Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Best movie ever!

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Great concept. It has potential to be a big franchise. A lot of creativity poured here. The action sequences, the setting, the weapons, a lot of creative stuffs can be found here. Detective Dee is such an interesting character. The other characters had their likable traits as well. Conclusion : Creative concept. Awesome universe. Cool settings. Simple, nice story. Good actors. Great characters.

In 689 A.D., the Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) is building a 66 m high statue of Buddha for her inauguration as the first empress of China under the objections and conspiracy of the other clans. When the engineer responsible for the construction mysteriously dies with a spontaneous combustion of his body, the superstitious workers are afraid since the man removed the good luck charms from the main pillar. There is an investigation of Pei Donglai (Chao Deng) and another investigator that also dies after withdrawing the amulets.Empress Wu assigns her loyal assistant Shangguan Jing'er (Li Bing Bing) to release the exiled Detective Dee (Andy Lau) from his imprisonment to investigate with Donglai and Jing'er the mystery of the deaths. They ride in a mystic and epic adventure to unravel the mystery. "Di Renjie" is a mystic and melodramatic adventure with a magnificent cinematography and wonderful choreography of fights. However, the plot entwines action with moments of soap-opera that might be culturally appreciated by Asian viewers, but absolutely boring and breaking the pace of the first-half of the film. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Detetive D e o Império Celestial" ("Detective D and the Celestial Empire")

This holiday season, Indomina invites you to share in the love, the laughter and the epic martial arts! This year Indomina released not just one, but four films full of the best in martial arts filmmaking. TRUE LEGEND, the latest film from action choreography master Yuen Woo Ping (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Kill Bill). CLASH, which the LA Times proclaims is "a dazzling Vietnamese martial arts movie with a soul, a stylish, gorgeously photographed film." BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS, an epic, action-packed historical drama with global superstar Donnie Yen (Blade II, Hero, Ip Man). DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME, Tsui Hark's latest wildly imaginative and heart pounding action film that had the critics raving. TIME magazine calls it "A Masterpiece!" and New York Magazine describes it as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Sherlock Holmes...only a lot more fun!". Bring home all of these titles on Blu-ray or DVD for a special holiday! Visit Holidays.Indomina.com for more.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWqWqbzh0hU

SPOILERS - sorry I cannot review this without leaking major spoilers. You've been forewarned! I liked the film, but not enough to say I'd watch it over and over again. People here are giving it 8, 9, or 10 out of 10. I could only muster a 6.5 The directing is very good. Tsui Hark does a good job of moving the camera around, focusing on the action and the actors. The actors as a whole do a good job. Andy Lau does well as do all his costars. Worth noting is the performance by Carina Lau, both menacing, and authoritative as an empress struggling to retain her throne.But for me it's the storyline that fails this otherwise decent film. It's a detective story and there should be plot twists and turns. But here the obvious culprit is let off the hook for no real reason other than he knows the famed Detective Dee. The mystery part of it fails for me and in a mystery movie, that's pretty important.6.5/10