Journey to the West: Demon Chapter

Saw this movie on a plane and while it was OK to pass the time with, the film as a whole was pretty bad. The humor was poorly done with unfunny jokes and unfunny slapstick stuff. While the action was pretty intense in some parts, particular the fight between the monks' disciples with the White Bone Spirit, it was too heavy on the CGI.

The monk Tang Sanzang was portrayed like a clueless clown and the three disciples, Monkey King, Pigsy and Sandy, acted pretty useless for the most part. There was too much arguing and bickering among one another, particularly between Tang Sanzang and the Monkey King.

It was hard to believe that the great Hark Tsui directed this movie, but not surprised that funnyman Stephen Chao produced. He really should just stick to acting, as I honestly think his talents are better used on stage.

Grade D-

Coincidentally, I just watched L.O.R.D which has many same lead casts with this movie. And I have to say, this movie is as bad as that one. I almost can't believe it is directed by the experienced Tsui Hark.

Almost everything in this sequel is boring and uninteresting, except the songs. The movie is so boring, yet still not suitable for kids due to some scenes. If you have not watched this, better skip this than to waste your time.

Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back is a sequel to 2013's Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, which I really liked. It is directed by Hong Kong veteran, Tsui Hark and written by Stephen Chow, who did not return to direct this one. The movie stars an all-new cast playing characters from the first movie, with the only person returning being Shu Qi. The first movie I thought was a really good Stephen Chow movie without Stephen Chow, and what really worked for me were the characters and their likability and humor. I really liked Wen Zhang and Shu Qi's chemistry with each other, and it made me root for their forbidden love to come to fruition. This movie loses Wen Zhang, being replaced by Kris Wu, and Shu Qi is delegated to a cameo appearance, and man are they big losses, because the actors in this movie did not hold up well at all. Neither did the script though, as frankly I felt this movie is just a mess. Drastic character changes out of the blue, inconsistencies and conveniences to push the plot forward litters throughout.

Unlike the first film where it was more of a prelude to the classical story, Demons Strike Back actually plays out the episodic narrative from the classical novel, with memorable arcs such as the spider demons and white skeleton being rendered in Stephen Chow slapstick style. We actually get to see Tang Monk along with the three disciples he conquered during the first movie journeying to the west this time around. While the plot moves along episodically, the main focus here is the tension between Tang and the Monkey King, as the former still blames the latter for Shu Qi's character's death. This relationship between master and disciple is so poorly written I spent the entire time not really caring for either character, since they themselves do not seem to care judging by the terrible things they do to one another. Tang is having visions of Shu Qi from the first movie, and blames the Monkey King for her death. I am very disappointed to see this is route they went with for the sequel, after all Shu Qi tempted Tang the entire first movie, but he did not once gave in once to her. Now that he is enlightened and is journeying west, all of a sudden he is lusting for her? That just seems very inconsistent. But I guess consistency is the last thing you should expect in these types of movies.

Even though Stephen Chow did not return to direct the movie, his style of humor is still emulated here. However, being a Chow fan since I was a kid, I was sorely disappointed with how unfunny this movie was. Not that they did not try, but the actors just do not have the comedic chops to pull off this type of humor. At times, things got really dumb and silly with a mind control dancing scene which is recycled from the first movie, and a crying grown man trying to pass as funny. Another thing that was off putting was the characterization of Piggy, who was always a pervert, but never the serial rapist as he was in this one. He literally attempts to rape every girl he encounters and it is played for laughs. As someone who has watched enough interpretations of Journey to the West, this was simply not funny and kind of ruined things for me. I did chuckle a few times throughout, and there are a few good gags such as when Sandy got turn back into a giant fish, but overall this was not the clever Stephen Chow film I am accustomed to.

The action in the film was good, but it is typical C-grade special effects-laden Chinese film affair. There was never a moment where I felt danger for any of the characters because the build-up to these action scenes tends to be humorous and lacking of tension. The main highlight for me is definitely the spider demons scene, it is by the far the most exciting action set piece in the movie. The CGI is pretty average, but at least the Chinese and Hong Kong film industries are improving in this department since the disastrous eye sore that was the Donnie Yen Monkey King movie.

Kris Wu, former K-pop star musters all of his charms and good looks and gives out a fine performance as Tang. Lin Gengxin, the Monkey King was intense and likable. The rest of the cast did the best they could, but as I mentioned before, they were simply not funny enough in my opinion. The best thing about the movie was the definitely the collection of attractive Chinese ladies assembled here. Yao Chen, Wang Likun and Lin Yun are all beautiful and charming. I love my female eye candy, and whenever these actresses were on screen, my eyes were glued.

Overall the movie is very pedestrian, but passable popcorn affair. Not horrible by any means, definitely watchable for some colorful action scenes. However, too many misses on jokes and poor plot and character developments cannot save the movie from mediocrity. Even those who love everything Journey to the West or the Monkey King should only check it out if it was free and you have a couple of hours to spare.

This did not do well. The fantasy has been attempted with a different but poor approach. A combination of traditional powers and modern technology is also attempted but that too on the poor side. The good cards established in the first part are skipped and replaced by inferior elements. The Buddha is introduced abruptly without logical consistency. Comedy is also poor. This did not do well. Disappointed.

Taking over for directing duties for this sequel is Tsui Hark, while Stephen Chow wrote & is producing this, 2 legendary film makers collaborating. Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back, Let me just say this, this is slightly not as good as its predecessor in storytelling but very entertaining, nonetheless. I do believe, this was a risk that Stephen Chow took with this sequel but I fairly enjoyed it. I love the visuals, the action sequences filled with astounding CGI (The special effects were far better than I expected, another instance that I thought was amazing Computer-generated imagery was when Sun Wukong gets into his monkey form), this movie's style definitely has Tsui Hark written all over it. In my opinion, I thought this movie lack the cohesiveness the first movie had. But then there's something about this one that I am very fond of. Maybe it's the unique take on it, I've always liked Stephen Chow's inventiveness for his films, his imagination. Overall, I truly enjoyed it, I thought it was an entertaining movie, get a laugh, a fun & action packed journey, with eye-popping CGI, worth watching.