Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
When the future empress Wu Zetian's two courtiers die in a mysterious fire, she gets Di Renjie, a former detective and rebel, released from prison to solve the mystery of the fire.
Detective Dee is a visually sumptuous wuxia mystery set in the Tang Dynasty, with Tsui Hark's characteristically kinetic direction producing some genuinely impressive large-scale set pieces and striking imagery around the giant Buddha construction. The plot is an engaging period mystery with decent procedural momentum, though it grows convoluted and somewhat implausible as it unravels. The cast, including Andy Lau, performs capably within the genre conventions without exceptional depth. The fusion of detective procedural with wuxia action in a 7th-century setting gives it a distinctive flavor, though it doesn't wholly transcend its genre roots. The ending unfortunately deflates, relying on rushed revelations and a climactic confrontation that feels overwrought and anticlimactic given the intrigue that preceded it.