JOURNEY TO THE WEST:
CONQUERING THE DEMONS (2013)
Director: Stephen Chow, Derek Kwok
Notable Cast: Wen
Zhang, Shu Qi, Show Lo Chi-Cheung, Huang Bo, Jiro Lee Sheung-Ching, Chen
Bing-Qiang, Cheng Si-Han, Xing Yu
Stephen Chow made a name for himself with his oddball comedic
talents initially, balancing heartfelt and awkward in even stride as both an
actor and a director. As time has gone on though, he honed his abilities to
craft films that not only delivered on the entertaining elements of his style,
but ones that emotionally resonated well above and beyond the norm. In this
regard, many people feel that the highlight of his career resides in one of his
most well-known films, Kung Fu Hustle,
but after re-watching his epic franchise launch pad, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, it’s hard for me to
call it anything other than the best accumulation of all his talents as a film.
Perhaps not a masterpiece, but very damn close.
Perhaps it’s because Conquering
the Demons feels like a true accumulation of everything he has touched on
in his career. This film will not be defined by one genre, let alone half a
dozen, as it goes about telling a kind of “origin story” based on the classic Journey to the West lore. It features
everything that one would expect from a Chow film: ridiculous and cartoonish
elements, humorous broad characters, nimble performances, and heartfelt
emotional balance, but it also dives into some epic visuals, dark and horrific
moments, and intense fantasy style martial arts. The film navigates all these
things in often shocking and impactful ways, steering around potential plot
holes like a precisely guided sprint while building its characters into the
plot in inspired ways. It even throws in a well developed and weirdly inspired
romantic angle into the entire thing without feeling forced at all, a huge
compliment to Chow as a director and writer that uses his cast to brilliant
effect.
Occasionally the spotty CGI hinders some of the fun of the
film and it’s not afraid to throw things at the audience that feel a tad out of
left field (including some rival demon hunters at the end of the third act and
in the finale that pop up) but the audience is having so much fun with it all
I’m not sure it’s much of a complaint as a slight hiccup in an otherwise perfectly
executed film. Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons not the most
efficient film of his career, but it might be one of the most ambitious and for
that it’s easy to overlook some of its minor flaws. For fans of Chinese fantasy
films, this might be the true cream of the crop.
JOURNEY TO THE WEST:
THE DEMONS STRIKE BACK (2017)
Director: Tsui Hark
Notable Cast: Kris Wu,
Kenny Lin, Chen Yao, Yun Lin, Yiwei Yang, Megke Bateer, Likun Wang, Bai-Er Bao,
Duo Wang, Peng Da
Also known as: Journey
to the West: Demon Chapter, Journey to the West 2
As mentioned above, the first Journey to the West seemingly only gets better with time and it was
the talents of writer/director Stephen Chow that really make it work. The main
problem that Journey to the West 2: The
Demons Strike Back has in matching the original? No Chow in the director’s
chair. Now, it’s not like Tsui Hark is a terrible choice to replace him. He’s
super experience in big budget fantasy films and his following in certain
circles is as devout as Chow has. With Stephen Chow remaining on board as the
writer and a producer, The Demons Strike Back wasn’t going to be instant shit
storm that everyone seemed to think it was going to be. At least, not to me.
Fortunately, it’s not, despite what most mainstream reviews
and fan backlash claims it to be. Disappointing, sure, that was somewhat
expected, but it’s not awful. It helps immensely that Stephen Chow remains on
as a writer and producer and his fingerprints are all over the film including
how it replicates the obvious three act arch in the narrative and its often
random tangents of humorous or horrific tones that seemingly come out of left
field. Our heroes first demonic encounter is a forest house filled with
spider-lady things and it has some very creepy visuals that blend into the
cartoonish nature of the film, as an example. The Demons Strike Back remains charming enough in that manner and
Tsui Hark remains decently true to the style of the original as he goes about
directing this massive film. This sequel, in true sequel form, attempts to be
bigger and bolder in its visuals and action where the second major CGI driven
sequence of the film, one where the snarky and moody Monkey King must battle a
toy demon, is fuckin’ massive in scope. In this way, The Demons Strike Back works as popcorn entertainment powered by
the fun nature of its characters and the sheer absurdity of its plotting and
visuals.
However, the one place where it lags is the fluidity between
tone shifts and the emotional resonance needed for the audience to fully buy
into the fantastical action and comedy on hand. The original film was sly with
its romantic plotting and careful development of our lead hero Monk, but there
is a bit too much at any given time to truly run that emotional and heartfelt
current. The key anchor for the film is the rather fun brotherly bond that is
being developed between Wu Kong the Monkey King and the Monk, but too often the
plot gets in the way of those sequences truly working as well as one would
hope. The perplexing choice to recast all four of the main characters in the
film also feels a bit off putting (particularly since I just watched the first
one right before this) and while both Kris Wu and Kenny Lin are solid in the
roles, they don’t ever seem to gel and retain the same screen presence as their
predecessors in the original.
In the end, yes, Journey
to the West 2: The Demons Strike Back is a flawed film and doesn’t quite
strike that balance and charisma that makes the original one so impressive, but
it’s also not entirely a lost cause. It’s fun, the villains and cartoonish
design are silly and effective balance to our strange hero and his demon
friends, and the combination of Tsui Hark’s direction and Stephen Chow’s
writing is still charming and visually dynamic. Fans of the original should
definitely keep their expectations in check, but The Demons Strike Back is a decent sequel. Even as an uneven movie,
it’s still better than most of the current Monkey King films that are
dominating the Chinese box office.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
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