A 'Sequel' that Ends up Spinning its Wheels
[Watched/Reviewed on Letterboxd 5/13/2021]"Basically a retelling of A Chinese Ghost Story" Amazon Prime nakedly claims in its summation of the film. Whoever wrote the summary is not wrong in the least, but now the ghost dame likes being evil, and its Monk protagonist is genre savvy to ghosts.
It's kind've disappointing when you consider how many ways from Sunday you could tell a continue a "Chinese Ghost Story", but sometimes folk just become a bit too taken with their first idea to break away from it.
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Sumptuous
Simultaneously a distant sequel and retread of the original film, A Chinese Ghost Story III keeps things together a bit more than II did, following the tradition of the previous two films this closing chapter once again gifts us with equal doses of comedy, action, romance and horror. The photography is as gorgeous as the previous entries, playing with colour, light and smoke with an abundance of stunning direction throughout, Tony Ching Siu-Tung certainly pulled his weight with this series balancing his style with Tsui Hark's eccentric sensibilities. Instead of Leslie Cheung's bumbling tax collector, we get Tony Leung as a bumbling novice monk, a worthy successor, adding a great charm and likeability to his character thanks to Tony's comedic timing. The film delivers a cinematic seductiveness that greatly benefits from the fast-paced plot, chock full of crazy magic spells and action sequences, spellbinding female ghosts, hair-raising demons, a touch of humour, drama and romance, a parade of crazy special effects and a sumptuously enchanting score for a third time courtesy of James Wong and Romeo Diaz. While it may certainly have many similarities to the first, A Chinese Ghost Story III almost plays like a parody of it at the same time, all without being too ridiculous and closing the trilogy out in style. The lengths men will go to for Joey Wong hey?Was this review helpful to you?
