“Journey to the West: Go West to Subdue Demons” DVD Cover
Director: Chang Cheh
Cast: Tung Chi Hwa, Ku Wing-Chuen, Mu Li-Xin, Du Yu-Ming, Yu Jia, Chen Ji-Ming, Zhang Ke-Peng, Yao Yu, Wang Xiang-Wei, Wang Bing-Qiang, Chen Bing
Running Time: 86 min.
By Paul Bramhall
During the 2010’s the only character more popular than Ip Man was arguably the Monkey King. The iconic character got various big budget incarnations courtesy of Soi Cheang’s Monkey King trilogy, Stephen Chow’s pair of Journey to the West movies, and Derek Kwok’s Wu Kong. That’s without even touching on the various straight to streaming cash-ins, and a plethora of animated features to top everything off. Long before the Monkey King mania of the era though, in 1991 legendary director Chang Cheh would helm his penultimate movie in the form of Journey to the West: Go West to Subdue Demons.
Although Chang Cheh developed his reputation as the Godfather of the Kung Fu Film through the many bare-chested kung fu movies he made for the Shaw Brothers studio during his heyday, he was also no stranger to the story of Journey to the West. In 1974 he cast Alexander Fu Sheng as the title character of Na Cha the Great, and a year later he made The Fantastic Magic Baby which featured all of the most famous characters associated with the tale. While these detours into the fantasy genre were few and far between during Cheh’s time at Shaw Brothers (Heaven and Hell is the other title that stands out), by the time the studio was winding down movie production in the 80’s he seemed to show a renewed interest in dabbling in the fantastical.
His last Shaw Brothers production was the slice of supernatural kung fu The Weird Man, and he’d go onto helm similarly supernatural themed productions Attack of the Joyful Goddess and The Nine Demons with former Shaw Brothers cohort Ricky Cheng. By 1987 Cheh was in the twilight of his career, and setup shop in Mainland China with a new group of performers he brought together – Tung Chi-Wa, Du Yu-Ming, and Mu Li-Xin. In 1991 Cheh was 68, and his new trio of performers were not only his stars, but they also provided the fight choreography and assisted in co-directing, which is the case with Journey to the West: Go West to Subdue the Demons.
Likely assuming the audience for JttW:GWtSD (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) were familiar with the origins of the relationship between the Monkey King and the Monk, Cheh eschews the need for any origin story, and focuses on the adventures they encounter while on the journey to collect scriptures from India. This time around the Monkey King is played by Tung Chi-Wa, with Du Yu-Ming in the role of the rake wielding Sandy, Zhang Ke-Peng (in his one and only credit) as Pigsy, and Ku Wing-Chuen (Cross the River, Hidden Hero) as the Monk.
There are essentially a couple of plot points which serve to deliver a joyous amount of fight action, probably the most out of any of Cheh’s Mainland shot productions, with the first involving dealing with the troublesome Goat King (played by another Cheh discovery, Wang Xiang-Wei) and his various animal themed lackeys. The second involves a plot hatched by Princess Iron Fan (played by Ma Wen here in her debut, who’d go onto headline the 1995 Mainland actioner Nu Jing Shen Wei and disappear), who hatches a plan to take over the body of the Red Boy (played by Mu Li-Xin, and of course was the title character being referred to in Cheh’s earlier Fantastic Magic Baby) and sabotage the quartets journey. Thankfully they have the Goddess of Mercy onside, who sends Na Cha (played by Yu Jia, for which JttW:GWtSD is his only credit) to help them out.
Surprisingly, JttW:GWtSD is a win-win both for fans of Journey to the West and Chang Cheh, delivering a story that crams in all of the most iconic characters from the famous tale, while also delivering on the Chang Cheh style of action. By the time Cheh had relocated to the Mainland his budgets had dwindled significantly, no more obvious than in the sparse sets that can be seen in the likes of Slaughter in Xian, but here there actually seems to be a respectable budget. While not competing with Hong Kong productions of the era, at least the wirework and special effects on display don’t look any worse than Cheh’s last visit to the Journey to the West story, almost 20 years earlier. Certainly helping matters is the fact that, for the most part, the action here remains grounded, relying on the raw talent of the performers, which they have in spades.
As the Monkey King Tung Chi-Wa puts in a stellar action performance, primarily brandishing the staff but also getting the opportunity to use a variety of weapons, whenever he springs into action the fight scenes are fast, fluid, and highly acrobatic. The fact that he’s the Monkey King may only be alluded to by some additional facial hair (I recall he throws in a monkey mannerism just once in the entire runtime), however seeing this stripped down version of the character who relies purely on their exceptional martial arts skill really works. An extended one on one against Jiang Ke-Cheng (Ninja in Ancient China, Fatal Move) is a joy to watch, as the pair summon various different weapons to fight each other with before segueing into an empty-handed exchange.
Special mention should go to the wardrobe department for getting creative with some of the costumes. While Chi-Wa’s monkey make-up may be minimal, it’s surprisingly effective. Spare a thought then for the likes of Wang Xiang-Wei, who as the Goat King essentially has to wear the top half of a onesie to represent his character, looking like a goat themed version of a balaclava. Other characters suffer similar fates, or alternatively are subjected to garish face paint and brightly died hair. Rather than detract from the overall feel though, if anything these choices only add to the theatrical nature of this re-telling. Cheh always had a certain fondness for stage-based setups, reflected in the likes of certain scenes in Heaven and Hell and again in the opening of Slaughter in Xian, a theme which is continued in the opening of JttW:GWtSD.
Of course Cheh was known for his love of gory fatalities, and he manages to find some imaginative ways to incorporate a number of gratuitous kills into JttW:GWtSD. In one scene the Goat King’s lackey challenges the Monkey King to a competition over who has the best magic skill. The first is to see who can chop their own head off, which the Monkey King does successfully, sending his head flying into the air then back onto his shoulders via some charmingly old school special effects work. When the lackey tries it, as their head goes into the air the Monkey King uses his magic to make it explode before it can land back on their body. We also get characters being sliced in half, another cutting their own chest open with unfortunate results, and a vicious spell that makes one characters chest expand until it explodes. Welcome to the adult version of Journey to the West!
The theatrical feel somewhat returns for the finale, when the Red Boy has the Monkey King’s cohorts imprisoned after being ambushed by his lackeys (played by small children, who he amusingly tells to “act like whores” when realising it’d be the best way to trap them), and the stage is set for an all-out battle. That’s exactly what we get, for almost 15 minutes, with even Na Cha making an appearance, and yes he’s brought his flaming chariot shoes! He even ends up giving a pair to the Monkey King, but before I go any further, I should point out that the shoes are represented by roller skates. Does that mean we have an action-packed finale which basically has all characters battling it out on roller skates? The answer to that questions is yes, and it makes for a suitably zany and high energy finish to a fast paced and entertaining take on the Journey to the West source material.
Chang Cheh would return to the world of bare chested heroics for his final movie in 1993 with Ninja in Ancient China, but having watched Journey to the West: Go West to Subdue Demons I’m glad he decided to revisit the fantasy genre one last time before bowing out. The fact it also happens to be the best showcase for his latest discoveries talents is the cherry on the cake, proving once more, that he truly was the Godfather of the Kung Fu Film.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10
