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The Detective [DVD]

Aaron Kwok , Liu Kai Chi , Oxide Pang    Suitable for 15 years and over   DVD
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
Price: £8.30 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Actors: Aaron Kwok, Liu Kai Chi, Sing Fui On, Lau Siu Ming
  • Directors: Oxide Pang
  • Format: PAL
  • Language: Cantonese Chinese
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Terracotta Media
  • DVD Release Date: 11 April 2011
  • Run Time: 109 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00450AFL0
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 88,582 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

Product Description

A stylish and gritty thriller from horror maestro Oxide Pang (The Eye, The Messengers). A private detective named Tam (Asian superstar Aaron Kwok) is drawn into a complex murder mystery when he is hired to track down a missing young woman. As the trail unfolds it appears that it might be a murder case and that supernatural forces may be at hand. It seems also that there is no one that Tam can trust to tell the truth anymore and truth itself is only revealed in the chilling climax to this intricate story. Set in Bangkok with beautiful art-direction and a booming soundtrack and with a great performance from Aaron Kwok Winner of the Film of Merit Award at the Hong Kong Film Festival and with Aaron Kwok nominated for Best Actor.


Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A thoroughly engaging thriller 14 Aug 2011
By Trevor Willsmer HALL OF FAME TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
There hasn't been a good private eye film in ages, and it seems like there hasn't been a good film from the Pang Brothers in even longer, but 2007's The Detective addresses both missing items very satisfyingly indeed. Aaron Kwok is the likeable C+ grade private detective in Thailand who's not overburdened with smarts or cases until a butcher he met in a bar hires him to find a woman who's following him and wants to kill him. Naturally there's more to the case than meets the eye as various people in a charred photograph all start to meet their deaths, either at their own hands or those of a killer, and just as naturally the police, in the form of his childhood friend Liu Kai Chi, think there's no case to pursue. It's a thoroughly engaging thriller that throws in some neat out-of-leftfield surprises involving elephants and refrigerators that it's well worth avoiding the film's spoiler-heavy trailers to preserve, and the quite excellent Kwok and Liu Kai Chi have real screen chemistry together as the kind of friends who seem to tolerate each other as much as they genuinely like each other. With Oxide Pang directing solo (though Thomas Pang co-wrote the screenplay), it benefits greatly from the style being allied to a strong story with good characters and - again if you can avoid the synopsis, which hints at it too heavily - there's a real frisson to the final revelation of just how and why Kwok was led to the victims as well as a bit more emotional weight than you'd expect at the end. It's so good that it's a pity the 2011 sequel, that sees Kwok elevated to a B+ detective, is widely reported to have been a major disappointment that rehashes the original to considerably less effect.

Terracotta's UK PAL DVD offers a good 2.35:1 widescreen transfer, though the limitations of the original's use of natural light in some scenes leads to a few very dark scenes evening daytime, but has a decent extras package - brief making of featurette, premiere footage, trailers, stills gallery and introduction by Oxide Pang.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars hard boiled with a pinch of salt. 18 May 2011
Format:DVD
If you're hoping for a horror in the same vain as The Eye then The Detective C+ is not the movie for you, it is a mixture of action, thriller and suspense with a supernatural element and a few dashes of comedy. Kwok gives a stellar performance as our bumbling, Bangkok detective, relying on luck rather than any skills of deduction to solve his case, hence the C+ of the title which when said in Cantonese, the film's original language has the same meaning as Private Detective, as explained by director Oxide Pang in the intro to this UK exclusive edition of the movie.
As the many layers of the case unfold, the movie reaches its eerie climax and goes some way to explain how the detective's luck may have been down to divine guidance.
This also sets us up for the sequel which sees our detective promoted to B+ status in The Detective 2, I won't go in to that though as it will spoil the plot of the first one.
On a whole, this is a thoroughly entertaining ride and one of the best Pang Brothers movies in a long while, this UK exclusive DVD also has some nice extras and has been re-subtitled so this version will make more sense than the Asian export versions that appear to have been translated in babelfish so the intricate plot will make more sense, if you can keep up with its many twists and turns.
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4.0 out of 5 stars intrigue amongst Bangkok's alleys 12 April 2013
Format:DVD
This is a thoroughly enjoyable film. Aaron Kwok's performance is first rate as a not-so-bumbling private investigator whose determination pulls him through to some unexpected discoveries whilst on the trail of a puzzling murder mystery. Expertly built up suspense leads to some genuinely shocking moments. The dream sequence, for instance, has to be one of the most economical, yet effective one laid to film in some time. I'm also not sure that anyone would be prepared for the discovery during the possible nod to Star Wars. If ever you're in need of a Saturday night film with a bunch of mates, this should be on your list!
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