The Detective is a film helmed by one half of the Pang brothers who made their directorial debut with Bangkok Dangerous (1999), a Thai crime movie which centred on a deaf hit man, then went on to really make a name for themselves with The Eye (2002), a supernatural horror whose infamous elevator scene nearly caused this reviewer to suffer heart failure. Earlier this year, Oxide and Danny Pang’s first Hollywood work, The Messengers, was released internationally without much success. Now back in Asia, the Hong Kong-born twins who moved to Thailand in the early 1990s are going solo for the duration; with Oxide making use of familiar Hong Kong faces for the most part in his latest movie but setting it in Bangkok’s Chinatown rather than the Fragrant Harbour.

Regardless of its geography, The Detective’s story reads like a fairly standard crime drama: one day, a not particularly successful private investigator named Tam (Aaron Kwok) is paid a visit in his less than impressive office by a man he knows as Lung (Shing Fui On – known to local cinemagoers as Dai Sor (Big Sillyhead)!) who says a woman named Sum is stalking him. Full of fear that she is out to get him killed, Lung wants Tam to find Sum and tell her to leave him alone.

Suspecting that Lung is drunk and doesn’t really know what he’s doing, Tam is all ready to turn down the assignment until Lung drops a sizable wad of cash on his desk. In addition, the detective’s curiosity is piqued by Lung’s reaction when Tam turns a camera on him. Consequently, initially equipped with not much more than a photograph of Sum, Tam goes off to track the woman down.

After asking around a Bangkok surprisingly full of Cantonese speakers, Tam learns that Sum lives in an apartment close to a grocery store (and mahjong game) run by Uncle Cheung (Lau Siu Ming). But she’s not there nor does she return over many days.

Something else Tam finds is that the longer he proceeds with his investigation, the less predictable and stranger things become. On a parallel note, the further one goes into the film, the less it plays as a straight crime drama. And it’s not just because of bits of thrilling action – including a car chase considerably enlivened by the reaction of Tam’s police friend Chak (Liu Kai Chi) to his driving and collateral damage involving a real-life elephant – and suspenseful moments thrown into the bargain either.

Rather, it’s that Oxide Pang seems intent on providing The Detective’s viewers with aural cues and visual reminders every once in a while that his biggest directorial success thus far has been in the horror genre. Also, veteran actor Liu’s sardonic ways and line delivery – “You are like the God of Death!” – ensures that quite a bit of black humour is also found in the film. Still, for sheer amusement, it’s hard to beat a scene in which Tam is closely confronted by a sexily forward female beautifully essayed by Jo Koo!

Funny as it may be, the scene is actually tangential to the main story. Instead, its existence provides evidence that The Detective is one of those works whose makers appear very happy to serve up quite a bit more than the cinematic equivalent of bread and butter. Indeed, to push the culinary metaphor still further, they don’t just want to serve jam with your bread but throw in tasty iced cake as well.
And in view of that, this offering’s audiences should come away feeling well pleased and satiated.

Yvonne Teh