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Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame poster

Movies that feel likeDetective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)

When the future empress Wu Zetian's two courtiers die in a mysterious fire, she gets Di Renjie, a former detective and rebel, released from prison to solve the mystery of the fire.

If you loved Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, the closest films we have are The Assassin (2015), The Five Venoms (1978) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). All three share Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame's kinetic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (2014).

🍅 80% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.6 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Tsui Harkkineticepiccontemplativetwisty
7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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If Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame hit the spot, these will too

The Assassin poster
The Assassin
2015 · dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien
🍅 80%★ 6.3action · adventure · historyPrime Video

The same two preoccupations: martial arts, and tang dynasty

The difference: Lighter on stillness

9th century China. Ten year old general’s daughter Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the martial arts, transforming her into an exceptional assassin charged with eliminating cruel and corrupt local governors. One day, having failed in a task, she is sent back by her mistress to the land of her birth, with orders to kill the man to whom she was promised – a cousin who now leads the largest military region in North China. After 13 years of exile, the young woman must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings.

The Five Venoms poster
The Five Venoms
1978 · dir. Chang Cheh
🍅 80%★ 7action · drama · mystery

Common ground: kung fu

The difference: Less epic, more its own thing

A dying master sends his last student to check up on five former pupils, who each know a special style of kung-fu.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows poster
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
2011 · dir. Guy Ritchie
🍅 60%★ 7.4action · adventure · mystery

One thread runs through both: detective

There is a new criminal mastermind at large (Professor Moriarty) and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil and lack of conscience may give him an advantage over the detective.

National Treasure poster
National Treasure
2004 · dir. Jon Turteltaub
🍅 47%★ 6.9adventure · action · mysteryDisney+

Both land momentum and scale at once

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Modern treasure hunters, led by archaeologist Ben Gates, search for a chest of riches rumored to have been stashed away by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin during the Revolutionary War. The chest's whereabouts may lie in secret clues embedded in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, and Gates is in a race to find the gold before his enemies do.

Innocence poster
Innocence
2005 · dir. Lucile Hadžihalilović
🍅 71%★ 6.8drama · mystery

The same mix in both: stillness, then twists

At a peculiar all-girls academy, new arrivals, including Iris, are delivered in coffins. Guided by enigmatic teachers, the students dance through enchanted woods by day, while the night unveils sinister lessons that blur innocence and awakening.

The Legend Is Born: Ip Man poster
The Legend Is Born: Ip Man
2010 · dir. Herman Yau
★ 7drama · action · history

Both are built on the same subject: martial arts

The difference: Played as history first

The remarkable true story of the early life of Ip Man, the formidable kung fu genius who would become Bruce Lee's mentor; beginning at the start of his journey from his initial training through to the ultimate battle to become supreme master of the art of Wing Chun.

Uncharted poster
Uncharted
2022 · dir. Ruben Fleischer
★ 6.3action · adventure · mysteryHulu

Action built on momentum, twice over

A young street-smart, Nathan Drake and his wisecracking partner Victor “Sully” Sullivan embark on a dangerous pursuit of “the greatest treasure never found” while also tracking clues that may lead to Nathan’s long-lost brother.

The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden poster
🍅 83%★ 6.7documentary · mystery · history

Epic mystery in both cases

Darwin meets Hitchcock in this documentary. Directors Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have created a parable about the search for paradise, set in the brutal yet alluring landscape of the Galapagos Islands, which interweaves an unsolved 1930s murder mystery with stories of present day Galapagos pioneers. A gripping tale of idealistic dreams gone awry, featuring voice-over performances by Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, and Gustaf Skarsgard.

Once Upon a Time in China poster
Once Upon a Time in China
1991 · dir. Tsui Hark
🍅 90%★ 7.2action · dramaMax

Tsui Hark working the same nerve twice

In late 19th-century Canton, legendary hero Wong Fei-Hung battles foreign forces' (English, French and American) plundering of China. When Aunt Yee returns from America totally westernised, Wong assumes the role of protector. This proves difficult when his martial arts school and local militia become involved in fierce battles with foreign and local governments. As violence escalates, even Aunt Yee has to question her new western ideals, but is it possible to fight guns with Kung Fu?

The Return poster
The Return
2003 · dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
★ 7.9drama · mystery

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

Two young brothers in contemporary Russia are reunited with a father they know only from an old photograph after his sudden return from a long absence. With their mother’s reluctant consent, they set out on a remote trip that quickly becomes an uneasy test of authority, trust, and masculinity. As the journey moves deeper into the wilderness, the fragile bonds between father and sons are pushed to their limits.

Rojo poster
Rojo
2018 · dir. Benjamín Naishtat
🍅 96%★ 6.3drama · mystery · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: detective

A small town in an Argentinian province, 1975. The life of Claudio, a successful lawyer, gets complicated when he has a stupid quarrel with a stranger in a crowded restaurant.

Winter's Bone poster
Winter's Bone
2010 · dir. Debra Granik
🍅 94%★ 7.1drama · mysteryPrime Video

Adventure with a pulse of twists, in both cases

After discovering her father put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared, 17-year-old Ree Dolly must confront the local criminal underworld and the harsh Ozark wilderness in order to to track down her father and save her family.

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