Mojin: The Worm Valley

Nothing challenges a viewer’s impulse to impose narrative continuity like the three films and three television series based on the bestselling Chinese novel franchise, Ghost Blows Out the Light. The first two films, Mojin: The Lost Legend and Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe were produced by different companies and featured completely different casts. The third film has been positioned as a sequel to Lost Legend, but makes slightly more sense as a prequel (only slightly). It is hard to see how the films could possibly fit together, considering the central relationships vary from film to film. Maybe it all makes sense if you include the TV series (two of the three feature the same cast and creatives). To further confuse fans, there is yet another entirely new cast portraying the popular characters in Fei Xing’s Mojin: The Worm Valley (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Eons ago, a despotic queen cursed her unruly subjects and all their descendants with a brand on the back shoulder and an early death. Alas, the curse persists to this day, including for several of the adventurers associated with tomb “borrowers” Hu Bayi and Shirley Yang. The have an expedition planned deep into the heart of Worm Valley to recover an artifact that might lift the curse. Or something like that.

Technically, there are no worms in Worm Valley, but there are giant crabs, scorpions, snakes (close enough), and lizards. If you really want to be pedantic, there are not any ghosts either. Logic is also pretty scarce in these parts as well, but it works pretty well as an At the Earth’s Core-Skull Island-style monster movie. The assorted creature effects mostly maintain the right balance of believability and cheesiness (fans will understand what that means).

Lost Legend was a box office smash in the Chinese-language markets, so it is hard to fathom why Worm Valley brought in an entirely new cast, but the less recognizable names were surely more affordable. Gu Xuan has the difficult task of subbing in for Shu Qi, but she is still the best thing going for the film, making a much more convincing Shirley Yang than Alicia Vikander did as a Lara Croft. Cai Heng is an energy-sapping Gloomy Gus as Hu, but Cheng Taishen adds some maturity and seasoning as Sun Jiaoshou, the academic scholar on the expedition. Yet, it is Chen Yusi who lands the film’s big emotional scene as Zhou Linglong, the cursed daughter of Sun’s senior colleague.

Ironically, Worm Valley is probably less confusing if you have not seen any of the previous Ghost Blows Out the Light films (we can’t even speculate about the TV series). Yet, there is logic to Fei’s strategy. Instead of wasting time with dubious retcons, he has giant kaiju monsters chasing Hu and Yang, early and often. There is a good deal of meathead fun throughout Worm Valley, but it will make the hobgoblins of consistency in fans’ heads explode. Recommended for fans of Lost World and Land of the Lost fantasy-adventure, Mojin: The Worm Valley opens this Friday (1/4) in New York, at the AMC Empire.

Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe: The Other Shirley Yang Movie

Imagine if Jennifer Lawrence and Natalie Portman both starred in films about the same bestselling action hero that released in theaters one or two months apart. That is exactly what happened in China when both Shu Qi and Yao Chen starred as Shirley Yang in films based on the Ghost Blows Out the Light franchise. In a quirk of subsidiary sales, one group controls the rights to the first four novels and another controls the concluding four. The latter released Mojin: The Lost Legend slightly behind their competitors in China, but it was the first to reach our shores. Now we can go back to the beginning (and get thoroughly confused) with Lu Chuan’s rip-roaring Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe (trailer here), which releases today on DVD from Well Go USA.

Frankly, the two films taken in tandem seem to be contradictory and mutually exclusive, but who knows what genre business might have gone on in subsequent books? Regardless, it is probably best to consider them separately and discretely. As Chronicles opens, Hu Bayi and Yang Ping (as she is originally known) are not yet tomb-raiders by choice, but that is sort of what they are doing anyway as a reluctant soldier and nurse under orders of the PLA. In 1979, some very strange fossils have been discovered in the Mongolian desert, so Yang’s archaeologist father has been assigned to the excavation. Some mysterious force does its best to dissuade the Red Army with a great big explosion, but even that will not be enough of a hint. As volunteers for the investigatory team, Hu and the Yangs follow a freshly revealed passage all the way to the Demon Pagoda. At this point, this get a little hazy.

Five years later, the Yangs are still missing and Hu is still eating his heart out over Ping. He has been transferred to a government research institute, but he is intercepted in-transit by a mysterious librarian, somewhat in the tradition of the TNT series. While sorting and shelving he will bone up on Prof. Yang’s research into the Ghostly Tribe, the remnant of an alien race secretly living among humans. However, when Ping Yang resurfaces (renamed Shirley by the doctors treating her catatonia), Hu rejoins her latest expedition. Unfortunately, he finds she has somewhat changed. Of course, there will not be much time to worry about that when the unearthly monsters attack.

Not unlike the competing Mojin, the best sequences of Ghostly Tribe are probably earlier period adventure rather than the contemporary half. If anything, Ghostly Tribe is even more ambiguous in its portrayal of the great, patriotic PLA. Yao Chen and Mark Chao arguably have better chemistry as Yang and Hu than their Mojin counterparts, but Shu Qi and Chen Kun have greater individual screen presence and action cred. Tribe’s special effects are all first class, but there isn’t the sort of tomb-raiding action you will find in Mojin.

Regardless, Ghostly Tribe is just over-the-top enough to be good clean fun, but not so far gone that is becomes ridiculous. Lu and American screenwriters Bobby and Nick Roth put about every adventure element into a blender and hit puree. It works rather well, thanks to the breakneck pacing and Yao’s impressive range. Recommended for fans of Mojin and Jules Verne-esque romps, Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe is now available on DVD from Well Go USA.

Mojin: the Lost Legend—the Other Blockbuster Franchise

It is currently the #2 film at the global box office, nipping at the heels of The Force Awakens. It is also the second adaptation of the bestselling Chinese Ghost Blows Out the Light series of novels. In a weird distribution of rights, one consortium of film companies optioned the first four novels, and another group of partners bought the latter quartet. This is the one starring Shu Qi as American-born Chinese tomb raider Shirley Yang, which partially explains its brisk business. Yang and her associates will shimmy into crypts and flee hordes of zombies in Wuershan’s Mojin: the Lost Legend (trailer here), which is now playing in New York.

Yang, the Byronic Hu Bayi, and the rubber-faced Wang Kaixuan are trained in Mojin, the art of grave “borrowing.” As per their time honored practice, they carefully light a candle in the corner of each tomb they visit. By blowing it out, the tomb’s ghost makes his displeasure known, forcing the trio to leave accordingly. However, if the candle still burns, then its all good. They are in for an exception to the rule. Things will get bad, but Hu and Wang have seen worse during their first subterranean excursion.

Flashing back to the Cultural Revolution, Hu and Wang are sent to Inner Mongolia as part of their re-education. Both fall in love with the comrade Ding Sitian. She is still adorable, even though she believes the revolutionary slogans far more than they do. Through a strange chain of events, they stumble into an ancient tomb. Of course, the cadres urge them to be “true materialists” and “smash the Four Olds.” Unfortunately, in this case, the Olds are not merely ancient. They are undead.

Hu and Wang carry the scars of their backstory. It is why Hu has never properly put the moves on the super-interested Yang. Similarly, the more impulsive Wang will sign up with a dodgy expedition financed Madame Ying, a Chinese born Japanese industrialist and cult leader in search of the mythical Equinox Flower, hoping he can use it to resurrect the late Ding. Putting aside their Tracy-and-Hepburn-esque differences, Yang and Hu set out to save Wang from his bad judgement. Frankly, they cannot completely blame Wang for the ensuing trouble. The whole deal was brokered by their dodgy agent Grill. At least he will quickly cone to regret it.

Believe it or not, Mojin’s narrative probably makes even less sense on screen, but it hardly matters. Wuershan maintains enough breakneck energy and the all-star cast exudes enough raw charisma to keep the film galloping forward, with or without logic. The special effects are Hollywood tentpole quality and the Inner Mongolian vistas are wildly cinematic. This is a big film, in many respects.

Yet, there were apparently risks involved, starting with its very premise. Tomb-plundering is not exactly politically correct in China these days, which reportedly caused more than a little uncertainty during the development process. The scenes set during Cultural Revolution are also a tad bit gutsy, especially when the Red Guards order the young Hu’s detachment to smash the Kitian artifacts.

Shu Qi is one of the few movie stars working today, who can quietly kneecap viewers with a single look (this has been her specialty for Hou Hsiao Hsien, including the recent The Assassin). It must be noted, Shirley Yang is quite the heroine, since it was Yao Chen filling her boots in Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe, which American audiences have yet to get a good look at.

As Hu, Chen Kun puts his shaggy look and brooding manner to good use, much as he did in Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal. Bo Huang mostly keeps the shtick in check as Wang, but it is fair to say Xia Yu’s Grill lacks his reserve. However, Angelebaby is acutely cute as Ding, while also bringing some tragic depth to their ill-fated romantic interest. Yet, Cherry Ngan shows off some of the best action chops as Madame Ying’s henchperson, Yoko.

At times, Mojin feels like Wolf Totem with zombies in place of the wolves, which is a cool place to be. Some of the broader, more localized humor fails to land, but there is more than enough adventure, supernatural bedlam, and ironic historical references to keep subtitle readers on-board and invested. In fact, viewers will probably be primed for the competing Ghost Blows Out the Light film franchise and Mojin’s inevitable sequels. Recommended for action fans, Mojin: the Lost Legend is now playing in New York, at the AMC Empire.