Hung cheuk wong ji

Hong Kong adaptations of Japanese manga tend to hit differently, The Peacock King is no exception, always moving at a frantic pace. There's plenty of ambition sprinkled throughout the film, be it the incredible set design, insane practical effects or the stunning claymation work, the film certainly earns its keep. The problem that ultimately holds this film back from being an all-time classic of its industry is that unfortunately, the story is so unbelievably messy with the most minor of things derailing the experience, having six credited writers certainly gives you that impression. Regardless of that, director Lam Ngai Kai more than delivers plenty of his signature style even including a sequence where Yuen Biao battles a reanimated dinosaur, yes that happens, it just all feels a bit more on the cheaper side with its budget having been spent on its effects more than anything else. Backed by a great cast, including a sadly underused Gordon Liu, and a decent musical score, The Peacock King manages to keep an enjoyable tone despite the cheapness of the proceedings. I'll get to the sequel at some point.

This is a rather fun little action fantasy film from Hong Kong and Japan, about two monk brothers, Kôngquè (Biao Yuen) and Kujaku (Hiroshi Mikami), separated at birth and later reunited to fight the King of Hell.

The pacing is not really fast, but there are some engaging and entertaining scenes where Kongque and Kujaku try to blend in the modern days in Hong Kong and fight off the evil witch Raga (Siu-Fung Wong) and save their friend, Ashura (Gloria Yip). Ashura is unwittingly the apprentice of Raga and is the daughter of the King of Hell.

There are plenty of mythical elements and magical action, though the special effects were pretty average to me. A nice good vs. evil story line nonetheless, and some decent martial arts action.

Grade B-

A lot of people seem to misunderstand this type of film. It is fantasy, based on a famous Japanese Manga and various Japanese legends. It was very popular in Japan (making a huge star of Gloria Yip in this her first film), average in HK and poorly received in the rest of the world. Glad as I am to see it in such a good print I was surprised HK Legends released this film above others (like Pedicab Driver, still not released). It is not a straight kung fu film and to expect protracted one on one human fight scenes is to miss the point of such a film. Enjoy it for what it is, fantasy with reasonable (for the time) special effects and Yuen Biao as an actor.

Peacock King is about two monks who are on a quest to stop some demon from entering the earth realm, I think. Eh! The story was relatively comprehensible but I was still somewhat perplexed for some unknown reason. Nam Nai Choi is one of my favorite directors ever because of his other films Story Of Ricky, 7th Curse and The Cat so I am going to be lenient with this one. Why i like this one is because of the cinematography in which is Choi's greatest strengths considering he was a cinematographer for Shaw Brothers, the special effects were actually cool as ****, the monsters were creative and the action was fun. And Gloria Yip, too, which I have a desire to put my nuts in her adorable face and butt! The pacing was sluggish but I don't care. Not his best movie but it is wacky fun.

Yuen Biao is a great, underrated martial artist, and personally I prefer to see him fighting against human opponents with his body (which he does ONLY ONCE, after a full hour, in this film) rather than weird stop-motion animated creatures with supernatural fireballs (which he does a lot more often here). The ambitious, large-scale special effects and sets of "The Peacock King" are worth seeing (even if they show their age sometimes, and they're not as good as those of the same director's "Seventh Curse"), and when the Hell King himself appears at the end, he looks pretty impressive. But the story, which has Biao as a sort of adventurer-exorcist-demon hunter who tries to prevent the end of the world with the help of his equally skilled brother, is just incomprehensible claptrap. (**)