Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 6, 2011. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
China in the year 690. The Tang dynasty’s empire is experiencing its golden age. Riches and prosperity also attract Europeans to Asia, where they are only too happy to be impressed by the high culture and architecture. In the capital, Luoyang City, a 220-metre-high Buddha statue is being built in honour of Wu Zetian (Carina Lau), who is to become the first woman to ascend the throne of her husband, the late Emperor Tang Gaozong.
But after the mysterious deaths of the minister of police and the construction manager, fear spreads through Luoyang City.
Both had touched mysterious scrolls at the construction site and then gone up in fiercely blazing flames. Detective Dee (Andy Lau) does not believe that a demon is behind it, as foreman Shatuo (Tony Leung Ka Fai) would have him believe. On behalf of the Supreme Court and the power-hungry empress, the smart investigator, together with Jing (Bingbing Li), Wu Zetian’s confidante, sets out on the trail of the killers.
The two uncover a conspiratorial plot of intrigue, greed for power and vindictiveness that is to exact a heavy price from them …
Available on DVD and Blu-ray as a single disc since 29 April 2011.
Further links:
- To the reader survey