The basic narrative should proceed along the following lines: the iconoclastic, charismatic Dee (Chao) turns up in town, just as a gigantic sea monster assaults the Imperial Navy. He soon puts his sleuthing skills to work in a bid to save Yin (Angelababy), a courtesan who`s been marked for sacrifice to the beast. He spars with and eventually gains the respect of Yuchi Zhenjin (Feng), who heads the local Justice Department and has been tasked by the imperious Empress (a quite wondrously imposing Lau, reprising her role from Phantom Flame) to unravel the mystery of the sea creature.
That`s how the story goes in theory, anyway. In practice, Rise Of The Sea Dragon is earnest but dreadfully messy. The titular sea monster opens the film, but is quickly drowned out by a plethora of distracting sub-plots: gangsters move to kidnap Yin, a creepy reptilian beast tries to abduct her too, insurgents plot to bring ruin to the royal court from within. It`s hard to keep track of or care much about Dee`s purportedly dazzling leaps of deductive reasoning when the narrative isn`t really all that logical to start with.
Chao works hard as Dee, but for all his efforts, he always looks faintly out of place, as if he`s an anachronism displaced from a more modern time. Angelababy`s role is so intensely under-written that she`s not called upon to display even a tenth of the feistiness of her character in Taichi Zero. Feng fares the best of the main cast, bringing a steely but appealing reserve to the devoted Yuchi.
Rise Of The Sea Dragon isn`t a complete bust: the friendly rivalry between Dee and Yuchi is well-developed, and there are some welcome bursts of comedy scattered throughout the film (particularly in the outtakes that play over the credits). The action sequences are tightly-paced and well-choreographed, and most of the special effects look great (although the guy in the reptilian beast suit doesn`t). But, ultimately, those are just the trappings of the film: incidental rather than essential, mitigating rather than doing away with weaknesses of script and plot.
Summary: A mysterious beast better left at the bottom of the ocean.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Shawne Wang