Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back

While Hollywood exhausts itself churning out superhero fare, on the other side of the world, Tsui Hark, along with his grey eminence Stephen Chow, remains truly inventive; his latest gives China’s best known story a pop-culture shock treatment, using the legendary Monkey King narrative for a film that feels like champagne bottles blasting for two dazzling hours. Here, two of Hong Kong’s finest filmmakers squeeze as much visual effects wizardry as possible into 108 minutes. Flanked by his wayward disciples, Monkey (Lin Gengxin), Pigsy (Yang Yiwei, Wang Duo, Wang Chao, yup all three of them), and Sandy (Mengke Bateer), Monk Tang (played by pouty heartthrob and ex K-pop idol Kris Wu) embarks on a pilgrimage to India. But the group brings psychological baggage with them: as tensions rise, violence explodes, and demons join the fray.