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Tian jiang xiong shi (2015)
Awful story, poor acting, and major plot holes
I was excited to see this flick with such a solid cast and interesting story. This movie was terrible.
The story is poorly written and the dialogue is laughably bad. For the first half of the movie I had no idea what was going on, who was fighting or why, or how the Romans spoke American English! Within the first 15 minutes there are two drawn out fight sequences that make little to no sense and this is followed by a lot of fast cuts, bad dialogue, and things strung together so poorly I was like, "What the hell is going on?" And it never gets better. One reviewer said there is no shaky cam in the movie-- there is. Jackie acts like he always does to the point you know what's going to happen before it does. The humor falls flat and the acting is so poor form such talented actors that I got the feeling they were in this for the money.
Do not see this movie. If you want to see some good Chinese action there are much better options than this thing from everyone involved. I tried to enjoy it, but couldn't even make it through the film--I ended up stopping it about midway through.
Awful.
Xi you: Xiang mo pian (2013)
Worst Stephen Chow Movie Ever
Warning: Spoilers This movie is a disaster with its horribly random script, flat characters, terrible CGI, and an unbelievable romance.
So let's talk SCRIPT. This should be easy, because there isn't one. The story follows the exploits of a young demon hunter as he hunts down three demons: water and pig demon, and the Monkey King. There is no set up to each encounter as the title character Xuan Zang tends to show up out of the blue, do battle, fail, and get saved by a better demon hunter Miss Duan. That's how each fight transpires from start to finish over the course of a 2 hour movie. We never really learn much about the title characters or a handful of minor characters who randomly appear and disappear. The whole movie and the threat of these demons is just glossed over for special effect and battle pieces that get rather boring by the end of the film.
Xuan Zang is the lead—a demon hunter who believes in reforming demons rather than killing them, but we never learn why. There are no flashbacks or character development to lead us to understand why he thinks so differently about the monsters. He's a typical Chow innocent, almost exactly like Chow's character in a dozen of his previous movies. He is horrible at what he does until the end when he finally rises to the occasion.
Second central character is Miss Duan (the love interest). She appears to help him out against the water demon and then appears out of nowhere when he tries to fight the pig demon. All we know about her is that she isn't an innocent as she kills whoever steps in her path and doesn't know how to flirt or express herself without using her fist. She travels the world with her sister and a couple hired goons that we only see once in a prolonged sequence in the middle of the movie. Like everyone else in this movie we never learn enough about them to care.
I understand this is a comedy/action/fantasy movie, but enough character background and development has to be done for us to root for them and sadly, there wasn't. When people start to die at the end—you don't care.
The CGI is laughably bad. I'll be honest, during the sequence with the water demon (by far the best part of the whole film) the effects looked great. The water demon looked fantastic, but the pig, the green screen sets, and the over-the-top ending are just so cartoon and obviously fake that it takes away from the film.
One of the biggest problems for the film is the forced romance between the central characters. There is no chemistry between them. Miss Duan follows Xuan Zang to each of his encounter with the demons to ensure his safety and when the battle is over tries to get him to confess he loves her, which is something he never does until the ending. She gets rejected, if I remember correctly, 3 or 4 times before (SPOILER WARNING) he finally admits to loving her for 10,000 years as she dies! This romance had about as much heat and passion in it as Twilight. I couldn't believe how flat and forced it was with no payoff.
But there are more crimes against this movie which just annoyed me to no end—blatant stealing of items from other Stephen Chow movies. Now part of me believes that Stephen Chow didn't direct this whole movie—in fact, you can see that there are two directors.
The Water Demon sequence is about 15 to 20 minutes long and is on a beautifully constructed set—similar to the one found in Kung Fu Hustle. The humor here is excellent, the camera shots, the tension, the drama, everything works perfectly. I was thrilled to be watching one of my favorite Chinese directors hit his mark and exceed. However, after that sequence and a short encounter with Xuan Zang's teacher, Buddha in earthly form, the film falls apart and the ripping off begins. Here are some examples: 1.) The Nursery Rhyme Book: in this film, Xuan Zang uses a book of nursery rhymes in an attempt to bring out the goodness in the demons. Other demon hunters laugh at him and mock him from using it, which later turns out to be a very powerful weapon against the Monkey King. In Kung Fu Hustle it's the same thing—main character buys a book of Kung Fu from a guy, everyone thinks it's a joke, but later on he realizes how to use and becomes a great Kung Fu master.
2.) The score from this movie comes from Kung Fu Hustle.
3.) Prince Important uses magic swords to fight in the exact same way as the blind music killers from Kung Fu Hustle.
4.) (SPOILERS) Buddha kills the Monkey King with the Palm Stephen Chow's character in Kung Fu Hustle used to defeat the villain.
All these factors lead me to believe that Stephen Chow directed the first part and was basically helping with the film rather than directing. If I am wrong, then it's a sad day when you see such comedic genius fall so far from grace. If you want to see a hilarious Stephen Chow movie about the Journey to the West see his old movies instead.
The last thing I will mention is the ending
oh man, what a joke! (SPOILERS) In the end, the three demons join our main character as he travels to the west to spread the word of Buddha—but why would you want to see the continued adventures of a demon who ate a little girl, a demon that had a hotel used to lure travelers so he could eat them, or a Monkey King who ripped a guy's throat out and killed the main characters love?