The Monkey King 2
Soi Cheang
The cast: Aaron Kwok, Gong Li, Feng Shaofeng, Kris Phillips (aka Fei Xiang)
The story: In this sequel to the 2014 hit, the well-known Journey To The West finally gets under way. Released by Tang Sanzang (Feng) from imprisonment, the monkey king Sun Wukong (Kwok) is tasked to escort the monk on his pilgrimage to collect scriptures. Along the way, Sun has to protect his master from the soul-sucking White Bone Demon (Gong) even as she pits teacher against disciple with her cunning manoeuvres.
The appeal: This is an improvement of leaps and bounds over the first instalment.
In just two years, the CGI is no longer risible, but has advanced to the point where the depictions of a ferocious tiger, a horse-eating dragon and the White Bone Demon as a billowing surge of smoke are remarkably realistic.
Kwok, who played the Bull Demon King in the first outing, takes over from Donnie Yen and is persuasive as the proud simian deity, while Gong is resplendent as the silky villain.
(ST)