Review by Tristan Bishop
Young Detective Dee : Rise Of The Sea Dragon was one of the great surprises of Sitges for me – not just for the content of the film, but that I had no idea it existed at all until I spotted it in the brochure and probably got a little over-excited. I rather enjoyed the first film in the series (Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame), which, despite some pacing issues, managed to be an entertaining and occasionally joyous Chinese period fantasy piece: those kung-fu fighting deer will always stick in my mind as a highlight.
Director Tsui Hark can be credited with shaping the direction of the Hong Kong fantasy film more than any other director. Hailing from Vietnam, he has been directing since the late 70’s, and in 1983 delivered what many consider to be the defining film of the genre, Zu: Warriors From The Magic Mountain, which pushed the limits of special effects in Hong Kong cinema and introduced a wider world to wirework kung fu. Since then he has produced two of the most admired Chinese films of the last 30 years, A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) and A Better Tomorrow (1986) and their respective sequels; ensured Jet Li became a global superstar with the stunning Once Upon A Time In China series; and stayed at the top of the game with recent blockbusters like Seven Swords (2005) and The Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate (2011).
Young Detective Dee is Hark’s latest stab at creating a franchise – and Hark took a big risk in creating a prequel to the first film in the series, dropping superstar Andy Lau from the lead role in favour of relative newcomer Mark Chao. Chao steps into the role in events set 25 years before the start of the first film, as the younger Dee arrives at the Imperial City with his sights set on joining the police force. But Dee has arrived just as Empress Wu (Carina Lau, reprising her role from the first film) has charged Detective Yuchi (Feng Shaofeng) with investigating a reported sea monster which has been sinking boats in the harbour. Dee gets accidentally caught up in the investigation when the monster attacks a procession carrying a courtesan who has been earmarked as a sacrifice in order to appease the beast. Unfortunately Yuchi believes Dee to be a spy and has him arrested. Dee manages to escape and sets about unravelling a conspiracy to bring down the Emperor and his immediate circle, taking in rebellious islanders, a part-ape doctor, a man turned into a monster by bug infection (?) and finally a showdown with the titular monster – which is actually more like a gigantic manta ray than the typical dragon you might assume from the title.
Period films set in ancient China can be a risky business for the casual Western observer – without prior knowledge of the popular myths, legends and histories which pepper most of these films we can often be left trying to catch up whilst the plot speeds ahead with little explanation for the uninitiated. Thankfully, Young Detective Dee, as with most of Hark’s work, is a pretty easy ride for us foreigners, with some straight-forward (although perhaps just slightly too predictable) plotting and a heavy emphasis on action and spectacle – in fact, a close comparison could actually be made with Guy Ritchie’s brace of Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey Jr. I did find my heart sinking a little at the start of the film as the first sequence with ships being destroyed contained some extremely fake-looking CGI, but thankfully the effects quickly got more impressive throughout the film, and by the time we get to the climactic battle it looks amazing. Hark’s use of sets and costumes is up to his usual high standard too, so the film is, for the most part, a real feast for the eyes. Any concerns that Chao might have been a casting mistake are soon left behind too, as, although he lacks the majesty that Lau brings to the grown-up Dee, Chao is charming and engaging in what could almost be a different character. Special mention must also go to Feng Shaofeng who pulls off a slick, stylish turn as Dee’s nemesis Yuchi.
The film is not without issues – aside from the aforementioned dodgy CGI in places, the film is a good 15 minutes too long (134 mins in total, which seems to be standard for this type of film), but this is a bit like complaining that you’ve been served too many courses at a delicious dinner. Of course, there is an awful lot of wirework on display, but this isn’t the bone-cracking, bloodstained martial arts world of Tony Jaa or the Raid movies, this is high fantasy that benefits from ditching realism altogether. Here’s hoping Hark makes more films in this series.