New Gods: Yang Jian Spins An Intense Godtier Fantasy Out Of A Cowboy Bebop Riff
This review of New Gods: Yang Jian was originally published along with the movie's release. Updated for the digital release of the film. See platform availability below.
Fans of Ji Chao's 2021 blockbuster Chinese animated film New Gods: Niza: Rebirth can expect something similar from his sequel New Gods: Yang Jian . They will get what they came for: epic battles with gods, intense operatic emotion, and technically beautiful visual design. But in all other respects, the second film is very different from the first: not so much a detail of the setting as a completely independent story in a completely different genre.
Niza's reincarnation creates a pattern that seems destined to repeat endlessly with infinite change: the sick hero discovers that he is the embodiment of a mythical deity. Zhao (director of Donghua's thriller The White Snake ) and screenwriter Mu Chuan bring the impressively realistic story, post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting, and the many complexities of introducing ancient powers into the modern world. It's easy to imagine the New Gods movie series as the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a potential crossover, in which the Old Gods return to the human world, begin to transform it, and eventually come into conflict.
But the Zhao and Chuan sequel largely leaves the human world behind and instead delves into the realm of the gods, whose concerns may seem less relevant to human audiences. Yang Jian is a more traditional Chinese fantasy epic. The only noticeable connection to science fiction is in the opening sequence: an eerily accurate pastiche of the animated series Cowboy Bebop . It's disappointing.
From the moment Yang Jian introduces the protagonist, who plays a soulful bluegrass harmonica while his spaceship's engine cuts out on fuel at the front, cowboy fans have probably seen it before. Yang Jian (voiced by Wang Kai) – The leader of a four-member team of hapless bounty hunters who are unable to pursue their ultimate goal. Like his bebop partner Spike Spiegel, Yang Jian is a devious young man who seems sleepy and restless most of the time until someone threatens him so much that he has to show off his amazing fighting skills.
His cast looks very familiar, too: a heavy, muscular engineer with a chubby version of Jet Black's pointed beard; a very skinny red-haired child who screams a lot and runs; And the dog is smarter than it looks. (The latter two have a fun connection that feels better for the time being.) Only the fourth crew member, a typical pirate who doesn't appear in the movie, doesn't fit the mold.
Like the Bebop crew, the four get into trouble hunting bounties and guide their ship through wormhole portals that resemble high-tech celestial circles. Just like the bebop crew , their adventures are accompanied by sad western music. However, unlike the Bebop group, this group is ruled by a god.
Yang Jian, also known as the traditional Chinese folklore character Erlang Shen, was a powerful force among the gods before he closed his third eye and his power faded away. The gods and demons of folklore usually fall from grace after a battle for supremacy between the gods. In this story, the timeless world inhabited by spirits resembles old futuristic cities and seedy train stations. The towns themselves have glowing flying dragons and dirty, damp streets strewn with rubbish, but the latter is clearly more so than the former.
Liang Jian's biggest merit is how quickly the text abandons this interesting setting and plays the whole bebop . After just one round, Yang Jian's team almost disappeared, the tone changed and the scene disappeared. (However, the isolated harmonica sounds have not gone away.) When a woman contacts Yang Jian to help her find a powerful artifact, she revisits her past, admires her former teacher, and learns new things about her family and everything. It brings him into conflict with other gods and leads him into a widely misunderstood chain of events where he loses his third eye and seals his sister forever under the mountain.
Neja Rebirth is also about family relationships and how the characters let their loved ones down, but the movie spends a lot of time exploring its relationships and the cost of power. Yang Jian feels more superficial, with a fair amount of imagery built around family ties, but not enough time to develop them. It's a movie with several long, painful scenes in which the male characters scream, "Mom! Mom! Mom!" Vague, fading visions over and over again of his mothers, but never taking the time to build that relationship or have the characters talk to each other.
And there are many conflicts between the gods, a large part of which is associated with very colorful and individual folk figures, such as the four generals of Mo or the enthronement of the gods. Star Shen Gongbao, depicted here as a ruthless drunken master in a traditional martial arts cinematic style, is suspended by a giant white tiger. Each of these deities has their own purposes, but the characters are largely drawn, as keepers of traditions or seekers of revenge — more like mythical deities than people with whom audiences can identify or take root.
"Yang Jian" contains several events and actions centering on the hero's search for this magical artifact and the villain who took it. But often - at least in the English translation of GKIDS - the action happens without much context, and the audience has to watch the flight or fight first, then the players and the bets come together. This makes for a somewhat disjointed viewing experience, even when the heists or fights are fast, tense, and exciting.
The visual excitement is Yang Jian's main attraction. As with Neza Reborn , when the gods take conflict too seriously, they create giant, glowing avatars that mirror their actions. Each god has a different fighting style and a variety of fighting equipment, from traditional weapons to musical instruments and giant animal companions, making each battle special. A weapon that sends an enemy into a dream state or a ghostly realm gives director Zhao all the power he needs to radically change the style of animation or fill the screen with images of wild imagination. This movie is worth watching on the big screen.
But there is little emotional impact, with all the characters shouting each other's names in tense moments or screaming at each other various lies and betrayals. There's more emotion in the short, silent sequence that simulates the treetop standoff in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon than in the battle itself. The real battle here is between those who want change in its broadest, abstract sense and those who want to keep the whole world in motion. In a sense, this is a relative struggle in this politically charged time or any other. But here, it's still not plotted in a way that audiences care whether certain characters live or die, make their way or disappear, or return to their own cowboy adventures. God pulls the big jokes.
For Western audiences who want to do their homework later, New Gods: Yang Jian Neza : Reincarnation serves the same purpose: it's an accessible introduction to the most memorable characters from Chinese historical epics and a reconstruction of those epics into a modern epic. . Like Light and the first film, the second New Gods movie examines the challenges and costs of reincarnation and just how difficult the historical, never-ending cycle of change can be in an individual's life. It lacks a human face to solve all these problems. Brawling Gods may be our brawler, but with a third New Gods movie on the way, it's even better to bring the excitement back to Earth.
New Gods: Yang Jian is now available for digital rental via DirectTV or for digital purchase dubbed in English or Chinese on Amazon . It will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on April 25th.
