|
''Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame'' is a 2010 Chinese-Hong Kong action mystery film directed and produced by Tsui Hark, and features art direction and fight choreography by Sammo Hung, and stars Andy Lau as the titular protagonist. The supporting cast includes Carina Lau, Li Bingbing, Deng Chao and Tony Leung Ka-fai. The film tells the story of the fictional account of Di Renjie, one of the most celebrated officials of the Tang Dynasty. Principal photography for ''Detective Dee'' began in May 2009; the film was shot at Hengdian World Studios in Zhejiang, China. ''Detective Dee'' was released in China on 29 September 2010 and in Hong Kong on 30 September 2010. The film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.〔 〕 The film also made its North America debut by premiering at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. The character of Judge Dee was made famous in western countries by Robert van Gulik, who wrote 17 new Judge Dee mysteries between 1946 and 1967 based on the 18th century gong'an crime novel ''Di Gong'an''. The series is now being continued by French author Frédéric Lenormand. The prequel ''Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon'' was released on 28 September 2013, with Mark Chao as young Detective Dee. ==Plot== In year 689 of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian is about to be crowned the first Empress in China despite opposition from Tang officials. To mark this occasion, she has a colossal Buddha figure built overlooking her palace. However, an official inspecting the Buddha's progress mysteriously erupts into flames. Penal officer Pei Donglai and his superior investigate and interrogates the supervising builder, a man named Shatuo, who was formerly imprisoned after he took part in a rebellion eight years ago. They find nothing, however, and Pei's superior dies soon after in the same manner as the official. The Empress orders former detective and rebel Di Renjie be released from prison after the Imperial Abbot (state preceptor) states that he must solve the mystery of the fire. She sends her attendant Shangguan Jing'er to fetch Di from prison, where they are attacked by assassins. Wu reinstates Di as the royal detective and assigns Jing'er to be both an assistant and spy. On Wu's orders, Jing'er attempts to seduce Di, but they are interrupted by assassins. Di meets Prince Li, who fails to recruit him into leading a rebel army. When Pei takes Di and Jing'er to inspect the charred corpses, Di deduces the assassins use a poison that ignites upon contact with sunlight. Pei joins Di in his investigation. Heading to the Buddha, Di reunites with his friend Shatuo, who suspects the poison to be the venom of "fire beetles". He points Di to a man called Donkey Wang, who is hiding in a network of caverns called the Phantom Bazaar. Pei orders Shatuo arrested for not telling him of this before, but Di stops him. At the Phantom Bazaar, Di, Pei, and Jing'er are attacked by a figure who seems to be the Imperial Abbot, though Jing'er denies this. After Jing'er and Pei fight him, Pei pursues him to the Abbot's forbidden residence. Donkey Wang reveals that he was once the court physician and tried to use fire beetles as medicine. Finding their true danger, he disguised his appearance using acupoints and fled. Prince Li returns Di's mace to him, which was taken after he was imprisoned. Di maintains his political neutrality, and Li is assassinated soon after. Di suspects the Abbot's involvement, but Wu warns him that he will be killed if attempts to enter the monastery. Pei finds the first inspector discovered something in his inspection and takes the diagrams, but he is taken captive. At the monastery, Di learns that the Imperial Abbot is Jing'er disguised using acupoints. Di speculates that the Empress has used the Imperial Abbot to justify her tyranny. Anguished, Jing'er attacks Di but is unable to kill him. However, she stumbles into several traps set by the assassins and is mortally wounded. Di fulfills her final request by sending her back to court, and she dies in the Empress's arms. Di finds Pei but is unable to save him. As he dies, he directs Di to the diagrams, which implicate Shatuo, whom he confronts at the Buddha. Shatuo plans to kill the Empress by collapsing the Buddha upon the palace as revenge for his mutilation and imprisonment. He killed the officials after they noticed his changes to the Buddha and later killed Prince Li for insulting him. He has also taken the late Prince Li's army, readying them to invade and kill Wu if she somehow survives. As Di and Shatuo fight, Di is drenched poison. Shatuo questions why Di fights to protect Wu, and Di states that her death will cause chaos. Di is able to divert the statue, and Shatuo heads to the coronation to poison Wu. Di catches up with Shatuo and spills it on him instead, causing him to burn to death in the sun. Di saves Wu from the collapsing statue and warns her of Prince Li's rebel army near the city. Grateful, the Empress promises to be a just ruler and to return power to the Tang Dynasty when her reign ends. Refusing Wu's offer of a place in her court, Di resigns as inspector and retreats into the Phantom Bazaar, where there is no sunlight. Donkey Wang informs him that he most likely will not be able to cure Di of the fire beetle poison. Despite this Di says he is now at peace, and the two enter the Bazaar as the sun rises. The epilogue states that Wu reigned as the first and only Empress in China's history, and kept her promise to Di, abdicating after fifteen years on the throne, in favor of the Crown Prince, the son of the Tang emperor before Wu. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|