Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Monkey King 2
#1
Most loyal adaptation of the tale so far. Quite the spectacle in 3D. Probably not as good on the small screen.

Kwok wasn't working as Wukong for me until about halfway through. Like the old Batman, it's all about the villains. Gong Li steals the show as the white bone demon. Fant-Asia is all about demonesses. They understand the sexiness of the succubus.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
Reply
#2
For DOOMneflixers, this is now available. I was curt with this review before. Of all the Monkey King flix that have come out recently, this is the best one. It captures the essence of the characters, their quartet group dynamics and the underlying metaphor of the journey best. The cgi is good for a China film - some poached effects like dementor-soul-face-sucking and iron-man-armor-donning, but also some fresh visuals like the white boned demon's flowing gown and Guanyin's sea & sky.

DOOM recommended. I'm curious how it plays to someone who doesn't know journey to the west. Warning - ends in a cliffhanger. It reminds me a little of today's comic book flix in its scope - Greg asked about the difference between wuxia and comic books and that's totally fair. But JttW is more than a comic book, more than a wuxia. It's a 16th century epic and one of the four great classics of Chinese literature. 

I must make Tara watch this with me because I read JttW to her when she was young. Hopefully Netflix still has it when she's graduated.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
Reply
#3
I did watch this again with Tara.  Not sure when we did that exactly - maybe it was Thanksgiving, maybe this last xmas/nye break.  I'm thinking it was Tday because she recently said she wanted me to show her some more classic Kung Fu movies so we watched 36 Chambers about a month ago (she was very amused).  

As I think I've mentioned here before, I read the whole JttW to her as a series of bedtime stories over the course of several months, so there's this father/daughter Chinese culture connection we have with it.  She luved this version as much as I did and agreed that it captures the dysfunctional dynamics of the quartet best of all.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)