...but he falls for the beautiful spirit and cannot bring himself to vanquish her...
and, to its credit, this Main- land production (which report- edly cost a gargantuan US$20 million) does add a few new wrinkles to the tale.
Demon hunter Yin Chek-ha (Louis Koo Tin-lok) is ordered to eliminate fox demon Siu-sin (Crystal Liu Yifei), but falls for the beautiful young woman and spares her life; she returns the favor. Deeply conflicted and compelled to retain his credibil- ity as a Taoist, Yin erases Siu-sin’s memory and releases her into the forest. However, this emotional connection to the very thing he was trained to destroy has com- promised Chek-ha’s resolve and he hesitates when helping to sub- due the rampaging Tree Demon (Kara Hui Ying-hung), causing three of his colleagues to die and another, Ha Suet Fung-lui (Louis Fan Siu-wong), to lose an arm. A few years later, naïve young government official Ning Choi- shan (Yu Shaoqun) runs across Black Mountain Village, which is suffering a devastating drought. Choi-shan volunteers to help find water and, in the process, strays into a haunted temple filled with seductive female spirits con- trolled by the Tree Demon. He falls under the sway of Siu-sin
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but, before she can drain his life essence, Chek-ha arrives on the scene and destroys most of the creatures. Touched by Choi- shan’s honesty, Siu-sin begins to fall for him, but Chek-ha has not forgotten his love for Siu-sin and tries to save her when Fung-lui arrives on the scene and captures the spirit himself. The hostility between the two men must be put aside, however, to effectively combat The Tree Demon, which threatens to finally break the su- pernatural bonds which have held it partially in check these past years.
As with their Hollywood coun- terparts, the filmmakers are aim- ing here at the lucrative teen demographic, so the protago- nists are several years younger and ghost hunter Chek-ha is now the much younger and much more handsome Louis Koo, who fails to bring emotional gravitas to a role that Wu Ma truly made his own. He also isn’t as adept at selling the comedic aspects of the character (also something of a bumbler and the brunt of sev- eral jokes) with Chek-ha’s strength and charisma seemingly be- stowed upon Fung-lui, well per- sonified by STORY OF RICKY alumnus Louis Fan. Director
Wilson Yip Wai-shun (IP MAN, BIO-ZOMBIE) coaxes fairly pleasing performances from Yu Shaoqun and Crystal Liu, though they are not as affecting a couple as Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing and Joey Wang Tsu-hsien. (The re- make is dedicated to Cheung and his famous title song from the original is heard again, mostly heightening one’s nostalgia for that version.) A large part of the previous film’s success centered on the love that develops be- tween the two characters, while here it is now a romantic triangle, a modification that does not add any particular import. Liu has the ethereal look down pat, but neither she nor Yu have the ma- turity to sell the passion; with this pair, it’s just mystical puppy love with an unfortunate echo of the Twilight series. Devour- ing the scenery with relish, Kara Hui really goes to town as the bi- gendered Tree Demon, occasion- ally taking on the appearance and abilities of the powerful supernatu- ral warrior Lien Ni-chang, played by Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia in the Bride With White Hair films and by Li Bingbing in FORBIDDEN KINGDOM (the latter also fea- turing Crystal Liu as Golden Sparrow).
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