Director: Tsui Hark
Notable Cast: Mark
Chao, Feng Shaofeng, Lin Gengxin, Ethan Juan, Ma Sichun, Carina Lau
Tsui Hark has been hit or miss for me when it comes to the
quality of his films as of late. However, I will admit that the ridiculous fun
that he has with the Detective Dee
films is infectious. The previous two installments, the first featuring Andy
Lau and the second featuring a young Dee portrayed by Mark Chao, are
problematic when it comes to cohesive narratives and truly satisfying character
development, but the strange things that one will see in the films partnered
with charismatic performances make them effective popcorn entertainment. For
this reason, it was still easy to be excited for the announcement of the third
film in the series, a sequel to Young
Detective Dee featuring Mark Chao
reprising the role of famous detective, called Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings. Fortunately, this third
film does not disappoint. Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is pure cinematic energy, balancing the sheer
charm of its wink-wink attitude with lofty and outlandish gimmicks. The film,
like its predecessors, is infectiously fun. Taking a note from the last film,
it starts at an ambitiously high level of silliness and entertainment so that
by time it hits the finale it has blown the roof out to deliver some of the
strangest and most delightfully batshit insane material that this series may
ever see. Like the previous two, The Four
Heavenly Kings is a film that is going to have a lot of hate thrown its way
for its popcorn approach to fantasy wuxia, but with the right mindset then it’s
hard not to fall for the charms of this latest Detective Dee film.