

For American audiences, we don't get to see Jackie Chan in the light that this movie casts. We see him in movies like Shanghai Noon, Rush Hour, The Tuxedo or his latest US flick, The Spy Next Door. He plays a likable guy with killer martial arts skills who is able to use whatever is around him clay pots, sofas, scaffolding, clock works to move around and vanquish his opponent. He uses comedy throughout to bring smiles to the audience's faces. Shinjuku Incident is not like that at all. Released in April 2009 in Hong Kong it is just making its way into US theaters. Done in Japanese and Mandarin, we watch the action and are lead via the subtitles.

I had two people in the theater with me who kept talking back and forth trying to figure out the language and that they had to read the subtitles. After the first two minutes if they didn't like reading subtitles they always had the option to leave.

Chan plays Steelhead an illegal Chinese immigrant in Japan. Back in China he used to repair engines. His fiance Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei) moved to Japan to try to find a better life saying that she'll come back but when she doesn't and communication stops, he follows his heart to try to find her. After escaping the authorities on the Japanese beach he meets up with his brother Jie (Daniel Wu) who introduces him to other illegals who are picking up odd jobs and stealing in order to survive.

During an immigration bust Steelhead saves the life of Detective Kitano (Naoto Takenaka) who is greatful and wishes to repay Steelhead. When he discovers his fiance is now the wife of a Yakuza boss Steelhead decides to become a legal citizen of Japan. In the process he gets caught up in Chinese gangs and the Yakuza. To keep his brother out of trouble Steelhead buys Jie a chestnut cart. Jie unfortunately has a run in with another gang and ends up with severe injuries. Steelhead while trying to exact revenge for Jie ends up saving the life of his ex's husband. Eguchi (Masaya Kato) hires Steelhead to kill those people who were trying to kill him.

For the first time we see Jackie Chan, not in defensive mode but playing offense. While trying to play protector he ends up being aggressor. It's not what we American audiences think of when someone drops the name of Jackie Chan. We see a side to him that we haven't been presented. Instead of this coordinated flailing martial arts master that deflects blows, we see a man who gets hurt and shows emotions.

After taking care of Eguchi's request and being rewarded with control of specific districts including Shinkuku, Steelhead tries to lead a normal life going back to repairing engines leaving the control of the Chinese gang to the people who originally helped him. Without his sense of fairness the other immigrants start to fall into illegal activities that Steelhead never would have imagined. One of the corrupt leaders is none other that his brother Jie.

Detective Kitano gets called upon to crackdown on the illegal activities at the same time parts of the Yakuza decide they want to take back control of the areas that were given to the Chinese. The undercurrent of racism rears it head and comes out. Kitano thinks it's Steelhead not realizing Steelhead has stepped back from control but wants to work with him to pay back his personal debt he owes to Steelhead. All hell breaks out as the Yakuza and formerly illegal immigrants fight for control.

Chan plays good guy and he plays bad guy. The good guy isn't like what we see with his movies made for America. There were some typical Chan traits, but not over the top. The bad guy we haven't seen before. This is a drama not a comedy or martial arts flick although there is some martial arts involved. One of the challenges with watching foreign flicks with subtitles is having to focus on the bottom of the screen. Without understanding the languages involved the nuances of the vocal part of the performance is lost.

The movie was an interesting story of immigration challenges set in Japan. It presented something that we normally see with issues between the US and Mexico. Presented with another culture and location but similar reasoning we're given another level of interest to draw us into the story. If this two hours which is rated R due to graphic violence, brief sexuality and drug use is playing in your area, I would recommend checking it out for another side of Jackie Chan's acting abilities.