MOJIN: THE LOST LEGEND reviewed; opens in North American theaters today, Friday, December 18th

Well Go USA

Presents

Mojin: The Lost Legend

Directed by Wuershan

China, 2015

Mojin: The Lost Legend (a.k.a. The Ghouls) is a supernatural fantasy action adventure film from  China that opens today, Friday, December 18th, in roughly twenty major cities in the United States and Canada. (For cities, theaters and showtimes, go to: www.Mojin-Movie.com.)

Directed by Wuershan (Painted Skin: The Resurrection), the film centers on the exploits of three tomb raiders: Shirley Yang (the always watchable Shu Qi, The Assassin), Hu Bayi (Chen Kun, Snowgirl and the Dark Crystal), and Wang Kai Xuan (Huang Bo, Lost in Thailand). It also features Angelababy (the stage name of Angela Yeung WIng, Tai Chi Zero and Tai Chi Hero) as Ding Sitian.

Seeing the Twin Towers was unexpected, but appropriate for the film's time frame

In 1988, after one of their capers turns out badly, the Shirley, Hu and Wang retire from tomb raiding and flee to New Yo0rk City. As a New Yorker who was present when the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place, I was briefly taken out of the movie when, at about eight and a half minutes into it, there was a view from Brooklyn looking across the East River with the Twin Towers in the background. I forgot the time period being depicted for a moment, and only later realized that it was necessary because a significant flashback occurs roughly twenty years earlier, during Mao's Cultural Revolution.

Shirley leads Hu (behind her right arm), Wang (behind her left shoulder) and others in the quest for the Equinox Flower

Ms. Ying Caihong, the President of Global Mining Company  and leader of the Global Holy Disciplinary Institution, a strange cult, seeks the Equinox Flower, which is said to only exist at the limbo of Yin and Yang and which is believed to connect the living and the dead, to open the gate to the underworld and bring the dead back to life. When Wang decides to go back to China to locate it for her, Shirley and Hu follow.

Corporate and cult leader Ying Caihong (in white) with her followers

There are vast sets and loads of adrenaline pumping action. CGI is employed rather extensively, but it's of a very high quality. There's also some very fine make-up work done on one of the characters.

One of the film's vast sets

I came to think of Mojin: The Lost Legend as a Chinese blending of the Tomb Raider (Angelina Jolie, 2001 and 2003) and The Mummy  (Brendan Fraser, 1999, 2001, and 2008) series. All-in-all, it was a very enjoyable watch.

AsianCineFest Rating: 3 out of 4 stars; recommended

MOJIN: THE LOST LEGEND in Theaters December 18th

Well Go USA

Presents

Mojin: The Lost Legend

Directed by Wuershan

China, 2015

Some people have a special gift...able to travel between the realms of the Living and the Dead...and Tomb Raiding can mean Big Business.

Welcome to the world of the Mojin.

Based on the fantasy novel Ghost Blows Out the Light by Zhang Muye, Mojin: The Lost Legend (a.k.a. The Ghouls) is directed by Wuershan (Painted Skin: The Resurrection) and stars Shu Qi, Chen Kun, Angelababy, and Huang Bo.

The film pits a trio of legendary grave robbers against scholars, rivals, and the law – until an offer from a mysterious stranger tempts them into one last heist…an adventure that will test their skills, their friendship, and ultimately – their mortal souls.

Mojin: The Lost Legend will open in theaters on December 18th. For showtimes, go to: www.Mojin-Movie.com

THE CHEF, THE ACTOR AND THE SCOUNDREL coming to N. America on Blu-ray, DVD and digital

Director Hu Gaun (Cow, Design of Death) taps into a variety of genre styles for the Chinese action-comedy THE CHEF, THE ACTOR AND THE SCOUNDREL, debuting on Blu-ray™, DVD and digital on June 24th from Well Go USA Entertainment. Described by Film Business Asia as “part knockabout comedy, part serious spy movie, part tribute to ‘the films of our childhood’ … it will also go down in movie history as the first comedy with a plot about germ warfare.”

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, China is suffering from a cholera outbreak because the Japanese are using it as a biological weapon. Four Chinese agents capture a Japanese scientist and his bodyguard and interrogate them by Chinese opera in order to get the vaccine formula. THE CHEF, THE ACTOR AND THE SCOUNDREL stars Liu Ye (Curse of the Golden Flower) as the Chef, Zhang Han Yu (Special ID, Back to 1942) as the Actor and Huang Bo (Lost in Thailand) as the Scoundrel, with Chie Tanaka (Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale) and Liang Jing (Eastern Bandits) rounding out the cast.

Bonus materials include a blooper reel highlighting comic outtakes from the film, as well as a look behind-the-scenes with “The Making of The Chef, The Actor and The Scoundrel,” featuring interviews with the cast.

Synopsis: World War II: a cholera epidemic ravages the streets of Beijing. A crack team of Chinese intelligence agents kidnap a Japanese general and biochemist who may hold the antidote. When trickery and torture fail, the covert squad smuggles their victims into a restaurant and launches the oddest of interrogations – staging a Chinese Opera and posing as fellow guests, designed to entice, confuse, and ultimately trick their captives into revealing the truth before time runs out.

THE CHEF, THE ACTOR AND THE SCOUNDREL has a runtime of approximately 108 minutes and is not rated.