Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame at the TFF

Steampunk set in ancient China? You didn't have to ask us twice. We bought our tickets and our popcorn and settled into the US premiere last night at the Tribeca Film Festival. Despite a gorgeous shape-shifting warrior, an evil albino with a heart of gold, and a nutty doctor named Donkey Wang, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame wasn't nearly as intense as we were hoping. Dee, imprisoned for treason, is released to figure out why some key officials have been spontaneously combusting on the eve of the coronation of the first empress of China. The plot and dialogue felt lifted from a 1970s action flick --- we expected to read "thwack" and "bonk" on the subtitles at any moment. We left marveling at some cool special effects, such as a charred torso falling hundreds of feet down the center of an enormous Buddha, and trying to see it as an allegory about contemporary China, whose government frequently forces its citizens into unquestioning acceptance, even as it does some very bad things.       

Photo: thanks
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