Review: Less would have been more in over-the-top 'The Thousand Faces of Dunjia'

Review: Less would have been more in over-the-top ‘The Thousand Faces of Dunjia’

By Michael Rechtshaffen

Dec. 14, 2017 12:10 PM PT

H.P. Lovecraft meets the Three Stooges (by way of “Men in Black”) courtesy of “The Thousand Faces of Dunjia,” an insanely over-the-top live-action cartoon of a sci-fi-fantasy martial arts adventure.

The Chinese import, set in a non-specific place in time, concerns the efforts of the supernaturally gifted Wuyin Clan to get their hands on a powerful cosmic device to defeat alien enemies from “beyond the sky.”

They’re both assisted and hampered in their efforts by Dao (Aarif Lee), a gung-ho but somewhat dim-witted police recruit who gradually becomes schooled in the fine art of dealing with bug-eyed monster fish and sultry shape-shifters (the latter sweetly played by Dongyu Zhou).

A collaboration between respected director Yuen Wo Ping, whose talents as a skilled action choreographer are memorably on display in “The Matrix” trilogy and Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” films; and commercially successful Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark, who penned the unapologetically madcap script, the CG-drenched production could never be accused of being standard issue wuxia.

Still, over the course of almost two hours, all the amped-up visual effects and slapstick silliness can become awfully exhausting, making a hinted-at sequel ultimately feel like a threat.

“Dunjia” could have easily sufficed with a few hundred fewer faces.

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