The
power of Dunjia, whatever that is, trumps “The Force” every time. That is why
the secret Wuyinmen clan needs it. Like a cross between the Men in Black and
The Four, the Wuyinmen have sworn to defend their wuxia world from evil alien
monsters, but their strength has been depleted. Ironically, they might get a mojo
infusion from an unlikely source when signs indicate a shapeshifting monster is
destined to be their new leader in Yuen Woo-ping’s The Thousand Faces of Dunjia (trailer here), written and
produced by Tsui Hark, which opens this Friday in New York.
Rookie
constable Dao Yichang is honest, but not very bright. That is two strikes
against him, but he keeps plugging away. Several times, he stumbles across Iron
Dragonfly of the Wuyinmen Clan as she pursues monsters in human guise, but she
gives him the MIB forgetfulness
treatment before he can ask too many questions. Still, she kinds of likes the
lug, so when he is seriously injured in an unearthly melee, she tends to his
decapitated limbs (don’t worry, they’ll grow back eventually).
Thus
far, Xiao Yuan has yet to bring out similarly nurturing instincts in her. Due
to prophesy mumbo jumbo, the clan’s “big brother” and her ambiguously Tracy-and-Hepburn-esque
comrade Zhuge Qingyun are convinced she is destined to be the next Wuyinmen
leader, but Iron Dragonfly is skeptical. Regardless, they need to find a way to
tap into the power of Dunjia to defeat the underworld demigods and space
monsters conspiring against the human world.
In
some ways, Thousand Faces could be
considered the ultimate Tsui Hark film, because he gives absolute free reign to
his cosmic flights of fantasy. It makes his Journey
to the West franchise look gritty and grounded. Consider the climatic “hand
of Buddha” scene from Conquering the Demons as its starting baseline. If you can explain just what Dunjia is, you’re
way ahead of the game. Near as we can tell, it combines elements of yin &
yang, Qi, the Force, and a double espresso.
Regardless,
there is plenty of fighting to be done, often against Earth-shattering foes.
Fortunately, that plays to the strengths of Yuen, the fight choreographer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Matrix trilogy, as well as the director
of Netflix’s Crouching Tiger sequel. He
has a talent for coordinating gravity-defying moves and colossal set pieces,
even if they don’t always make a lot of sense, strictly speaking.
Aarif
Lee probably gives his most assured performance yet as the resilient Constable
Dao. Wu Bai is massively steely and cool looking as the interim Wuyinmen boss,
while Zhou Dongyu is ridiculously sweet and vulnerable as Xiao Yuan in human
form. However, Ni Ni totally owns the film as the heroic but acid-tongued Iron
Dragonfly. Few wuxia protagonists can match her cutting attitude.