The Thousand Faces of Dunjia (2017) - Yuen Woo Ping & Tsui Hark Re-make The Miracle Fighters

[One Armed Boxer]

Very interesting news, Yuen Woo Ping is set to direct a re-make of his own movie, 1982's 'Miracle Fighters', with Tsui Hark onboard as both writer and producer.

 

The good news is that Tsui Hark has been responsible for some of the best recent action adventure flicks, especially with his 'Detective Dee' series, so we can probably expect to see a CGI enhanced 3D spectacular considering the off-the-wall nature of the original.  Mix that in with Woo Ping's choreography, which here will have a definite emphasis on the OTT, and this could be a lot of fun.

 

The bad news is that the last time Tsui Hark & Yuen Woo Ping collaborated together was on 2002's 'Black Mask 2: City of Masks'.  On the bright side though, that movie had Hark directing with Woo Ping on choreography duties, while the re-make will have Woo Ping directing with Hark only writing.

 

The original was one of the Yuen Clans more wacky comedies, in the same vein as 'Shaolin Drunkard' and alike, and definitely isn't for everyone, so it's an interesting choice to re-make.  However it turns out though, here's hoping Leung Kar Yan makes an appearance!

 

The news was reported by FilmBizAsia - http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/yuen-woo-ping-tsui-hark-remake-miracle-fighters

 

[Jay Stone]

I think this is awesome news!

[rdenn]

lots of cgi and starring louis koo proberley, really wish i could get more excited with new movies.

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Hmmm... that was a strange and kooky fu film. I wish them all the best. 

[DrNgor]

I'm not particularly excited about this, since a lot of the fun stemmed from low-tech practical effects and watching the Yuens work both in front of and behind the câmera. I doubt modern technology could accomplish anything more imaginative and fun than the original films. But I'll watch it anyway.

[ShaOW!linDude]

I have Miracle Fighters on dvd, and while it was okay, I think I've only ever watched it 1 time.

Yes, I, too, am less than enthused. Actually, I'm apathetic. I mean, what's the point of the remake? Because special f/x are so much better these days? If Yuen Woo Ping remakes this, what's to say he won't get inspired to remake some of his other films? God forbid he turn Drunken Tai Chi or The Buddhist Fist into wire-fu-fests.

[rdenn]

The Buddhist Fist into wire-fu-fests.

lets hope not .

[masterofoneinchpunch]

I'm not particularly excited about this, since a lot of the fun stemmed from low-tech practical effects and watching the Yuens work both in front of and behind the câmera. I doubt modern technology could accomplish anything more imaginative and fun than the original films. But I'll watch it anyway.

This echoes my feelings on the remake.  I hope to be proven wrong, but I just do not feel CGI-ness when thinking about this series.  It is fine replacing optical-style effects with CGI, but it could easily be overdone.  I hope to see lots of prosthetics instead of CGI :).

[whitesnake]

Yuen Woo-ping says in the filmbiz.asia article that the new movie will have the same title but an entirely new story.

[FieryReign]

Well those "Taoism" movies did have a good bit of wire fu in them. Damn, 2017?

 

If Yuen Shun Yi ain't the villain and "ratface" ain't in it, then I don't care.

[Drunken Monk]

The film is now called "The Thousand Faces of Dunjia". Here's the first poster...

 

[Omni Dragon]

A few more posters:

 

[whitesnake]

I found a Chinese website for The Thousand Faces of Dunjia.  A Google translation of the plot provided this - "In a evildoer rampant, chaotic times of the times, the world is about to face shaking catastrophe.  For the safety of the world, the mysterious organization on the rivers and lakes [my insertion from Wikipedia - rivers and lakes - the jianghu, a community of martial artists in wuxia stories], fog door to come forward, its members Zhuge Qingyun, iron dragonfly and so all stunt.  The new child is also accidentally involved in this organization, a pedestrian fantasy adventure brigade."  Wikipedia gives this plot summary - "During a time of unrest, the world is about to face a great calamity.  To keep the peace of the world, the heroes of the pungalistic [I think Wikipedia meant "pugilistic"] world form a secret organization."  

Yet another plot description from filmcombatsyndicate.blogspot.com - "A story that tells of a band of martial arts warriors who secretly protect the human race from evil outer space creatures during the Northern Song dynasty."  Asian release date is in October 2017. 

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

I don't really expect to like it but will be too curious to not watch it. Loved the original's "cheap tricks".

[One Armed Boxer]

Sneak peak -

 

[reason108]

God, if only the movie could live up to the artwork, then, I think they would have one cool-ass movie. But, the live action looks as generic as all the other modern day digital effects films. Where has originality gone? I always expect more out of both of these guys. But, if they could deliver something as cool and exciting as ZU was, I would be all over this. My guess it that this movie will be just another Detective Dee-ish kind of movie with the same old flat cliched digital effects, story and action. I hope that I am wrong, but that teaser trailer gave me no hope at all.  

[whitesnake]

Despite the release date on the posters, the movie is getting a Chinese theatrical release on December 15th.

https://twitter.com/AsianFilmStrike - posted there on September 20, 2017  

New, real trailer (not silly stuff, not behind the scenes), posted mid-October on cityonfire.com, is here - 

 

[whitesnake]

On March 27, 2018, Well Go USA will release The Thousand Faces of Dunjia on Blu-ray and DVD.  News is from -

http://cityonfire.com/yuen-woo-ping-and-tsui-hark-remake-miracle-fighters/  

Does anyone else think the poster art looks like that of Yoshitaka Amano?

[One Armed Boxer]

If a headache was a movie, it may well look like 'The Thousand Faces of Dunjia'.  I gave this mess the (undeserved) review treatment here - 

http://cityonfire.com/the-thousand-faces-of-dunjia-2017-review/

[Ronin]

I liked this film  Now streaming on Hulu for anyone that wants to check it out.

[KUNG FU BOB]

I have been skipping most of the releases from Hong Kong and China that look like CGI fests for the last 6 or 7 years. Even the few that I bought remain unwatched on my shelf (remake of BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR among them). But for some reason I decided to purchase this one. Then I read @One Armed Boxer's review... 😫 so... still haven't watched it yet. 🙄

[whitesnake]

8 hours ago, Ronin said:

I liked this film  Now streaming on Hulu for anyone that wants to check it out.

I liked it too, took the DVD over to a friend's house, where several of us enjoyed it, but then we are fantasy fans, and we've enjoyed other Asian fantasy films that I had brought previously.