Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings (2018) User Reviews

Movie Has Its Faults But it is Spectacular in Many Ways

[larrys3 · 7/10 · 30 November 2018]

This latest Detective Dee film, directed by Tsui Hark, is a colorful epic ancient Chinese saga. It's filled with martial arts sequences, acrobatics, as well as plenty of treachery, deception, sorcery, illusions, and pageantry.

In the movie, the intrepid Detective Dee, head of the Bureau of Investigations, is awarded the super powerful Dragon-Taming Mace by the Emperor for his past heroism in saving the Kingdom. But the Detective will have to contend with the power hungry and evil Empress, as well as a reemerging cult, named the Wind Warriors, who seek control of the Dynasty as well, using magic and mind control.

I would say the film is somewhat overly long at about 2hrs. and 12 min. and it can be confusing and complicated at times.The final battle sequence I thought was too drawn out as well.

However, if one can just sit back and enjoy the wild special effects, the intrigue, the twists and turns, and colorful pageantry of it all, there are rewards here, although the movie is not for everyone.

Not the Judge Dee I Was Expecting

[boblipton · 5/10 · 4 August 2018]

I missed my chance to see the earlier Judge Dee movie, but I assumed that this and it were historical mysteries derived from the work of Robert van Gulik. Apparently there was a Dee during the Tang dynasty who was a judge and an imperial courtier. During the Ming dynasty, there were some folk novels about him, and this tradition fell into van Gulik's hands. His novels about this investigative judge were popular enough that others wrote further sequels after his death, and I assumed this was derived from one of those.

I was wrong. Although within the first few minutes, Mark Chao was on the scene of the crime as Dee making acute observations, it soon turned into a fantasy movie about magic maces, wicked empresses, court intrigue, evil Indian sorcerers and monks who are so good they'll let the world go to heck in a handbasket before they'll interrupt their quests for enlightenment.

Plus fiery demons and dragons and such, and it was at that point I began to wince. I enjoy a lot of fantasy movies, and many CGI special effects are well done, but there are film makers who seem convinced that if you render your impossible chimera in sufficient detail, the audience will accept it as real. There may indeed be audience members who feel that way, and they may be numerous enough to make a fine audience for the commercial art that is cinema. Alas for me, I am not part of that particular audience and if you show me something that doesn't exist and render it in sufficient detail to look real.... well, it starts to look cartoonish to me, like a Rube Goldberg alarm clock or what you get when you cross a hippopotamus with an abacus. "That's very nice, but why did you go to such trouble?" is my emotional reaction, as I tap my foot and wait impatiently for the fiery people to stop flying through the air so the movie can get on with it.

It seems a pity, because there are some lovely production values in this movie, in set design and costuming, camerawork and editing seem well covered and the actors hit their marks and seem to speak their lines well -- it's in Mandarin, so I have to rely on subtitles. There's also not a particle of doubt in my mind that if I had gone in knowing I was going to be looking at a fantasy instead of a mystery, I would not have been so disappointed.

Except by the continuing belief that spending lots of money on incredibly elaborate special effects can make up for foolish plotting. I'm sorry about that, but it can't.

Impressive visual effects

[iManjp · 7/10 · 30 July 2018]

If you don't speak Chinese and appreciate visual effects like me, then this movie would be an entertaining movie while having popcorn and sometimes checking your phone. I have watched plenty of Chinese movie recently and I can see they are getting to the highest level in terms of VFX. This one is one the best so far.

Story wise, not bad. You don't expect that much, but in total I am fine spending 2 hours in cinema.

The technology is good enough and the story is still rough

[DawsonChu · 6/10 · 28 July 2018]

The scale and texture of special effects have surpassed the previous one, which is a benchmark in the industry, but it is somewhat radical compared with the first episode. Personally feel that if the film is made into a pure fantasy movie, it will be more in line with the original idea of the director Hark Tsui, and will be more reasonable and exciting. Because the imagination is limited by the existing script, many of the topics worth exploring are ultimately designed to showcase the background of special effects. In addition, the lack of persuasive performances remains a major issue in the film.

The worst film of the year

[TheBigSick · 28 July 2018]

There was some chemistry between Ma Sichun and Lin Genxin. Apart from that, the film is just an unwatchable mess. From The Demons Strike Back, to The Thousand Faces of Dunjia, to this The Four Heavenly Kings, Tsui Hark's deterioration is crystal clear and has reached an intolerable extent. He himself ruined his reputation, and should stop making movies instantaneously.

"He's always popping up without warning these days!"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 9 April 2019]

"Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings" is a good example of trying to cram too many characters and too much action into a movie while offering generous doses of action scenes and fighting sequences. If you're curious about the Four Kings of the title, don't blink or they'll blow right by you, as they're represented by four monolithic statues that once revealed, have no real bearing on the story. This will most likely appeal to fantasy film fans who have a taste for colorful characters; there are plenty to go around. The names conjure up imagery of sorcery and magic, with monikers like Spectral Blades, Night Ghost, Smoke Volant and Water Moon, all members of a mystic clan called the Jianghu. The title character isn't so much a detective in this story as one protecting the Tang Dynasty and it's emperor from the machinations of it's evil Empress Wu (Carina Lau), who has designs of her own on ascending the throne. The scenes of airborne dragons and the picture's final massive showdown against all manner of flying beasts are quite the spectacle. The huge white gorilla brought to mind a pitiful 1945 film featuring just that; it was called "White Pongo", but the comparisons between the two are otherwise non-existent. Visually, the picture is as colorful and vibrant as Detective Dee's (Mark Chao) earlier adventure in 'Mystery of the Phantom Flame'. Fans of clever wire work and impossible to perform stunts in real life will definitely be pleased. Those looking for a Charlie Chan-like mystery to be solved need look elsewhere.

Flying Kung-Fu masters GREAT

[manc_tony · 7/10 · 11 September 2021]

Good entertaining film comparable to the old 70's/80's chop socky martial arts films.

Get the pop corn in and enjoy the show.

A Wu Xia treat

[asandor · 7/10 · 9 January 2020]

Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings (Di Renjie zhi Sidatianwang) is the latest in the Detective Dee series, following a powerful Lord-detective as he works to save the kingdom from foes both external, internal, and metaphysical. This film follows Dee after he has received the Dragon Mace, and the power to exercise judgement over all in the Tang Empire, including the Emperor and his co-ruler, the Empress. However, a threat emerges in the guise of the Wind Cult and the Mystic Cult. These are hardened warriors that helped the first Tang Emperor take power, but were betrayed by him. They seek revenge, and have used their magic illusions to trick the Empress into trying to close down Detective Dee and his Bureau of Investigation.

What follows is a highly stylized Wu Xia film with fair action, fun fantasy, and a competent plot. Much like the other films in this series, Detective Dee continues the trend of quality Wu Xia films in a genre that is often marred by poor or mediocre flicks. I greatly enjoyed the story and feel of this one, with the magic feeling fun, and some goofy moments abound. The action, sound and music are al of good quality, as is the acting and cinematography. On the complaints side, the story can feel weak at times, and the special effects are relatively poor.

That being said, this is a fun film to watch in the Wu Xia genre, and continues the trend of interesting Wu Xia coming out of China. Well worth a watch as a good film 7/10.

Fantasy over investigations

[kluseba · 8/10 · 3 December 2018]

Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is quite different from the other two entries about the modest, intellectual and clever Tang Dynasty investigator. While the first movie relies on its mysterious atmosphere and investigative techniques and the second film explores the detective's early career, the third movie is set between the two and is best described as an intrigue with supernatural elements. This is a very entertaining fantasy movie with dynamic martial arts elements and colourful costumes and settings but it doesn't have much depth, doesn't feature a surprising plot and doesn't rely on investigative techniques. Some people might therefore consider this the weakest entry in the franchise thus far. However, I have a different opinion. If you are ready to accept this movie as a wu xia fantasy film inspired by classic Hongkong cinema of the late eighties with contemporary images and sounds, you will experience a most entertaining blockbuster that doesn't only equal contemporary Hollywood fantasy movies but also beats most of those thanks to its intriguing historical references.

The title of the movie is somewhat misleading. The four heavenly kings are only statues that are referenced in a note and then shown in one scene mid-way through the plot that lasts for about five minutes. They are never mentioned again afterwards and have no significant influence on the story. Detective Dee and the Dragon Taming Mace would have been a much more appropriate title.

The story is set between Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon and Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame. Emperor Gaozong appoints Di Renjie to head the Department of Justice and gives him the mysterious, powerful and prestigious Dragon Taming Mace. Empress Wu disapproves of this as she realizes that Detective Dee might be her biggest obstacle on her ambitious quest for ultimate authority. She orders Di Renjie's sworn brother Yuchi Zhenjin to steal the mace and discredit her opponent. She hires a group of sorcerers to see the plan through and promises to not assassinate Di Renjie and his family. Di Renjie has however realized that the Empress wants to steal the mace from him and starts to investigate her motivations. He quickly realizes that she is manipulated by a group of discredited Indian sorcerers who want to take revenge for having been used and abused by Tang Dynasty officials. Di Renjie has to rely on his colleagues, a renegade criminal and a Buddhist monk to save the empire.

The movie convinces with a steady pace and introduces the main plot right from the first scene. The film keeps this pace from start to finish and remains highly entertaining despite a running time over two hours. The most important characters are introduced quickly and coherently. The settings in old Tang Dynasty look incredible even though they appear to be a little bit too extravagant, polished and shiny. The visual special effects are astonishing and show a fascinating world between fantasy and history. The martial arts sequences are creative, dynamic and inspiring. The intrigues at the court are interesting to follow even though they don't offer anything new to the formula. The film's showdown is quite intense and of epic proportions in the key of something you would expect from The Lord of the Rings and the likes.

On the negative side, the plot is somewhat predictable and lacks the wit, precision and cretaivity of previous installments. The investigative techniques that characterized the first two films of the franchise are certainly lacking in this movie. Still, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is such a colourful, dynamic and imaginative movie that these minor flaws don't drag the film down.

Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings might be a cinematic blockbuster that is lacking depth and precision from time to time but it's the perfect film to escape your everyday life and explore a fascinating world between fantasy and history. You might feel disappointed if you are looking for a profound drama or clever thriller but you will explore a dreamy martial movie and an entertaining fantasy flick for sure. If you take this film for what it is without comapring it too much to the style of the previous two installments, you will get your money's worth while watching this Chinese blockbuster at your local cinema or at home.

Detective who?

[Armin20 · 7/10 · 16 September 2020]

Did not get the detective thing in this movie. The riddles he gave where good. Cause he made them himself. The whole mystic thing is making it hard to see what is what. The carriage... I don't get this. Explain to me how you made 1+1=2. But you are not doing this. So bad writing. I really liked this movie but when the giants showed and it rained eyeballs (what was an awesome scene) I got lost. The bigger they get the more confused I get. This whole cast played there characters excellent and i am sure going to re see this movie. I hope to see more in the future when the assassin slaps the doctor.

Good acting. Bad writing for the plots. Great CGI (but to much) 7 out of 10

Another Step Downward In The Series

[wtftreywait · 5/10 · 9 September 2018]

Where to start? I don't think Hark understands what made the first Detective Dee exceptional. It wasn't the action, it wasn't the fancy special effects, or a cast of hundreds, it was a solid story, mystery, and a likable lead. Action, fancy wire work, and fancy special effects can be found anywhere nowadays.

I found this episode to be very muddled, overly long, overly heavy in 'epic' special effects, and weak on story. Overpopulated too. There must be two dozen main characters. It takes forever to get going too. The plot doesn't even get into gear until a half hour in or so. There's a 'romance' that feels completely tacked on, like it was added as an after thought. And for a Detective Dee movie, there's not all that much Detective Dee in it. Lots of fighting, and not much actual detecting. It feels dumbed down and flashy, like something made for specifically for kids. The first film felt more grounded in reality. Well, as grounded in reality as a film like this can be. And then there's the ending which is just the most annoyingly dumb conclusion to a movie I've seen in a while. If you removed all the overblown special effects maybe it would have had actual impact. A guy we know nothing about, riding a giant white monkey to the rescue just comes off as nonsense. If he had simply WALKED in quietly, no giant monkey, no epic fight of behemoths, simply defeating this evil with his serenity. THAT would have been impressive. Instead we get a monk we've seen twice before, for all of like 3 minutes, swooping in and saving the day. It would have been nice for them to explain who the hell he is in the fist place and how he came about this Buddha like enlightenment.

It seemed like part of the ending was missing too. Maybe the movie was re-cut or re-shot. When they send random-love-interest to the rock garden to collect Buddha-monk, it shows the place wrecked, everything broken, and no Buddha-monk. They never explain why the place was wrecked, or where the monk was. I'm betting there was an attack on the Temple scene that's been cut from the film, probably because of how overly long the film was already, and because it wasn't important for the central story. But leaves me wondering why they didn't bother editing down the first half hour of the film which was mostly filler. That's the real 'mystery' here.

Another enjoyable piece of foreign cinema.

[gavinp9 · 8/10 · 28 July 2018]

'Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings' is the third in this series of Chinese kung fu films, after the original 'Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame' back in 2010 and 'Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon' (2013). The plot follows Dee (Chao) as he leads an ancient FBI and his friendship/rivalry with Yuchi (Feng) and mentorship of Shatuo (Lin), as they try to protect/hide the Dragon Taming Mace, which has powers (like Excalibur).

Despite the four 'heavenly kings' of the title, they barely make an appearance or have an impact on the story. Rather, it's all about sorcery and a clan (the "Wind Warriors") who want to topple the dynasty. The sorcery aspect means there's plenty of special effects, most of it really well done. The dragon and the battle at the end are exceptional. Even the "illusionists", including Water Moon (Ma), are pretty cool.

There's still some mystery and police work for Dee to solve, but it's also merged well with the sorcery and political intrigue with the Empress and Emperor. It's well paced, not too long, with some funny moments and, obviously has excellent stunts and fight-scene choreography that's more than worth the price of admission. It all adds up to a fun ride!

Classy But Lacking

[damianphelps · 6/10 · 24 August 2021]

An Improvement over Phantom but still 20 minutes too long.

A better story, with the best visuals in the series but still lacking something...maybe Jet Li?

afraid to be the Pearl of dust

[yoggwork · 5/10 · 18 February 2019]

Kang Longzhao, who once looked for weaknesses, evolved into a hot knife to cut butter; the villain who once needed to hide behind the scenes, now opens the scene with open fire; the plot that once looked for clues to solve the puzzle, is finally drawn in a straight line without aesthetic feeling. Knowing that the declassified script is not easy to write, but at this rate of degradation, that shocking dozens of concepts, afraid to be the Pearl of dust.

My Review Of "Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings"

[ASouthernHorrorFan · 8/10 · 30 July 2018]

The story is a complex, multi-character excerise in episodic storytelling. Thre is a full-bodied saga that unfolds in "The Four Heavenly Kings" that offers rich, creative characters drawing on layered back story that, although implied for a lot of the characters, very much recognizable and clear. The main cast give stellar performances potraying what has to be as fascinating a mythos as Disney's fairytale collection.

The special effects are extravagant, over-the-top displays that show a strong desire to "one up" Hollywood, and to a degree Bollywood" , producing a true to score blockbuster experience. I have to say that Tsui pulls it off marvelously. Obviously money wasn't a concern. Think ABC's 'Once Upon A Time' meets -well- Hong Kong! Overall "Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings" is a beautifully filmed fantasy tale of mythical mastery.

My Last FantAsia Film This Year, Quite Fittingly So

[alisonc-1 · 9/10 · 3 August 2018]

Detective Dee (Mark Chao) heads the Bureau of Investigation in Tang Dynasty China; as a result of his protection of the kingdom earlier (in "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame," 2010) the Emperor entrusts to him the Dragon Taming Mace, a weapon so powerful that it will serve to save the nation if needed. Unfortunately, the Empress (Carina Lau) doesn't trust Dee and, really, wants to assume complete power for herself, so she instructs one of the royal guard, Yuchi (Feng Shaofeng), to steal the Mace from Dee, knowing that Yuchi and Dee are long-time close friends and relying upon that friendship to turn to betrayal. Meanwhile, there are a number of clans of wizards who use illusion and sometimes magic to further their own ends, in particular to overthrow the Tang Dynasty....The above description only covers the relatively "normal" part of the story; throw in a bunch of seriously ugly monsters, a heavy dose of wuxia martial arts (fighters climbing the air as if it was a staircase, etc.), an extremely serene Buddhist, a totally unhinged Empress and, well, a love story between a doctor and an assassin, plus tons of sword fights and action all over the place, and you have the latest Detective Dee tale. By the way, the Four Heavenly Kings of the title feature in exactly one scene as statues, some of which are destroyed in the scene, and are never mentioned again. Go figure. I liked it all, a fitting end for 2018's Montreal FantAsia Film Festival for me!

Part 3 aus good as Part 1 and 2

[BeGerman · 8/10 · 21 October 2018]

Beside Chinese Ghost Stories and Wu Ji - originally chines version - the Detective Dee Trilogie are my favourite Chinese fantasy movies. Maybe some people have a problem if the Asian story telling - not always the classic western act driven - or with the stayle of acting and homie, but that is exactly the charming side of that movies. They a well done craft work and released with a wonderful style of love to the story. A fresh experience "out side of the box". I can't wait to see part 4 whenever they will make a bother one. OhI forgot, you can see also again that are good actresses and actors, storyteller and director, movie artist behind and in front of the camera. are exaist without an English native language.

Masterpiece

[dasa108 · 10/10 · 7 December 2020]

This movie is dazzling. Tsui Hark is a great action film director, having been known in the West directing some of Jean Claude Van Damme's best films. Here we see an extraordinary film, visually portentous and with a fantastic story full of references to the spiritual culture of India. We see cinematic versions of Matsya, Garuda, and Indra, and invocations based on dark passages of scrolls with Vedic mantras. The story is complex, the protagonist's abilities leave Hercules Poirot and Sherlock Holmes at the height of chest children, the physical feats of wrestlers defy any universal law. It is a great show, which allows us to celebrate the essence of cinema: marvel and entertain. Masterpiece.

The power of Buddha compels you

[phanthinga · 10/10 · 6 September 2018]

Detective Dee series is one of those so bad it good series like Underworld and Resident Evil cause the more you watch,the less you you know about the plot or the characters and it beautiful.Nothing,I mean nothing in this movie make any sense cause the world these characters live in don't be bound by any sort of logical explanation and if you watch Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings the third entry in the series now I think you already know how the things work and roll with it long time ago.To summarize this movie to anyone that never watch the previous movie I say The Four Heavenly Kings is like Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes have a baby with the wu xia genre and that baby got a big bump on the head by falling down the bed while the parent sleep and let the baby stay the same until morning that is what this movie and the series all about.