The sequel to "Journey to the West" sees a possible collaboration between Stephen Chow and Tsui Hark. (Photo : China Entertainment News)
“Journey to the West: Demons Strike Back” may have won in the box office, but not critics’ nod. On its first day of showing, the Stephen Chow film earned 5.53 million yuan at the box office and got 34 percent of the screen share.
Because the movie is an adaptation from a 16th century novel, the current version failed to leave a pleasant and deep impression among the viewers because it just repeated the classic and stuck to the story, according to complaints of viewers, Global Times reported. But it nevertheless offered a new angle to the classic.
3 Demons & A Monk
The 16th century tale listed the Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy as demons, but the current version portrayed them as good-looking and cute characters. While Xuanzang, the monk, is supposed to be a decent person with deeply rooted Buddhism convictions, but in the 2013 movie “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons,” it was his vulnerable side as a common human being that was shown, and the evil and scare sides of the three disciples.
Other weakness of the film are the number of flashbacks that are reminders the current version is a sequel which could have used a better follow-up approach to link with “Conquering the Demons.” Zuanzang, in the current version, is similar to an idler who cheats, abuses his followers and did not show signs of his devout beliefs.
Excessive Fight Scenes
Having a few villains in the film instead of just one in most adaptations would keep the audience wondering who is the boss. But having a number of villains also translated into frequent scenes of meeting and fighting the demons what made watching the movie a chore since about two-thirds of the film’s 108 minutes are fight scenes.
In an update on the movie’s earning, Variety reported that “Journey to the West: Demons Strike Back” was shown in more than 100,000 screenings on Saturday which broke China’s single-day gross record by earning $50.6 million, plus another $31.4 million on Sunday from 90,000 screenings.
