MovieChat Forums > Xi you: Xiang mo pian (2013) Discussion > Falls flat on its face in third act,from...

Falls flat on its face in third act,from a solid 7/10to4/10 in 30minutes

posted 9 years ago by sebaser
12 replies | jump to latest

Crazy how funny and interesting movie can just plain up trip over and smash its face open on a rock on a straight road to good cinema.
Cant remember last time i saw such a godawful later part of a decent movie.
First half it was pretty funny, with bizarre visuals and a storm of themes and emotions, and then we get to monkey king. The movie slows down to a crawl and turns into an action scene after an action scene that literally go nowhere and dont even involve the protagonist. And the dramatic ending would work ... if we didn just watch 15 minutes of pointless fights by random people. All that time could have been spend to further develop the relationship between Duan and Xuan Zang and show us more of their adventures and her wacky team.
Hell, if you literally cut out everything involving the moneky king, that boar, the ending, and just skip to the final scene between them the movie would have been twice as good. Im not even sure who is to blame for this train wreck of an ending, the script writer, the director ? The producers ? The whole movie crew ?

As of now, meh 4/10 for good first half and godawful second half

[–] ishyfishy07 9 years ago

What dropped the rating for me was the fact that the 3rd quarter of the film was basically a copy and paste from Stephen's Kung Fu Hustle. The music, the three fighters and then the finishing buddha palm thrust x100000 other than that the comedy was pretty Stephen-like which I find enjoyble.

[–] sebaser 9 years ago

Oh yeah, the phantom knifes did feel a bit out of hung fu husstle, i also got a deja vu there. These 3 fights were absolutely pointless.
The feet one also reminded me of one piece and the budda one is straight copy paste out of asura wrath.

[–] Tomthespacetraveler 7 years ago

Yeah, that part with the giant buddha was almost a shot-by-shot copy of Asura's Wrath, absolutely no way is that a coincidence. I thought that was pretty strange.

edit: OK, I just watched both scenes again and I guess they aren't really exactly the same. The only identical shots are the ones showing him balling up his fists and planting his feet, and the shot quickly zooming out just before he's crushed. Also, the shot of the gorilla looking up at the hand coming down is very similar to a promotional artwork for Asura's Wrath.

"This isn't TV, it's real life. Can't you tell the difference?"
"Sure - I just like TV better."

[–] fatrb38 9 years ago

I'm glad I'm not the only one disappointed in the last act. I'm really disappointed with this movie after having seen and loved Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. Buddha's Palm... again?! I like the quirkiness but even the CGI looked very dated whereas in his previous movies it was done really well.

And the "love" story was one of the worst I can think of. As if he were forced to add in a romantic element. He's always loved her? He's shown nothing but disinterest up until the point where he gets jealous of the old man (Monkey Demon).

First 2/3 would get maybe 7 / 10 but that last act was downright terrible. I hope this is not how his future movies will be.

_
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[–] sara-34 8 years ago

I had a different take on the relationship between the main character and Duan. He was trying very hard to be a good Buddhist, and he believed that romantic love was based on lust and "less than" platonic or universal love. If you watch the way he looks at her, he is impressed by her skill and seems to care about her. He fought those feelings because he thought they would get in the way of his path to Buddhahood. The monkey talked about Duan having a great body, and the main character said he literally didn't see her body. His feelings weren't affected by lust, they were genuine affection. That's why, after he admits that he loves her, he attains enlightenment. He realizes there is no "greater" or "lesser" love - only love.

In any case, I agree that the way it played out, especially in the middle where she kidnaps him, is really very far from from romantic, loving, or even really entertaining.

[–] pdemonte987 9 years ago

That's exactly what I thought OP.

I was thinking.. hey, this is pretty funny!

By the end, it lost a ton of its charm...

And just before checking out the forums, I scored it 4/10.

[–] baxterrocky 9 years ago

Not enought ot ruin the fiolm for me as I thought up until the last 20-30 mins it was brilliant.

Very imaginative and really funny too. Had a lot of heart and I enjoyed the female character's (sorry don't know any of their names!) repeated attempts to seduce the main cahracter - especialyl when she set up the whole kidnap/ ambush - cvomplete with blood sprays. AWESOME!!!

Love the bit with the demon who cooked his victims in the pigs too. Many awesome points to this film.

But got a little lost in the final third. Just deteriorated into a mess of 3rd rate CGI. Shame.

Overalll still very very good.

Mr Annnderson.....!

[–] matthyew 9 years ago

It did fall flat more so than many of his other films, but you keep referencing his American release movies, try watching his earlier stuff, the ones that weren't big releases in America etc, Chow has a certain style and a lot more was pulled from his Chinese odyssey movies, especially the music and romance of the movie. I never really felt like it drew from Hustle much at all, but ive seen everything Stephens been in and made so i understand his style when watching one of his films, his earlier stuff was falling over hilarious, original and just good fun. try reaching for more than Kung fu hustle, shaolin soccer and this.

[–] paultagonist 8 years ago

What earlier films of his would you recommend?

[–] matthyew 7 years ago

all of them actually, i found them hilarious from fight back to school to out of the dark and Lawyer, Lawyer. Truly hilarious movies

[–] Spongeyone 7 years ago

His Chinese Odyssey movies of 20 years ago were so much better than this mediocre film

Death to shakeycam directors!

[–] 7 years ago

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