Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There's some very good things to say about this film. Great set pieces, wonderful camera work and some very good actors. Colourful, historic and epic in its aims, with some great but not overly violent martial artistry.Yet for all that it ticks off on the list, it's just not very engrossing.The detective story is a bit convoluted and tries to marry magic, superstition, rationalism and surprise. Yet, it gets all a little too confusing and not something you can accept. I agree that you have to suspend disbelief, but you are meant to be figuring out the mystery and you just lose interest when some of the revelations are made. Some of it is clever but too left-field to admire.This is just a disappointment. I just couldn't get into this, I watched to the end and was left just underwhelmed. As said, I liked a number of things about this film, yet the sum of its parts is definitely not less than the whole.

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

"Men have weak points, just like weapons. They will also break when struck." Wu Zetian wants to become China's first Supreme Empress. While the stage and Buddah is being constructed for the inauguration strange things begin to happen. First Master Jia spontaneously com-busts, followed by more people bursting into flames. The empress wants this mystery solved before she takes over and there is only one person she can think of to solve it, Detective Dee (Lau) a prisoner in jail for treason. Can he put aside his feelings and solve the mystery of the phantom flame in time? This is not usually the type of genre I get into, but I did enjoy this movie. The tag-line says "Crouching Tiger meets Sherlock Holmes", it's hard to disagree with that statement. I will add that I think this is a type of modern Kurosawa film. The feel and the plot are something that he would do, and the ending very much reminds me of his style in the way that you aren't really sure if the ending is good or bad for those involved and makes you think. Overall, again this is not normally my type of movie but I did very much enjoy it. Good story and action. I give it a B+.

It had been a while since I had seen a Tsui Hark movie. I now feel remiss in not better keeping up with his career.Detective Dee is fantastic! The visuals are stunning. The sweeping, epic scenery and the HUGE set pieces transported me fully into the era of the Tang Dynasty. I was impressed by the CGI, often having trouble distinguishing where the real, physical parts of the set ended and the computer generated world began. The cinematography is superb.The story was complex but still digestible. The filmmakers threw up enough red herrings to keep me guessing while making it believable that Detective Dee could solve the case without huge leaps in logic.I found Andy Lau's performance effective, but was particularly impressed by Carina Lau who played Empress Wu. Her performance was both subtle and powerful. She was mesmerizing anytime she was on screen.As for the fight scenes, well... wow. I mean, really, WOW! The complexity of the final fight between Dee and the person he figures out committed the crime made fight scenes in the Bourne series look like child's play. Seriously. Now, there was wire work - I know some people really dislike that stuff in Kung Fu style movies, but it really worked in this setting. I hope people will give this one a chance. I really thought Detective Dee was fantastic!