PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: (1) *poor, *(2) *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *metaphysical, psychological*
It should go without saying that these films lack any similarity to either the style or content of Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" films. The first film at least seems to be a loosey-goosey emulation of the successful 1980s "Mister Vampire" franchise. In place of a modern-day magician-hero, we have archaic Taoist (Buddhist?) priest Pak, played by the always appealing Gordon Liu. Pak is out to conquer the zombie legions of Zhao (Man Kit Cheung), a former fellow acolyte of Pak's order. Pak is accompanied by a younger priest, Hak (Terry Fan of STORY OF RICKY), and an annoying kid. Both are played for bad humor but at least the kid is gone in the sequel.
The first film doesn't give much background to the quarrel between Pak and Zhao, with the latter's motive sounding a bit like a Lex Luthor grudge ("you deprived me of my proper position in the order!") Hak gets a little more character development in that he falls for Zhao's student in Taoist kung fu, Grace (Shannon Yoh), and though the romance-plot is nothing special anything looks good next to the crappy humor. There's also no explanation as to why Pak keeps a small horde of hopping vampires around as a retinue of sorts. If he sought to pit his vampires against Zhao's zombies, that might have been worth watching, but neither type of "evil dead" plays a major role in the story. The film terminates without a clear climax, forcing the viewer to seek solace in the sequel.
Surprisingly, the sequel-- over half of which is a prequel-- is a good basic melodrama, with hardly any lame humor at all.
In the prequel section, the audience learns much more about the backstories of Pak and Zhao (played of course by younger actors in the flashbacks). Zhao is conceived by two Taoist priests, father Dragon and mother Phoenix, both of whom are poisoned by contact with "evil dead." Phoenix is pregnant with Zhao at the time, and though a doctor tells her to abort to save herself, she brings Zhao to term and perishes. Dragon, master of a Taoist monastery, manages to keep the poison in his body under control, while at the same time trying to raise Zhao as a good monk. However, Pak joins the monkish ranks as well, and Dragon is forced to elevate Pak above his son. This turns Zhao to the Dark Side, which brings him up to the point of the modern-day story.
Though I'm reasonably sure no one in the first film mentioned magic swords, now we find out that two such weapons are vital to Zhao's ascension to demon-hood. Zhao has a really cool moment during a visit to the "Sword Graveyard," where he masters dozens of illusory swords blocking his way. (Yes, they're CGI, but they look damn good.) Cheung and Liu of course play their roles again, though Liu isn't in it much this time. Grace turns against her evil mentor, and he responds by making her one of his zombie minions, though Pak and Hak are able to win her back from the abyss. The upsurge of the "evil dead" becomes so pervasive that Zhao ends up redeeming himself by teaming with Pak to end the threat, allowing the romance of Hak and Grace to thrive in the end. Even though the FX do more heavy lifting than the stars, ULTIMATE POWER outshines the previous entry in terms of good basic entertainment.
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