Movie star Mark Chao. [Photo provided to China Daily]
特立独行的导演徐克多年来一直以视觉特效大师著称，而在其“狄仁杰”系列的新作中，他回归银幕，向我们呈现了七世纪的中国。
As the third installment of the franchise about the titular sleuth, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings hit Chinese theaters last Friday.
该断案系列的第三部作品《狄仁杰之四大天王》已于上周五登陆中国院线。
Something akin to the Chinese version of Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, the role of Dee has been reprised by Taiwan actor Mark Chao, who faces off unprecedentedly powerful rivals in the new extravaganza.
作为中国版的夏洛克·福尔摩斯或者赫尔克里·波洛，狄仁杰一角再次由台湾演员赵又廷出演，在这部全新巨制中，狄仁杰面对的是前所未有的强大对手。
Picking up from where Rise of the Sea Dragon left off, Tang emperor Li Zhi presents Dee with the dragon-taming mace, a token of supreme supervisory power that gives its owner the power to fend off anyone who covets the throne.
电影承接了上部作品《狄仁杰之神都龙王》的剧情，唐朝皇帝李治赐予狄仁杰象征着最高监督权力的亢龙锏，其所有者将拥有抵御所有觊觎皇位之人的力量。
Regarding the gift as a threat to her ambitions to become the country’s top ruler, the emperor’s wife, Wu Zetian, assigns her top aide and a team of five sorcerers to steal the mace. But what instead unfolds is an even more thrilling conspiracy about an exiled rebel force from India which is plotting to take over the Tang empire. Wu is again played by award-winning actress Carina Lau.
皇帝的妻子武则天将亢龙锏视为阻碍她成为九五之尊的一大威胁，命令其高级侍从以及五位巫师前去盗取亢龙锏。但此举却揭开了一个更为骇人的阴谋：一支来自印度的叛军正密谋夺取大唐帝国。片中的武则天再次由影后刘嘉玲出演。
The major characters are loosely based on real historical figures. Wu was China’s first and only empress who reigned around 1,300 years ago, and Dee was a well-known politician revered by the empress.
电影中的主要角色都与真实的历史人物相去甚远。武则天是中国历史上唯一的女皇帝，约1300年前执政，而狄仁杰则是武则天敬重的闻名天下的大臣。
But being faithful to history has never been a goal for Hark, who is famous for reshaping Chinese martial arts films since the late 1970s through his use of fantasy scenes set in ancient China.
但忠于史实从来都不是徐克的目标。上世纪70年代末，徐克在古代中国的场景中加入了奇幻镜头，自此，他便以重塑中国功夫片著称。
From his directorial debut The Butterfly Murders to Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, the first Chinese Imax 3D movie, up to his recent blockbuster Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back, Hark has established his status as an iconic figure behind the rise of lavish homegrown special-effects-driven films－a sector that Chinese filmmakers have long hoped to shrink the gap with the world’s top movie player, Hollywood.
从导演处女作《蝶变》到中国首部Imax 3D电影《龙门飞甲》，再到近期的大片《西游伏妖篇》，徐克已经成为国产电影奢华特效浪潮中的标杆人物，该领域也是中国电影人多年来希望与全球电影界巨头好莱坞缩小差距的地方。
"As a filmmaker, I always hope to bring something new to the audience," says Hark, during a recent interview.
“作为一名电影工作者，我一直都希望带给观众全新的东西，”徐克在近期的一次采访中表示。
Speaking about his formula to entertain and excite the audience with the 8-year-old Detective Dee franchise, Hark says he has tried to seek inspiration from some yet-to-be-explained mysteries from ancient times.
在谈及自已如何用长达8年的“狄仁杰”系列娱乐并激起观众的兴奋之情时，徐克表示，自己试着从一些远古未解之谜中寻找灵感。
In the movie, the masters of the exiled rebel force have a host of magic tricks at their disposal to create complex illusions, such as making victims believe they are seeing a sculpture of a dragon come alive or being besieged by giant monsters.
影片中，叛军的头领们能够使用大量法术，自如地创造出复杂的幻觉，如让受害者们认为自己看见雕龙俘获，或者被巨型怪兽包围。
"People might wonder what would happen if the monsters from the Godzilla or Jurassic films could coexist with us in our world," Hark says of his inspiration behind the monsters and supernatural creatures in his movie.
“人们或许想知道，如果‘哥斯拉’或者‘侏罗纪’系列中的怪兽与我们共存于这个世界中，会发生些什么事，”徐克在谈及影片中怪兽以及超自然生物背后的灵感时表示。
Aside from the protagonists, the cast also includes Feng Shaofeng starring as empress Wu’s top aide, Lin Gengxin playing a doctor, Ma Sichun as a swordswoman, while the tale’s mysterious hero is a Buddhist monk played by Taiwan actor Ethan Juan－who summons a gargantuan white-haired gorilla to ultimately solve the crisis.
除了主角，演员阵容中还包括了饰演武则天高级侍卫的冯绍峰、饰演大夫的林更新以及饰演女侠的马思纯，而故事中的神秘英雄则是一名僧人（台湾演员阮经天饰），他召唤出了一只巨大的白毛猩猩，最终化解了危机。
