Not ENOUGH immolation, if we're being honest.

A little disappointing after reading all the hype about this film. The CGI is better than I thought it would be but still looks pretty CGI-ey. The story's a little dense and after a while I stopped trying to follow it and just rolled with whatever happened. Overall it has the look that some other Asian movies have adopted using green screens to create skies that are too blue, clouds that are too puffy and detailed landscapes that look unreal instead of surreal.

Not at all like the great series of mystery novels by Robert van Gulik, but rather much like a Chinese version of the Guy Ritchie/Robert Downey, Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies, in which a great detective character is placed in the middle of some gigantic souped-up plot. Tsui is in great form, with fabulous vistas and flabbergasting plot points (e.g. the statue, spontaneous human combustion, and what is up with the deer?).

Eh, you know, it was okay. I thought it would be a little better than it was, as Detective Dee is supposedly the Sherlock Holmes of China. So I thought there'd be a bit more sleuthing and puzzling than cheezy aerial wire martial arts. That stuff is really starting to lose it's shine these days...it's been parodied so much it's become a bit like effects used in The Matrix. It was crazy awesome and ground-breaking a decade ago, but now it's a bit old hat, and when the funds (or the care) isn't there to make it look believable, it tends to look a bit cheap. Unfortunately, the film was full of more action and questionable effects than brilliant intelligence and twisting puzzles I'd expect from a detective tale.

A very fun and creative movie that infuses a period martial arts fantasy with cues from Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes - with spectacular results. Dee's sword-breaker mace is one of the coolest cinematic weapons of late.

Parental note - the on-screen violence is surprisingly intense for a PG-13 rating.

Good entertaining film with the great Andy Lau as Di Renjie the detective.

Aside from some comical kung fu stunts unavoidable in a Tsui Hark movie plus some really unintended comical deaths, this one is worth a watch, something like a Cantonese answer to Sherlock Holmes.

A Tsui Hark se le dan bien y disfruta de estos folletines de época, en donde las anécdotas puramente administrativas se mezclan con la épica de la tragedia clásica... otra cosa es al que le toca verla.

No digo que no disfrute con los enfrentamientos a muerte de espadachines chinos, de hecho disfruto y mucho, el problema radica en mi forma de acercarme a la estructura narrativa, tan condicionada por los manuales de guionista occidentales que nos sacan de nuestro reducido y castrante entorno de tres actos con un segundo acto en dos partes y blah, blah, blah... que nos vemos superados por estas obras con aspiraciones más grandes que la vida, con personajes casi sobrehumanos que tan pronto filosofan, como convierten tomar el té en un duelo a muerte.

Un gran película, dejando de lado esta reflexión puntual, en donde Hark sigue demostrando una capacidad envidiable para la acción y la fantasía

Finally got around to seeing this ... I can't say I was bored, but I didn't like it all that much either. The CGI effects are terrible and the plot is over-the-top and nonsensical (as is to be expected for Chinese films in this genre). The main problem is the running time, 2 hours! If this had been 80 minutes or so, then it would be okay, but 2 hours of this is a lot to ask the viewer to sit through. I can only recommend it as something to watch an laugh at, preferably with friends and something to drink.

This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.