Social Icons

Viy 2: Journey to China (2019)


Viy 2: Journey to China (2019)


4/10


Starring
Jason Flemyng
Helen Yao
Jackie Chan


Directed by Oleg Stepchenko


VIY 2 is the sequel to VIY (2014). Both are Russian fantasy adventure movies, and this one has more action and less comedy than the first. However, the action in this movie doesn’t make up for the lack of comedy and thrill. While the first movie had Jonathan Green (the lead) traveling around Europe, this one has him venturing into Asia, most notably China. Viy is a Russian movie based on Nikolai Gogol's horror story of the same name.

I liked the first VIY (2014), mostly because the story was simple and less complex. All you had to do to enjoy it was listen and follow the story. Here, they added a lot of mystery but didn’t bother trying to explain or reveal it.
VIY 2 is not a good movie. Other than the final battle where good had to take on evil, everything else about the movie falls below par.


Although I liked the first movie, I enjoyed seeing how many things that looked mystical were revealed to be basic. But there was still some mystery about how these men managed to do the things they did.
This movie has so many subplots tangled up into one, to the point where Jonathan Green’s story feels like just a subplot in the main plot. The movie strays so far from the first one in terms of the plot that the writers didn’t even bother trying to tie up loose ends.

The movie starts with a mystical tale about a dragon in China whose eyelashes were the main ingredient for a mystical tea. A group called the White Wizards cared for the dragon and were responsible for cutting its lashes. Then, some evil ones came and took over out of greed.
With that tale explained at the beginning of the movie, we then see Jonathan captured because he was able to recognize an impostor. He’s later set free to continue his journey of drawing maps and is paid to map Asia. He agrees, but on one condition: that he takes a young man with him. The young man, according to Jonathan, cared for him while he was imprisoned. Both are freed and sent on their way, while some men are ordered to ambush and kill them because Jonathan knows more than he should.


The young man with Jonathan proves to be a master of martial arts and saves Jonathan. Now, they’re heading to China.
We soon learn that the young man is someone special who needs to get to his home in China to save his people from the evil men believed to control the dragon.

Jackie Chan plays a role in this movie, and his part, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s, is that of a supporting cast. What they brought to the movie is irrelevant to the main plot, and the movie would have gone smoother if they weren’t in it to complicate things further.

If you’ve seen VIY (2014) and are curious about what happened to Jonathan, let your curiosity imagine a better continuation, because this one won’t do.






0 comments:

Post a Comment

Disclaimer

All images featured on this site are the property of their respective copyright owners. They are used solely for illustrative and commentary purposes under fair use principles. This site is a personal blog, unaffiliated with or endorsed by any copyright holders. If you are the copyright owner of an image featured here and wish to have it removed, please contact me directly, and I will address your request promptly.