King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)

2010 film by Tsui Hark

Released
2010
Country
People's Republic of China, Hong Kong
Language
Mandarin
Genre
Martial arts film
Director
Tsui Hark
Screenplay
Chen Kuo-Fu
Producer
Nansun Shi
Music
Peter Kam
Cinematography
Chi-Ying Chan
Starring
Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Li Bingbing, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Deng Chao, Wang Deshun
Running time
122 minutes
Distributor
Netflix
Budget
$13 million
Set in
Tang dynasty

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (Chinese: 狄仁傑之通天帝國) is a 2010 action-adventure gong'an film directed and produced by Tsui Hark. A Chinese-Hong Kong co-production, the film stars Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Li Bingbing, Deng Chao and Tony Leung. Hong Kong movie-star Sammo Hung takes the role as the action director for the film.

The film tells the story of Di Renjie (Andy Lau), one of the most celebrated officials of the Tang dynasty, who is tasked by the Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) to solve a series of inexplicable murders in which victims suddenly burst into flames.

Principal photography for Detective Dee began in May 2009; the film was shot at Hengdian World Studios in Zhejiang, China. Detective Dee was released in China on 29 September 2010 and in Hong Kong on 30 September; in North American, it premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

More films directed by Tsui Hark

External links

Facts from Wikidata Q2412823 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.