Johnnie To has managed to carve an independent career out of the densely saturated Hong Kong film industry. Along with frequent collaborator Wai Ka-Fai, they have established one of the industries most successful studios, Milkyway Image, a production company that has sustained a sense of artistic freedom even against the backdrop of the highly commercialised cinema that dominates the same market. His brand of noir-inspired crime films has penetrated even the international circuits, no easy task in the highly (even still) Anglocentric industry. “Blind Detective” sees To once again operating within the genre confines of the crime film, yet this time he brings a splash of comedy and romance to the mix, to create a more mainstream endeavour.
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The story follows Johnston, played by Andy Lau, a former police detective that has become blind. Now unable to work on the force, he solves cold cases for police rewards, but how does he solve cases without his vision? Well, despite the loss of his site, his other senses have been heightened and he is now able to solve crimes by mentally projecting himself into the past scenario. In many ways, his hindrance has allowed him to flourish.
Goldie Ho Ka-tung, played by Sammi Cheng, witnesses Johnson's work and decides to hire him to help her solve a personal case she has been working on for years. While she lacks the same detective skills as Lau's character, she makes up for it with her fighting and marksmanship abilities; the two complete each other in many ways. What unfolds is a twisting mystery that feels part buddy-cop, part rom-com.
The film could almost be called a spiritual successor to one of Johnnie To's earlier works, “Mad Detective”, which was co-directed by Wai Ka-Fai in 2007. That piece saw a similar detective using an almost identical psychic power to solve crimes, yet it lacked the slapstick comedy and overarching romance that “Blind Detective” relies upon. This has a clearly more refined style and larger scale but feels safer in many regards. Its almost like To takes the character from “Mad detective”, makes him blind for comedic reasons, and then places him into a more mainstream-friendly narrative. It works but feels unoriginal as a result.
The performances are fine, both the leads completely lean into the over-the-top melodrama and absurd humour in an expected way. One thing that did stands out was Lau's portrayal of blindness, since you completely believe he cannot see and that helps with the humour a lot. It gives a sense of realism to the more outrageous moments.
Overall, this is a very generic outing for Johnnie To. While the premise of the film sounds outlandish, a blind cop that still solves crimes through almost psychic powers is just too safe in execution. “Blind Detective” is simply a crowd pleaser, it mixes in all the tropes to tick all the boxes, it has romance, humour, action, and just about everything else. You can't help but feel “Mad Detective” did it first though, and you can't help but feel it did it better.
