Sien lui yau wan

After having had a marathon of all 4 Chinese Ghost Stories after each other, I obviously watched this one last. It surprises me that it's from the same director that did all of the Donnie Yen Ip Man films, it also surprises me that he has said that this wasn't a remake of the previous ones but a new take. This is obviously a remake of the first one with some slight changes where the taoist priest is a demon hunter instead and there was also a love story between the Demon Hunter and the Demon before he performed a magic spell that made her forget about him because "Demons and Demon Hunters can't live together". Otherwise there's the same plot points with a Demon falling in love with a clumsy man and is trapped by a Tree Demon controlling her and other Demons to do her deeds.

If you watch the old ones, you can tell the screenplays in those is a bit wobbly, but what they lack in story, they have more of in charm and effects. Sure, this film got some amazing special effects and martial art scenes, The sword fight between the two Demon Hunters was amazing and I would go as far as saying that it's worth watching the film just for that. There's also the beautiful Yifei Liu as the Demon, on the same level as Joey Wang from the previous ones.

But it also feels like when you clean this film up with fine effects and really great choreographed fight scenes, there's some sort of personality that gets lost in it, if I hadn't seen the first 'A Chinese Ghost Story' before this one, I would probably have been more forgiving, but now it just feels like a pale copy of a better film. It would be like remaking an old 80s classic like Robocop... oh, they did. I would have given it an extra star if it tried to make a new story out of it, instead of just taking the previous one, it's really an ok film otherwise.

The Tsui Hark production "A Chinese Ghost Story" is without a doubt a seminal classic of Hong Kong cinema, successfully blending some of its signature elements like over-the-top action, overwrought emotions and a dizzying mix of various genres- in this instance, romance, comedy and horror. It is a tall task then to attempt a reinterpretation of it, but "Ip Man" director Wilson Yip has boldly attempted to go where no Hong Kong director has dared to tread.

It seems however that this reluctance has been for good reason- despite Yip's efforts at mimicking the hallmarks of the earlier film, his 2011 remake is a slapdash product with little actual merit. The ineptness of Yip's version is indeed appalling- especially considering his solid, if not outstanding, work on the two "Ip Man" movies- and in almost every respect proves to be inferior to Ching Siu-Tung's original. That is, except for its end credits- and only because it rehases the late Leslie Cheung's classic theme song.

Right from the beginning, one can sense that there is something amiss with the movie. A hastily-told prologue tries to establish- but fails to do so with any resonance- the doomed romance between demon slayer Yan Chi Xia (Louis Koo) and Nip Siu-Sin, or Xiao Qian (Liu Yifei) as she is more popularly known. Apparently, Cia Xia didn't have the heart to kill Siu-Sin when the time came for him to do so- instead, he erased her memory of their relationship and set her free, thereby also falling out with another demon slayer Thunder (played by Ip Man regular Fan Siu-Wong).

Fans of the original would already suspect the difference between the two, and true enough, the focus of Yip's movie seems to have shifted to the character of Chi Xia- in the process, setting up Leslie Cheung's Ning Cai Chen (played here by the terrible Chinese actor Yu Shaoqun) as a romantic rival instead to Chi Xia for Siu-Sin's affections. Cheung's classic character turns out to be the scholar a water-impoverished town turns to for assistance, and it is to solve their water woes that Cai Chen ventures into the mountains, meets Siu-Sin and lands up at Lan Tze Temple.

As with the original, the trio's common enemy is the Tree Demon, to whom Siu-Sin's spirit is enslaved to and with whom Chi Xia and Cai Chen will eventually battle against in a CG-heavy action-packed finale. The latter has Yip demonstrating the sure hand he had with the action sequences in "Ip Man", and is easily the best thing the movie has going for it. Complementing the fluid martial arts choreography (among the choreographers veteran Ma Yuk-Shing) is the impressive visual effects- done post-production in Korea- which only goes to show that the China film industry can very well handle CG as competently as its Hollywood counterparts.

Unfortunately, the hour before this climactic battle is one tedious slog, no thanks to a dreadful script by Cheung Tan (also equally guilty for the Chen Kaige dud 'The Promise'). Not only is the dialogue god-awful and filled with moments of unintentional humour, there is close to little characterisation- be it Chi Xia, Cai Chen, or Sui-Sin. Yip compensates for Cheung's bad scripting with a somewhat frenetic pace, but that's not enough to distract his audience from its flaws and repetitive scenes. Most importantly, the romantic triangle also fails to take off, and remains stuck in cutesy scenes (what's up with the feeding of sweets) that belong in a teenage fantasy. And because one never quite comes to believe in the star-crossed romance between human and demon, the finale also lacks the poignancy of the original.

Equally uninspired is the acting- or rather, the lack of it- on display. Louis Koo attempts to emote as one half in an ill-fated romance, but doesn't quite succeed. Yifei has the beguiling looks to go with her part, but lacks conviction. But the worst of the lot is Mainland actor Yu Shaoqun, who proves time and time again that he simply cannot act (if you've seen last year's Kung Fu Wing Chun, you'll agree too). His portrayal of the shy soft-spoken and good-hearted romantic lover is simply ingratiating and an utter insult to Leslie Cheung's nuanced performance. Ditto for Louis and Yifei, whose acting can't hold a candle to Wu Ma and Joey Wong's in the original.

There are however exceptions- Kara Hui is gleefully campy as the Tree Demon, while Elvis Tsui, who also starred in the original, offers some welcome comic relief as the chief of the village Cai Chen visits. Yet these are little consolation for a movie that never justifies its existence, paling in every respect to Ching Siu-Tong's classic. And the horror of it all? The filmmakers had the audacity to think that their efforts were worthy enough for them to dedicate this film to the late Leslie Cheung!

A line at the closing credits of this film reads 'In Memory Forever of Leslie Cheung' - acknowledging Cheung's role in the similarly-titled 1987 film as well as its 1990 sequel. Indeed, the 1987 "A Chinese Ghost Story", directed by Ching Siu-Tung in collaboration with producer Tsui Hark, was a landmark movie because its 'crazy' kungfu (and wirefu) effects gimmicks turned it into a cult hit with western (read: international) audiences. Its two sequels (1990 and 1991) were not as popular.

Here, director Wilson Yip claims that it is not a remake but a 'new' love story - and yet many elements of the 1987 film remain.

THE PLOT: Government official Ling Choi Sin (Yu Shao Qun, taking over Leslie Cheung's role) journeys to the parched Black Mountain Village to help its inhabitants find water. As he leads a group of 'volunteers' up the haunted mountain, he encounters a bevy of sexy demons and well as a lovely 'girl' named Siu Sin (Liu Yi-Fei). After wooing her with some candy, he falls for her - and then realizes that he is caught in a deadly triangle: another guy, a demon-hunter named Yan Chek Ha (Louis Koo) is also in love with Siu Sin.

However, before the two men can settle their differences, they have to contend with the evil Tree Demon (Wai Ying-Hung) as well as a one-armed demon hunter (Louis Fan) who is determined to kill all the supernatural beings.

MY REVIEW: The 1987 film has a confusing storyline and even more befuddled action sequences that have become the trademarks of Tsui Hark. Wilson Yip, who gave us the two "Ip Man" films, does not attempt to make the love story (especially the one between Chek Ha and Siu Sin) more plausible - or try to 'rationalise' the action sequences. Indeed, some of the fighting scenes are more comical than magical and the acting appear over-the-top. Liu Yi-Fei (left) fits the bill as the Enchantress of the forest but I wish she can evoke more emotions besides pouting and winking her eyes.

It is a good thing that Pu Song Ling's story has been adapted on the screen many times before, since "The Enchanting Shadow" (directed by Li Han Hsiang) in the early 1960s. That way, the plot is familiar to many in the audience and they need not rely on the flimsy narrative.

It is a remake, of sort. What I mean is that the main framework of the plot remains the same but there are surprises and new love relationships invented (which I won't spoil) for this version. Sounds good, right? Well, it could have been, if the Ip Man's director had actually spent some effort to search for charismatic leads to replace the iconic Leslie Cheung & Joey Wong. But their replacements are god awful, absolutely bland, wooden, and commonplace; in another word, ZERO star quality. The new plot inventions are interesting and could have made this version stand a tiny little bit apart from the original so audience won't negatively compare it with the excellent original; however, the 2 bad leads chosen sink any slim hope it has to achieve that. There are some inventive fight choreography but it is balanced out by the insensible and confusing editing. It's edited like the worst kind of music video, lots of quick cross cutting that results in a big hot mess. It is pretty much a waste of time, money, and effort.

...the charm and delicate love story from the original are gone.

The original CGS from Tsui Hark continues in my top rankings- The pure chemistry between the two lovers is not present here, and everything is played even more comical than in the original.

Joey Wang simply couldn´t be replaced.