Tsui Hark's DETECTIVE DEE: THE FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS coming to multiple formats November 13th

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Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings / Di Renjie zhi Sidatianwang

Directed by Tsui Hark

China/Hong Kong, 2018, 132 minutes

Director Tsui Hark (The Taking of Tiger Mountain) brings back the popular hero in the smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise for Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, will be coming to digital, Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD on Tuesday, November 13th from Well Go USA Entertainment.

Set during the Tang dynasty, the third film in the action-packed, martial arts franchise finds the intrepid detective defending himself from the Empress while looking to recover a magical weapon. Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings has Mark Chao (Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon) returning in the title role, with Feng Shaofeng (The Monkey King franchise), Lin Gengxin (The Taking of Tiger Mountain), Ethan Juan (The Guillotines), Ma Sichun (Goldbuster) and Carina Lau (Detective Dee franchise) rounding out the cast.

Synopsis:
A bold and exciting new entry into the smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise from master action director Tsui Hark, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings sees the detective embroiled in his most difficult case yet. Accused of wrongdoing by Empress Wu, Detective Dee must defend himself against this formidable foe, all while investigating a crime wave that has engulfed the city, marked by strange and seemingly supernatural occurrences.

YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE: RISE OF THE SEA DRAGON available today

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presents

Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon / Di Renjie: Shen du long wang

Directed by Tsui Hark

China 2013, 134 minutes

Tsui Hark's Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon becomes available today on Blu-ray, DVD & digital from Well Go USA. It's a s a prequel to Tsui's 2010 hit Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. This review is based on viewing the Blu-ray version.

After the fleet of the Tang dynasty is largely destroyed by a mysterious sea monster, the Empress (veteran actress Carina Lau, recently of Beijing Love Story, the only actor from the first movie to reprise her role) orders Yuchi (William Feng), the head of Da Lisi (the Justice Department) to either solve the mystery within ten days or pay with his life.

Fortunately, Dee Renjie (Mark Chao, of Caught in the Web, here as a younger version of Andy Lau's Dee of the original film) arrives at Luoyang, where the Imperial Court is located, to begin serving at the Da Lisi. Dee is a brilliant investigator, a master of deductive reasoning, and a man of many useful talents, including lip reading. He's sort of a Chinese Sherlock Holmes, only he's living hundreds of years before his British counterpart. Although Yuchi is initially suspicious of Dee, the two ultimately become allies.

Even before he's presented himself, Dee becomes aware of a plot to kidnap Yin Ruiji (Angelababy, of Tai Chi Zero and Tai Chi Hero), a courtesan at Swallow House. She is the main attraction in a procession intended to placate the sea monster. In the course of rescuing her, Dee encounters a bizarre creature who appears to be a mixture of reptile and human, sort of a "Creature from the Lotus Lagoon" if you will.

So we have two mysterious creatures and a pair of rival investigators. Add to the mix some hostile folk from Bat Island, which lies between China and Japan and a plot to destroy the royal Chinese court. Oh, and throw in some CGI special effects. Lots of CGI, in fact; some of it perfectly fine, some not so much so. Tsui seems to have never encountered a special effect that he couldn't find some way of using. Here we get a sea monster that's a cross between a huge manta ray and Moby Dick and a fantastic horse that seems capable not only of running on water but of swimming underneath the ocean's surface.

If this all seems a bit excessive, well it is. But that's okay, the film is more fanciful than Mystery of the Phantom Flame, but still quite enjoyable and entertaining. The only surprising thing to me is that there are absolutely no extras on the disk, a case of you're coming for the movie and that's all you're going to get. That being said, it must be mentioned that the Blu-ray version is gorgeous to behold.

ACF Rating: 3 out of 4 stars; recommended, even with the absence of special features.