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A Chinese Ghost Story III

A Chinese Ghost Story III

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A man falls in love with a she-ghost in ancient China.
Review: Director Tsui Hark studies films in Texas University and perhaps he is the first man ever in reviving the tradition of Chinese Culture. This film is of no exception, and no easy task. Dir. Tsui has clearly depicted the Chinese "geographical symbolism" of heaven and hell in a juxtaposition. As much as the good versus the evil in an open arena in Shakespearn plays, a scholar is seduced by a she-ghost, and he falls in love with her spiritually in the dark, and surreal joruney. Along this absurd joruney, there are many evil spirits being symbolised in the manner of "flippy tongues", and "ghosts". Magical, seductive, exciting, Tsui has interpreted the Chinese classical comic-books in a new level. The control of the black velvet and smoke guns certainly work well in re-creating a lost culture, the Chinese ancient drama -- dark, seamy, and mysterious, the movie reminds us "some kind of love" that cannot be "attempted" at all; or else, the consequence can be.....(watch the movie, and you will find out!!!).....Isn't it true even today in the modern society?! (Recommended by the special effects assistant to Nick Alder in the making of Chinese Ghost Story. An expensive film!!!)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Chinese Ghost Story III - not bad at all!!
Review: I know that many people would disagree, but I have to say that A Chinese Ghost Story III is the best among the Chinese Ghost Story triology. If I had watched CGS part I before I watched this movie, I might have said otherwise. But this was the first movie from the CGS triology that I watched, and I found the part III even superior to the others. The visual effects are superb, background music is absolutely beautiful, actors are well-cast and the costumes are simply splendid! The movie is imbued with a great sense of humor from beginning to the end. The plot, even though a little too similar to the part I, is very well-designed and the fast-paced unfolding of Oriental fantasy would keep any viewers out of breath. The movie still has some flaws though: The personification of a demon by a traditional Chinses building doesn't work well and seems to spoil the movie's potential; and a little too "animation-like" visual effects in some of the fighting scenes look childish. Nonetheless this part III is still very successful. Many people don't seem to appreciate this part III, because of its obvious similarities to the part I. For those who haven't watched any of the Chinese Ghost Story triology, start with this part III and then watch back to part I and II. Any Hong Kong movie fan who watches this movie without any connections to the Part I in mind, he or she will tremendously enjoy this film.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: decent film
Review: I think that Chinese Ghost Story 3 sometimes gets a bad rap because it's hard to watch this film without comparing it to its predecessors (it's essentially a carbon copy of #1 with half the magic - everything from the opening bloodshed to the evil sister is rehashed). But compared to other films in the genre it's actually a decent film on its own merits and satisfying overall.

More scenes are devoted to dialogue than is typical and the fantasy elements are reserved to satisfying but short bouts of swordplay and magic, but I personally enjoyed the character interaction. There's a long scene in the middle which is basically flirting between the monk (Tony Leung) and the ghost (Joey Wang) and it made me smile. Joey Wang reigns as the epitome of a beautiful Chinese ghost and Tony Leung (even though it's hard not to compare his character to the Leslie Chung's more charming tax collector) plays the role of the innocent "I must stay a virgin" monk well.

Fantasy elements embody bouts between the good guys (Leung as the little monk, the old head master monk, & Jacky Cheung's Taoist swordsman) and the tree demon, which has resurfaced 100 years after the first Chinese Ghost Story took place. Some pretty captivating things happen.... i.e. one scene has the old wise master monk knowing he'll be captured. So he utters some magic words and his ears grow long enough to curl up and shield his eyes from the evil. He also throws his staff at Tony Leung, who ends up being riding it back to the inn where they stay. And for humor, the flying staff ends up crashing into a giant gong.

The one letdown I had was the ending. While Chinese Ghost Story 1 took the heroes into hell, and #2 had them fighting a giant centipede, #3 has them going head to head with some kind of evil demon. To represent the demon, they make the inn become alive and move around but it looks mad cheap - like they decided to do a camera closeup on a hand puppet of a building. It's also pretty long, and 10 minutes of watching a building move around is pretty boring. What am I supposed to do? Close my eyes and use my imagination? A visually anemic ending to an otherwise decent film.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: If you've seen CGSII, you don't need to see this movie.
Review: I was prepared to really enjoy Chinese Ghost Story III, understanding that it was essentially a retread of the original two movies. Since the movie takes place 100 years after the second, there's plenty of good reasons for why the Chinese Ghost Story III would be disconnected from its roots.

Unfortunately, Chinese Ghost Story III suffers from exactly the opposite: it's far too much like Chinese Ghost Story II. Even more unforgivable, the actress who played the ghost in the first story (that was saved, to become reincarnated) and who played the physical twin of the ghost in the second story, is ANOTHER ghost in this story. Another ghost, but not the same ghost. Very annoying.

Back too is the villain, the wicked tree hag with the neverending tongue and influence over tree branches. I don't know about you, but I didn't have a burning desire to find out whatever happened to the tree hag that dove into that hole in the second movie. I mean, really.

The plot is similar - instead of a tax collector seduced by a ghost, we have a monk seduced by a ghost. There's an old mentor who has supernatural powers and there's also a professional demon hunter. The only difference is that the demon hunter in this movie was the student of the old monk in the last movie.

So what does this movie have to offer? Not much. In fact, it's so much like the second movie that the parallels only serve to show just how inferior the second movie is. It's not as scary, not as funny, and not as romantic.

The ending even has a poorly introduced bad guy - the husband to be to the ghost (JUST LIKE THE SECOND MOVIE). In this case, it's the "Mountain Devil." The Mountain Devil is apparently a big puppet, and not in the "hey it's cool cause it's wacky" kind of way. He animates buildings that look like puppet buildings.

On the whack-I-meter, the old monk manages to cover his eyes with his earlobes. And that's about it. Even the sword stunts and magic tricks can't top Chinese Ghost Story II.

If you've seen the second movie, you don't need to see Chinese Ghost Story III.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It's really Chinese Ghost Story III
Review: I'm not sure what the previous viewer is refering to, but this is the final (so far, and hopefully always) chapter in the Chinese Ghost Story trilogy. The first one came out in '87, then '90 and '91. This film is decent, good fight sequences, though it is weaker in the specail effects than the previous films. However Leslie Cheung is not in this film (par the previous film) and Joey Wang has a diminished role in this one. Three might be a crowd. Check out the other two before you see this one.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It's really Chinese Ghost Story III
Review: I'm not sure what the previous viewer is refering to, but this is the final (so far, and hopefully always) chapter in the Chinese Ghost Story trilogy. The first one came out in '87, then '90 and '91. This film is decent, good fight sequences, though it is weaker in the specail effects than the previous films. However Leslie Cheung is not in this film (par the previous film) and Joey Wang has a diminished role in this one. Three might be a crowd. Check out the other two before you see this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fans of the Series Should Definitely Check This One Out.
Review: If you're looking for a different plot in this third installment to the popular Tsui Hark's series "A Chinese Ghost Story", you might be a little disappointed. The plot greatly resembles the original "A Chinese Ghost Story". Instead of Leslie Cheung, the leading male actor is Tony Leung-Chiu-Wai (this might be a disappointment to those of you who have grown attached to Leslie Cheung's role in the first two installments). Tony Leung plays a monk who gets seduced by a very beautiful female ghost (once again played by Joey Wong) after seeking shelter in Orchid Temple. In this movie, the long tongued tree spirit from the first installment is resurrected hundreds of years later and once again uses beautiful female ghosts to help lure men into its trap. This third installment of the series is a little more on the humor side...much less serious than the first two. Be warned, this is not so much of a love story as one would expect from the series, and this movie is definitely not scary. Seems like the love and horror theme have been somewhat altered in this latest installment. But no matter what, it is still fun to watch, and Joey Wong is still such a feast for the eyes.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fans of the Series Should Definitely Check This One Out.
Review: If you're looking for a different plot in this third installment to the popular Tsui Hark's series "A Chinese Ghost Story", you might be a little disappointed. The plot greatly resembles the original "A Chinese Ghost Story". Instead of Leslie Cheung, the leading male actor is Tony Leung-Chiu-Wai (this might be a disappointment to those of you who have grown attached to Leslie Cheung's role in the first two installments). Tony Leung plays a monk who gets seduced by a very beautiful female ghost (once again played by Joey Wong) after seeking shelter in Orchid Temple. In this movie, the long tongued tree spirit from the first installment is resurrected hundreds of years later and once again uses beautiful female ghosts to help lure men into its trap. This third installment of the series is a little more on the humor side...much less serious than the first two. Be warned, this is not so much of a love story as one would expect from the series, and this movie is definitely not scary. Seems like the love and horror theme have been somewhat altered in this latest installment. But no matter what, it is still fun to watch, and Joey Wong is still such a feast for the eyes.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Beautiful film, but terrible tape quality
Review: Just a word of caution - the VHS tape of this movie is of terrible picture quality. It looks like a bad, amateurish copy made from an already very worn master tape. I once saw a movie that had been filmed off a cinema screen with a standard video camera, and the result was similar...! :-) A real pity because the film, in its original quality, is a feast for the eyes.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: depends on perspective
Review: On a personal note, i feel that a chinese ghost story III is not bad in that it has a rather good plot. I do agree that it isn't scary but neither were the previous 2


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