Big-budget Chinese Fantasy Blockbuster with an all-star cast and an avalanche of CGI…
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon cinematographer Peter Pau returns with his first film as director since the 2002 Michelle Yeoh vehicle The Touch in big budget fantasy Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, co-helmed with Zhao Tianyu (Deadly Delicious). Drawing upon Chinese mythology and the exploits of the titular demon slayer, the China-US coproduction stars Aloys Chen (Painted Skin: The Resurrection) and Li Bingbing (Transformers: Age of Extinction) in the lead roles, and was a major hit at the domestic box office, pulling in over 400 RMB during the competitive Lunar New Year period.
The film is set in a time where the worlds of humans, gods and demons co-exist, the three generally on the verge of conflict and war, a situation which has been worsening thanks to soul stealing raids by the denizens of the fiery hell realm. Striking back, the heavenly Master Zhang (Winston Chao, 1911) tasks the hero Zhong Kui (Aloys Chen) to steal an artefact known as the Dark Crystal, used for keeping harvested souls, putting him up against his former love, the beautiful snow demon Xueqing (Li Bingbing). With a time of convergence between the worlds approaching, when souls can travel between the three or reincarnate, it becomes clear that a sinister and deadly plan is afoot, linked to a dark secret from Zhong Kui’s own past.
There certainly a lot going on in Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, as its long title and collection of six screenwriters would suggest, and the film has some interesting ideas about the three different worlds being kept in balance – not a new concept of course, though here given a few fun twists. While the film’s pacing and narrative are, perhaps unsurprisingly, variable and random in places, this gives it a pleasingly chaotic feel which harks back to the halcyon days of Hong Kong fantasy cinema and the likes of Tsui Hark’s 1983 classic Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain. Though by no means up to the same standard, the film does at least have a plot that compares favourably with some of other recent big budget Chinese fantasies, and manages to hold the attention and drum up a little dramatic tension on the way to its muddled finale.
This is undermined somewhat by the middling romance between Zhong Kui and Snow Girl, which despite the film’s best efforts to reference A Chinese Ghost Story, Green Snake and other genre milestones, lacks any of their emotional engagement. Aside from a general dearth of real chemistry between the otherwise likeable Aloys Chen and Li Bingbing, this is mainly due to the limp and awkward handling of their love story, which plays out mostly through flashbacks rather than any tangible present day indications of their feelings – not helped by the fact that the flashbacks themselves are little more than clichéd montages that really only serve the purpose of showing Aloys Chen without his rather fake and itchy looking beard.
Fortunately, their romance for long stretches of the running time takes a distinct back seat to special effects and fantasy action, arguably the film’s main selling points. On this score, Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal is rather a mixed bag, as while in places the film looks spectacular, with some highly imaginative vistas and locations, showing great use of green screen work and some beautiful cinematography from Peter Pau, the demon character animation is often laughably bad, resembling a video game of the last generation. This becomes apparent from early on, when Zhong Kui is given the power to transform into a ten feet tall demon, which never comes even remotely close to convincing. When Li Bingbing shows her true Snow Girl self the result is much the same, and their scenes together are amusingly bizarre, at times making for a shabby kind of surrealism as they lumber around drunkenly together.
Still, this doesn’t get in the way too much of the eye-melting barrage of fantasy visuals or the effectively staged action scenes, of which there are plenty. Pau and Zhao Tianyu do a very solid job of working in some suitably grand set pieces across the three different worlds, including mass battles, duels, aerial combat and more, and despite the lacklustre effects, the early sequences of Zhong Kui trying out his demon powers are fun and energetic as he leaps from mountain to mountain.
Though unlikely to go down as a classic, Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal is an above average example of the recent run of Chinese blockbuster fantasy films, and should be enjoyed by undemanding genre fans. Making up for its shoddy character animations and sappy romance with some otherwise stunning visuals and an abundance of imagination and action, there’s plenty here to impress, and the film is up to the standard of Painted Skin and others of the type.