The
intrepid court investigator had legitimate mysteries to contend with in Tsui
Hark’s two previous Detective Dee films, but this time out, you could say he is
working on a loss-prevention case. Di Renjie has been tasked with safeguarding
the Dragon Taming Mace, a fabled weapon with Excalibur-like powers and vital
symbolic importance for the Tang Dynasty. That does not sit well with the
Empress Consort Wu Zetian, who covets power (and the mace that represents it)
for herself. However, the chancellor-sleuth will have bigger, more spectacular
foes to battle in Tsui Hark’s Detective
Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
Di
knows the mace will be trouble, but fortunately he is not about to hide it
under his bed or stash it in a closet (but maybe he would, because you would
never expect that from someone so clever). That is why the distraction designed
to lure him from the Department of Investigations only yields an unlucky murder
victim. Wu’s Taoist agents will have to be more direct the next time, but that
does not sit well with their ostensive commander, Yuchi Zhenjin, a captain of
the Imperial guard, who has sworn his loyalty to Wu and his brotherhood to Di.
He had misgivings, even before Wu’s magician-mercenaries start piling up bodies.
Things
get rather awkward for all concerned when a shadowy third-party upstages Wu’s
assassins with more powerful black magic of their own. Although Di largely
stayed a step ahead of Wu’s conspirtors, he is still only a man. To combat the
perfect storm of bad mojo approaching, he will need help from a monk who was
once the apprentice of Di’s former ally and is now poised on the brink of enlightenment.
Like
most of Tsui’s films, Heavenly Kings has
some big-time spectacle, including dragons and albino King Kongs. Yet, unlike
in Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back, none of the huge set pieces veer into kitsch or shtick, nor do they
overwhelm the characters.
This
time around, Mark Chao is more settled in and comfortable as the iconic investigator.
He is at his best playing off William Feng Shaofeng as the conflicted Yuchi.
Their strained but genuine friendship is one the most rewarding aspects of Heavenly Kings. On the other hand, a
little of Kenny Lin Gengxin as Shatuo Zhong, Di’s bumbling sidekick, goes a
long way. At least he does not step on Sandra Ma Sichun, who shines in their
scenes together, as a homesick Taoist assassin, who develops a conscience and
an unlikely attraction to Shatuo. Nevertheless, the real star is Carina Lau, in
all her regal, scheming glory, as the grand Empress Wu.
There
are some highly cinematic fight scenes in Heavenly
Kings, but perhaps more importantly, it boasts some of the craziest, Earth-shaking
Buddhist imagery since Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West, which is saying something. If that kind of thing appeals to
you as much as it does to us, then you have to see Heavenly Kings (a subtitle that is somewhat misleading out of
context, but so be it). Audiences should also note there are several pseudo-stingers
sprinkled throughout the closing credits, including one that effectively ties
the two Chao prequels to the original Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. Recommended for fans of Tsui’s style of action conducted on a grand
scale, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly
Kings opens this Friday (7/27) in New York, at the AMC Empire.
