Tsui Hark's 'Young Detective Dee' Premieres in Beijing

One of the year's biggest films, Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, premeired Monday night at Solana, complete with appearances by director Tsui Hark, the man who made Jet Li an international star, and cast members Angelababy, Carina Lau, Mark Chao, and Lin Gengxin.

Detective Dee is the Sherlock Holmes of Chinese literature, a Tang Dynasty investigator known for his almost supernatural analytical skills and memory. Played by Chao, the new film is a prequel to Tsui's 2010 hit Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame, in which Andy Lau played the eponymous protagonist. Carina Lau reprises her role as Empress Wu Zetian. That film was 2010's top Chinese-language film in China and placed second only to Avatar overall.

The film is the first 3-D movie shot entirely in China. Fans of Tsui's earlier work, such as Once Upon a Time in China, will not be disappointed: there is plenty of flying and lots of dramatic Hong Kong-style fighting, with 3-D allowing darts, knives, and poisoned fish fly out at the viewer.

Dee becomes involved in foiling a plot to kill Angelababy, who plays a courtesan selected to serve as an offering to the sea dragon, which has already destroyed the Tang navy. He works simultaneously with and against a court investigator (Feng Shaofeng), who views Dee's powers as suspicious but needs him to help find the would-be killer's of Lau's Wu Zetian.

"Although you'll notice the effects, it's really the hard work of the cast and of the crew that made this film possible," Tsui said after the premiere.

The film opens nationwide and overseas September 28.

Disclosure: The Beijinger's Managing Editor served as Diving Instructor on Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon.

Photos: Steven Schwankert