Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings (2018)

Director: Tsui Hark

Notable Cast: Mark Chao, Feng Shaofeng, Lin Gengxin, Ethan Juan, Ma Sichun, Carina Lau

Tsui Hark has been hit or miss for me when it comes to the quality of his films as of late. However, I will admit that the ridiculous fun that he has with the Detective Dee films is infectious. The previous two installments, the first featuring Andy Lau and the second featuring a young Dee portrayed by Mark Chao, are problematic when it comes to cohesive narratives and truly satisfying character development, but the strange things that one will see in the films partnered with charismatic performances make them effective popcorn entertainment. For this reason, it was still easy to be excited for the announcement of the third film in the series, a sequel to Young Detective Dee featuring Mark Chao reprising the role of famous detective, called Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings. Fortunately, this third film does not disappoint. Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is pure cinematic energy, balancing the sheer charm of its wink-wink attitude with lofty and outlandish gimmicks. The film, like its predecessors, is infectiously fun. Taking a note from the last film, it starts at an ambitiously high level of silliness and entertainment so that by time it hits the finale it has blown the roof out to deliver some of the strangest and most delightfully batshit insane material that this series may ever see. Like the previous two, The Four Heavenly Kings is a film that is going to have a lot of hate thrown its way for its popcorn approach to fantasy wuxia, but with the right mindset then it’s hard not to fall for the charms of this latest Detective Dee film.

The Thousand Faces of Dunjia (2017)

Director: Yuen Woo Ping

Notable Cast: Da Peng, Ni Ni, Aarif Lee Chi-Ting, Zhou Dong0Yu, Wu Bai, Ada Liu Yan, Xu Ming-Hu, Yang Yi-Wei, Xie Miao, Sun Ming-Ming

In preparation for the release of The Thousand Faces of Dunjia, I went back to rewatch the comedic fantasy martial arts film that it was supposedly a loose remake of, The Miracle Fighters. If anything, it was meant to get my mind into the general tone of the outrageous schemes of the nonsense comedy meets martial arts style and also as a refresher on the plot. Perhaps this wasn’t the best idea because The Thousand Faces of Dunjia, outside of being directed by the iconic Yuen Woo Ping and being sold as a loose remake of The Miracle Fighters, is far more in line with modern Tsui Hark films than Yuen Woo Ping films. This should be obvious since Tsui Hark wrote and co-produced this film, but even then, it came as a bit of a surprise as the film focuses almost fully on the fantasy spectacle of its story rather than the martial arts elements like other fantastical Yuen Woo Ping films like True Legend. The Thousand Faces of Dunjia is a spectacle driven fantasy opera, brimming with charm and powered by sparkling chemistry between its characters. It’s also a film that uses these elements as a crutch for its sporadic script and uneven narrative. Also, as far as I can decipher, it has nothing to do with The Miracle Fighters. So take those initial comparisons out of your mind.  

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013) and Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back (2017)

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.

Sword Master (2016)

Director: Derek Yee

Notable Cast: Kenny Lin, Peter Ho, Yiyan Jiang, Mengjie Jiang

There are a lot of emotions that I had before I even started to watch Sword Master that I had to take into consideration to give this film context. Sword Master is a remake of the overlooked and underappreciated Shaw Brothers wuxia classic Death Duel, a film that easily makes my list for best films from the iconic studio, and it also marks the first collaboration between two powerhouses of Chinese cinema: director Derek Yee and producer Tsui Hark. Even before this film was released, the combination of these facts made this film an emotional roller coaster for me. Derek Yee knows the original material, he was the lead actor in Death Duel, but Tsui Hark has been notorious for over producing films into a sort of CGI nightmare that has undermined plenty of fun films (including the Detective Dee films and the horrendous misfire Flying Swords of Dragon Gate). So even sifting through the context of expectations for Sword Master was a complicated matter, but I kept my hopes up thinking it could end up being the next great wuxia film.

Bodyguard, The (2016)

Director: Sammo Hung

Notable Cast: Sammo Hung, Jacqueline Chan, Li Qinqin, Andy Lau, Feng Jiayi, James Lee Guy, Tomer Oz, Hu Jun, Feng Shaofeng, Song Jia, Tsui Hark, Karl Maka, Dean Shek, Yuen Biao, Yuen Qiu, Yuen Wah, Eddie Peng

Sammo Hung’s career has always been much more diverse than many of his fans give him credit for. Even within the realms of his action films or comedies, Sammo has pushed boundaries and experimented with new techniques and genre shifting that has made his stuff feel fresh – if not occasionally hit or miss. I mention this in reference to the initial backlash of critique for his latest film The Bodyguard (known as My Beloved Bodyguard outside of the US) and how it wasn’t action oriented enough. Yes, Sammo’s first directorial effort since 1997 proves to be an uneven affair as it blends a variety of genres and he tries his hand at some modern techniques, but this was something that I was expecting going in and thusly, it didn’t irritate me the way that it did for so many. When The Bodyguard hits its stride, it’s something to behold. It’s just that it still has a very uneven narrative due to the genre blending and flow that it doesn’t always keep its momentum.