The Thousand Faces of Dunjia (Review)
The Thousand Faces of Dunjia
aka 奇門遁甲 aka Qi Men Dun Jia
2017
Written by Tsui Hark
Directed by Yuen Woo-ping
The Thousand Faces of Dunjia isn’t just another martial arts film, it is a wuxia fantasy with science fiction elements, including alien invaders in search of weapons of ultimate power. It’s directed by Yuen Woo Ping,a remake of his 1982 The Miracle Fighters, except it is completely different, more of a remake in concept only. The script is by Tsui Hark, and it stars some great actors like Zhou Dongyu and Da Peng. The film should have worked, which makes the fact that it didn’t even more disappointing.
Ultimately The Thousand Faces of Dunjia falls into the same trap that has ensnared so many other Chinese films, it becomes as soulless as the big budget blockbusters it tries to live up to. In a weird example, the best scene in the entire movie is a mid-credits scene where they basically roast on some of the more ridiculous concepts that happened earlier. It’s the kind of heart and good-natured ribbing the rest of the film should have been filled with. There were some humorous scenes, but mostly slapstick style humor, nothing that is basically on the same level.
Despite the group of heroes being made up of a solid core of actors, the villains are largely CGI creatures. They mind control a few martial arts masters into their bidding, but it is largely just CG villains arguing with each other and vaguely working against the heroes. Basically the entire villain side of the film completely fails, and that sort of sucks. Of the CGI monsters, the initial fish monster is the most fun, largely because they designed it to look like a crazy stop motion creation running around. When the larger villains show up, one is made of a bunch of red tendrils while the other is like a gargoyle. One of the heroes also turns into a CGI character, a blue phoenix that is vaguely symbolic.
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Categories: Movie Reviews Tags: Aarif Lee Chi-Ting, China, Da Peng, Ni Ni, Tsui Hark, Wu Bai, Xing Yu, Yuen Woo Ping, Zhou Dong-Yu
Hustle and Flow – Human Nature and Kung Fu Hustle
Hustle and Flow – Human Nature and Kung Fu Hustle
A review of Kung Fu Hustle aka Gong Fu
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Fig. 1 – Title credit for Kung Fu Hustle
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2004
Directed by Stephen Chow Sing-Chi
Action Directors Yuen Woo-Ping and Sammo Hung Kam-Bo
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Fig. 2 – Axe Gang members dance in a downward triangle representing their subscribing to baser emotions
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Abstract
Gong Fu (hereafter Kung Fu Hustle), is a perfect representation of human nature, complete with characters representing the ego, the super-ego, and the id. The setting and characters are mired in the secret world of Jiang Hu. Characters grow and evolve through the film, throwing off their layers of subterfuge and revealing their true selves.
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Fig. 3 – Pig Sty Alley
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Introduction
As the opening credits of Kung Fu Hustle play, a butterfly flutters through a canyon that is a winding, twisting maze. A pullback reveals the canyon forms the characters of the title of the film, Gong Fu/Kung Fu Hustle. The butterfly’s presence foreshadows the final act, subconsciously readying the viewers for the change they will see. The canyon walls becoming the title let the viewers know that everything we need to see is there, we just have to look in the proper way.
Kung Fu Hustle is a martial arts comedy. At time the action becomes deliberately cartoony and over the top, those instances serving both comedic elements and further exaggerating the underlying role of the nature of humanity. Kung Fu Hustle‘s cartoonishness comes partially from it being among the last of the mo lei tau films, Stephen Chow growing as an artist and expanding his films’ reach to use things beyond sheer ridiculousness to get points across.
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Fig. 4 – Cartoonish violence stylizes Landlord’s cover of having no martial skills
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Characters:
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Fig. 5 – Sing traumatizes children subconsciously repeating his own tragic life-altering childhood
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The Red Wolf (Review)
The Red Wolf
aka Hu meng wei long
1995
Starring
Christy Chung (!!) as Lai
Kenny Ho as Alan
Elaine Lui as Elaine
Directed by Yuen Woo Ping !!
Die Hard on a boat done Hong Kong style. Done better with Under Siege, but at least this film has Yuen Woo Ping directing, one of the best action choreographers to ever live. So the fight scenes are well-choreographed crap. And it’s got some nice eye candy with Christy Chung playing a waitress/pickpocket. That more than makes up for the rest of this mess. Yes, it’s a mess. If you’re gonna go Die Hard on a boat, you gotta have the Segal. The plot is pretty straightforward, terrorists, hijackings, we’ve all seen it a thousand times before.
Categories: Movie Reviews, Ugly Tags: Christy Chung Lai-Tai, Die Hard on a _____, Elaine Lui Siu-Ling, Hong Kong, Kenny Ho Ga-Ging, Ngai Sing, Yuen Woo Ping
