Sunday, February 15, 2015

Dee-Lites

Speaking of streaming movies that one watches mainly because they are streaming and you don't have anything better in mind: Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon (2013). Not that there's anything wrong with it - it's Hark Tsui, after all.

It is a prequel of the first Detective Dee movie, so Dee is played by Mark Chao instead of Tony Leung Kar Fai, although Carina Lau reprises her role as empress. It takes place in the port city being threatened by a sea monster. The local Chamber of Commerce hires a courtesan, Angelababy (Tai Chi Zero) as a sacrifice. Newcomer Dee and the town's chief detective both fall under her spell - Tsui uses one of his surrealistic touch to show her as a Chinese goddess with slow motion ribbons in her hair. It gets even more surrealistic when she is nearly kidnapped by the Gill-Man.

The gimmick in the Detective Dee movies is that the amazing, mystical events have material causes; in this case, disgusting parasites, which only can be cured by drinking the urine of the royal eunuchs. So, along with fantastic elements, there's quite a bit of silly humor.

Also, great fights, but that goes more or less without saying.

Surrealistic fantasy, goofy humor and an attempt to provide real-life explanations for everything, all made with Hark Tsui's touch. This is a silly spectacle, and nothing more, which makes it a perfect streaming watch when you have nothing on your mind.

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