Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon Blu-ray Movie Review

The game's a-flipper?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 9, 2014

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame proved to be one of 2010’s nicer surprises, a film which at least partially rehabilitated Tsui Hark’s reputation of not being able to properly manage story considerations even when the noted Vietnamese-Hong Kong director’s visual flair is fully on display. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame played something like an ancient feudal Chinese version of a Sherlock Holmes mystery in its fanciful recreation of an actual historical figure from the Tang Dynasty, Di Renjie. While there are tangential connections to a series of crime novels written by Robert van Gulik, in Hark’s formulation Dee is an almost preternaturally aware investigator, one who uses Holmesian levels of observation and sensory attunement to ferret out various facts about suspects. The first film became a rather unexpected international blockbuster, piling up rather impressive box office numbers in the United States alone, and making several critics’ Top Ten lists for the year. While Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame was a bit more shapeless than Western audiences might have preferred, it was still a fun and exciting adventure story augmented by a decent mystery and nice evocation of ancient Chinese culture. Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon finds Tsui Hark returning to the well and not finding quite as much to exploit. Like the first film, there are a bevy of simultaneously unfolding plots, and this prequel at times feels a bit too crowded for its own good. There’s the same playful quality that the first film offered, and many fans of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame should find a lot to enjoy in this new outing.

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon starts with a massive set piece that quickly identifies that this film will be infused with a mystical feeling that is quite similar to the first Dee film. A sea battle is raging, but there’s something aside from mere shipbound combatants at work here. A huge slithering presence seems to be patrolling just beneath the surface of the water and the resultant tidal waves forged from its presence end up decimating ships on both sides of the battle. Soon we’re also ensconced in the palace intrigue which is brewing around co-leaders Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) and Emperor Gaozong (Sheng Chien). The Empress wants to get to the bottom of what has debilitated her impressive navy, and appoints Yuchi Zhenjin (Feng Shaofeng), the head of the local constabulary which is called Da Lisi, to investigate. Almost simultaneously, Dee (Mark Chao) shows up to assume his role as part of Da Lisi, almost instantly running afoul of Yuchi when Dee correctly predicts that a local courtesan named Yin Ruiji (Angelababy) is in danger.

If that sounds overly convoluted, it gets better and/or worse, depending on your tolerance for a lot of subplots. It turns out Yin has been having a romance with a handsome young man named Yuan Zhen (Ian Kim), who has mysteriously disappeared, leaving the beautiful young woman in something approaching traditional mourning. In a kind of bizarre Chinese tip of the hat to a one-two punch of parts of Creature from the Black Lagoon 3D and Phantom of the Opera, Yuan has been poisoned and transformed into a kind of half fish, half human figure who is barely able to communicate to Yin that he is her former lover.

There’s even more swirling around in this boiling cauldron, including a doctor named Shatuo Zhong (Lin Gengxin) and a coterie of bad guys belonging to a group named the Dondo, as well as an addictive tea that is fomenting some of the discord at hand in the various storylines. It’s an awful lot to swallow (almost literally at times, given the tea subplot), but rather surprisingly Hark keeps things focused and paced briskly, even if there is a certain unavoidably chaotic feel to some of the proceedings. Things do build to a suitably exciting climax when a real sea serpent (as opposed to the transformed Yuan) gets into the act in the film's rousing third act, by which point some viewers may be suffering from "plot point exhaustion".

Young Detective Dee was released theatrically in 3D, though it appears that there is only a 2D Blu-ray release of this film, something that’s rather unfortunate given how impressive Hark’s previous 3D outing, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate 3D, proved to be. As with that film, Hark delights in giving the audience an “in your face” entertainment, with all sorts of objects and even characters barreling straight toward the camera. Some of the visceral intensity of these moments is obviously mitigated by the 2D rendering on this Blu-ray, but the film’s visual ingenuity is one of its strong points, despite some less than convincing CGI at times.

Chao creates a somewhat different iteration of Dee than Andy Lau did in the first film. Lau played Dee as a sort of taciturn loner, but Chao has a somewhat more playful, accessible side, though the character still is somewhat distant as he assesses various situations and comes to amazing conclusions about various characters and events. Hark once again mans a hyperkinetic camera (the film was actually lensed by Choi Sung-fai, who performed similar duties on Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, and who was also a camera operator on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Much like the combatants in several of the wire work sequences, the camera here floats, darts and zooms through space, creating a breathless environment through which the nonstop action marauds. This kinetic quality may in fact add to the slightly disheveled feeling at hand in some of the film, but it also provides much of the excitement the film undeniably generates.

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This Red Epic shot feature looks great in the live action sequences, with nice fine detail (especially resplendent in showing the fine tailoring of the opulent costumes), good contrast and really lush and vibrant colors. Things are a bit problematic at times with regard to some hokey looking CGI elements, including a couple of major establishing shots that are soft enough that they almost could be termed Impressionistic. Despite the fact that quite a bit of the film takes places in darker interior environments, shadow detail remains strong and discernable throughout the presentation. Some of the underwater footage is murky and relatively soft looking. Despite being housed on only a single layer BD, the film is not that lengthy and there's only a trailer taking up additional space, so aside from one or two negligible moments of minor banding, there really aren't any other problems to mention.

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is a fairly bombastic affair with lots of potent LFE to liven up the low end. Some of the water effects are especially immersive (no pun intended), with clear differentiations in ambient "aural claustrophobia" when the camera ventures underwater. Dialogue is fast and furious and in fact I had a hard time keeping up with the optional English subtitles on occasion, repeatedly having to stop, rewind and/or pause to fully read what was transpiring. The dialogue is presented very cleanly and clearly, with good directionality, and the entire track boasts excellent fidelity and consistent surround activity.

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 2:39)

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon is perhaps a bit more cogent from a purely narrative standpoint than the first Dee film, it's also overly busy at times, with too many competing subplots. The action sequences, while impressive, also tend to feel repetitive after a while—after all, how many times can we see the fighters fly into the upper reaches of an environment, twist and turn maniacally, and then return to earth to deliver a devastating blow? (That's a rhetorical question, since Hark evidently feels the answer is "as many times as I can squeeze into a two hour running time".) The film is really colorful and filled with opulent sets and costumes, though the CGI at times is almost slapdash in its quality. Overall, this is a worthy if slightly lesser follow-up to the first film, which (truth be told) had its own (if different) issues. Fans of that first film will almost certainly get a kick (so to speak) out of this prequel. The one big disappointment here is that there is evidently not going to be a 3D Blu-ray release, for it certainly seems from this 2D iteration that the 3D effects were spectacular. All in all, Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon comes Recommended.