Find Movies & TV
Home
Live TV
On Demand
Discover
Explore
Movies & TV Shows
Most Popular
Leaving Soon
Categories
Action
Animation
Comedy
Crime
Descriptive Audio
Documentary
Drama
En Español
Horror
Music
Romance
Sci-Fi
Thriller
Western
Explore
Browse Channels
Featured Channels
CW Forever
Ion Mystery
LiveNOW from FOX
Categories
Black Stories
Hit TV
Drama TV
True Crime
Reality
News
Sports
Comedy
History & Science
Movies
Food & Home
Lifestyle
Nature & Travel
Daytime TV
Game Shows
Sci-Fi & Action
Kids & Family
Classic TV
Anime & Gaming
Chills & Thrills
International
En Español
Music
Sign In
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Directed by
Tsui Hark
PG-13
2010
2h 3m
Mystery
,
Action
,
and more
6.6
80%
62%
Watch Free
An exiled detective is recruited to solve a series of mysterious deaths that threaten to delay the inauguration of Empress Wu.
More
Cast of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Andy Lau Tak-Wah
Detective Dee (Di Renjie)
Li Bingbing
Shangguan Jing'er
Deng Chao
Pei Donglai
Tony Leung Ka-Fai
Shatuo Zhong
Carina Lau Kar-Ling
Wu Zetian (The Empress)
Richard Ng Yiu-Hon
Wang Lu (before face-lift)
Teddy Robin
Wang Lu (after face-lift)
Liu Jinshan
Xue Yong (Crime Inspector)
Yao Lu
Li Xiao (The Duke)
Jean-Michel Casanova
Umayyad Ambassador
Sos Haroyan
Asst to Umayyad Ambassador
Wang Deshun
Xiazi Ling (Blind Prisoner)
He Shengming
Prison Officer
Huang Yonggang
Zhang Xun
Chen Xiao
Lu Li
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame Ratings & Reviews
Seattle Times
John Hartl
By the end, with the running time pushing past the two-hour mark, it's reasonable to ask: Just who are these people?
Arizona Republic
Richard Nilsen
It is a peculiar conflation of history -- there really was an Empress Wu -- and pure cinematic fantasy.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Is it possible for Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame to be any more riotously over-the-top than it is?
Boston Globe
Mark Feeney
It's slambang in pacing, bald in exposition, and offers cast-of-hundreds spectacle.
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A bewitching fantasy.
Washington Post
John DeFore
"Dee" doesn't shoot for the gravitas of Zhang Yimou's "Hero." It doesn't approach that film's magnificent sensory impact, either, or the artistic romanticism that made "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" such a success here.
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Director Tsui Hark sets expansive melodrama against flamboyant sets, and the all-star cast is up for even the most outlandish of Sammo Hung's action choreography.
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
All this is loads of fun, but after a while sensory overload sets in, dulling the mind. Even in a kung-fu flick, more isn't always better.
indieWire
Eric Kohn
Hark delivers a highly enjoyable alternative to Western blockbusters by simply keeping the narrative in flux with a series of well-executed sequences -- a cinema of distraction, if you will.
San Francisco Chronicle
G. Allen Johnson
If nothing else, the film is colorful.
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Chang Chia-lu's intricate script bristles with wit and suspense; the film from start to finish is a terrific entertainment.
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Creative spectacle, humor, and suspense drive the film, and we can only hope that Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame kicks off a new mystery franchise.
New York Times
A.O. Scott
Witty but not campy, grand without being unduly somber, it is a crazy, almost-coherent riot of intrigue, color and kineticism anchored by the charisma of its cast.
Film Comment Magazine
Amy Taubin
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame is vintage Tsui Hark, filled with virtuoso aerial fight sequences and soaring performances by glamorous veterans Carina Lau, Andy Lau, and Tony Leung Ka-fai.
indieWire
Steve Erickson
Detective Dee brings back the excitement of great pop cinema that drew cinephiles to Hong Kong in the first place.
Film Comment Magazine
Chris Chang
The film's visual style is at times so dense it simply overwhelms (ditto the plot).
Chicago Reader
Ben Sachs
Three decades into his career, Tsui Hark stands as one of the movies' great entertainers, displaying a dancer's sense of rhythm and movement and manipulating physical space with an abandon worthy of Chuck Jones.
Wall Street Journal
John Anderson
Some of the action in "Detective Dee" is computer-generated hallucination, some is just good-old life-threatening stunt work, but it is almost always a thrill.
TIME Magazine
Richard Corliss
We'd call it Crouching Tiger, Freakin' Masterpiece.
Watch Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame Videos
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame (Trailer 1)
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame (Trailer 1)
Trailer
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame: Q & A With Director Tsui Hark
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame: Q & A With Director Tsui Hark
Behind the Scenes
Edetective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame: Fire
Edetective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame: Fire
Scene
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame: Arrows
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame: Arrows
Scene
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame: Chains
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame: Chains
Scene
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame: Surprise
Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame: Surprise
Scene
Take Plex everywhere
Watch free anytime, anywhere, on almost any device.
See the full list of supported devices
Home
Live TV
On Demand
Discover
