The Detective
2007; directed by Oxide Pang

The directing team of Oxide and Danny Pang are best known for their ghost-themed films such as The Eye. So, when they work apart, the brothers tend to gravitate towards creating pictures in different genres. Oxide's 2007 release The Detective eschews the supernatural for the most part, instead concentrating on making a well-crafted mystery, which ends up being well worth checking out if you're a fan of the genre.

The Detective stars Aaron Kwok as Tam, a police academy wash-out who now runs a small-time detective agency. Tam is contacted by an acquaintance, Lung (Shing Fui-On, in his last movie role before his death in 2009) to help him track down a mysterious woman that has been stalking him. Along with the assistance of an exasperated friend on the police force, Chak (Liu Kai-Chi), Tam begins investigating the case and soon discovers a stock market scam and trail of bodies.

Aaron Kwok is one of Hong Kong's most uneven actors, capable of producing both great (or at least good) performances like After This Our Exile, or total rubbish as evidenced by the recent clunker Murderer. Thankfully for the mental well-being of your friendly neighborhood reviewer, Aaron's work here falls toward the better end of his spectrum. Though I don't really agree with Aaron recieving a Hong Kong Film Award nomination for his acting in this instance, he still does a very solid job in creating a well-rounded and likeable character.

Probably most of the credit for Aaron's performance should go to Oxide Pang, who shows a deft touch towards the movie as a whole. Mysteries are a tough genre to pull off, because the audience has to be included in the story-telling, with enough information presented to keep them going, but not so much that the plot becomes obvious. Oxide also strikes a nice balance in making The Detective quirky enough to be visually and aurally interesting while not going overboard into cinematic wankery. The Detective does suffer a bit from over-length, and the final reveal at the end does come off as a bit cheesy, but on the whole, this is a fine movie that will make for a good night's entertainment.

RATING: 7