Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back Blu-ray Movie Review

Déjà vu all over again.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 26, 2017

Perhaps due to the wide and arguably insane number of faith traditions I was exposed to as a kid growing up, I’ve always had what I’ve considered to be an above average knowledge of various world religions, and even of certain folkloristic traditions that, while perhaps not traditionally “religious”, still speak of Gods and Demons and tend to traffic in weighty ideas like good versus evil. In what some metaphysicians may ascribe to the universe (or whoever is in charge of it) wanting to keep me from getting too big for my veritable britches (as it were), I was actually kind of surprised when a number of casual viewing or reviewing duties over the past couple of years introduced me to a Chinese tale from the 16th century which I’m sheepishly almost ashamed to admit I had no real familiarity with before I started watching various cinematic adaptations of it, and in fact it actually took me a while to realize that various films I was watching (not always for review purposes, admittedly) were even based on the same source material. This shocking oversight is even more embarrassing when one considers that not only is Journey to the West considered one of the so-called “four great classical novels” of Chinese literature, the source novel has had an almost astounding number of adaptations through the years, which according to some online sources includes almost 30 different film versions. I’ll mention some others later in this review, but my personal experience with this saga of Buddhist monk and a magical monkey king, along with a retinue of other anthropomorphized animals, was with The Forbidden Kingdom, but the first film telling this tale that I had to review was The Monkey King 2. As that 2 in the title might suggest, and as my The Monkey King 2 Blu-ray review actually stated, I was passingly confused throughout the film, though I still rather enjoyed it, especially for its visuals. It actually took me a while to realize that The Forbidden Kingdom and The Monkey King 2 shared at least some plot and character elements, though, again, that 2 in the latter film’s title got me interested in The Monkey King 3D (the link is to a Hong Kong release which I picked up) and the 3D version of the second film, The Monkey King 2 3D (again, a Hong Kong release). Watching the first Monkey King at least filled in a few plot points that had been glossed over in the sequel, but my general assessment of all of these films is that the sometimes overly intricate plot elements don’t ever seriously distract from what are often phantasmagorical production design and CGI. Those elements are also on display in Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, yet another relatively recent cinematic translation of the original source novel. Now comes Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back, which is in its own way as generally confusing if as visually alluring as the other films listed above.

Having already confessed that I’m shockingly lacking in knowledge of the source material from which so many of these cinematic adaptations have sprung, I can only guess that the original does in fact contain some of the plot elements that virtually all of the films I’ve thus far seen share. This second Journey to the West once again offers the monk Tang Sanzang (Kris Wu), who along with his magical monkey cohort Sun Wukong (Lin Gengxin) has a number of mystical encounters, including some that actually pop up in somewhat analogous forms in the two Monkey King films. The general outline of all of the Journey to the West based films (that I’ve thus far seen, anyway) hew pretty closely to an almost Joseph Campbellian quest mythos, with Tang, Sun Wukong and the other group members fighting demons and occasionally even each other, though it’s notable that this particular film tends to focus more squarely on the monk than the monk(ey). There’s also an almost Gulliver's Travels ambience running through this film, not solely limited to an opening sequence which offers Tang as a veritable giant surrounded by a bunch of Indian “Lilliputians”.

As with some of the other films based on Journey to the West, this particular outing is a visual phantasmagoria, while leaving certain narrative elements and especially character development often buried beneath virtual (pun intended) acres of CGI. There are occasional attempts at investing some real emotion into the proceedings, including some star-crossed loves for Monk Tang (both former and current, as it turns out), and the film actually posits Tang and his supposed colleagues as more than willing to go after each other at several key junctures, something that tends to give this particular adaptation perhaps a bit more angst than some other adaptations.

The first Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons was directed by Steven Chow, and while Chow is still on hand here as a producer and writer, Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back is helmed by Tsui Hark. Like a number of other films directed by Tsui, the film is a pretty hefty array of visual wonderment, to the point that deficiencies in other areas may become, if unimportant, at least less relevant to the overall viewing experience enjoyment.

Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. In what is kind of a depressing "tradition" in terms of many of these films based in one way or the other on Journey to the West, this film was released in its native market in 3D, but is only afforded a 2D Blu-ray release for domestic consumption. It's obvious from literally the first (credits) moment that the film was designed to offer consistent visual immersion and depth, something that is obviously missing in this "flat" version. (Once again, a Hong Kong release is evidently offering a 3D Blu-ray.) That perhaps debilitating problem aside, this is by and large a ravishing looking transfer, with such a kaleidoscope of impressive visual effects that even those now jaded by the ubiquitous use of CGI may be at least occasionally gobsmacked. While some of the CGI does have a slightly soft ambience (sometimes by design, as in some near Impressionistic backgrounds), generally speaking this is an excellently sharp and precise looking presentation, one graced by a really sumptuous palette that exploits a huge gamut of tones. Fine detail on elements like monkey fur or spider "fur" is frequently quite impressive, especially in close-ups. A few isolated moments which seem to be completely CGI (i.e., no humans or rendered characters) tend to have an almost cartoonish ambience, and there are some very brief issues with insufficient shadow definition in some dark (and at times heavily graded) moments, but this is another ravishing Journey to the West, one that many videophiles will most likely want to take.

Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Monkey King 2 was one of the first, if not the first, film I reviewed which featured an Atmos track in an Asian language, albeit in Cantonese. By contrast, Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back features a Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which is wonderfully immersive, and frequently bombastic, though it lacks that "certain something extra", especially in terms of pinpoint placement of midair effects, that an Atmos or DTS:X track may have granted. (Interestingly, it appears that the Hong Kong 3D Blu-ray release linked to above does in fact offer a DTS:X track.) What's here is often remarkable, though, with a huge array of sound effects cascading through the side and rear channels in a number of "showdown" sequences. Dialogue is typically well rendered, though very occasionally gets slightly buried in noisier moments that have a lot of competing sound effects. Fidelity is top notch and dynamic range extremely wide on this very enjoyable track.

Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes contains the following brief EPK featurettes, playable either separately or sequentially:

  The Making of The Demons Strike Back (1080p; 3:09)

  The Demons are Back: A Making of Documentary (1080p; 8:57)

  Action Strikes Again (1080p; 2:58)

  Meet the Characters (1080p; 2:55)

  The Director's Perspective (1080p; 4:17)

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 2:38)

Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I made another confession in my recent A Cure for Wellness Blu-ray review, admitting that I'm kind of an easy mark when over the top eye candy is on display in any given film, something that makes me perhaps more willing than some to cut other, less interesting, elements in that film a little slack. That turned out to be the case again with how I responded to Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back. The fact that I've now experienced several films based on the original story made some of the narrative elisions in this film at least a little easier for me to follow than they may be for the "uninitiated", but as alluded to above, I have a strong hunch that even those who don't understand everything that's going on in this film are going to be awestruck by the fascinating visuals. Technical merits are excellent, and with caveats noted, Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back comes Recommended.