Mojin - The Lost Legend [Blu-ray]

"Mōjīn: The Lost Legend" (Chinese: Guǐ chuīdēng zhī xún lóng jué, lit. "Ghost Blows Out the Lantern: The Secret of Finding the Dragon") is a 2015 Chinese fictional adventure fantasy and thriller film based on an original narrative arc screenplay created and written by Zhāng Mùyě presenting a new story with new plots in synthesis of the timeline and events in the Zhāng Jiālǔ screenplay adaptation of the 2006 "Guǐ chuīdēng," lit. "Ghost Blows Out the Light" eight-volume novel series, particularly as to those rights owned by Wàndá Film.At its premiere Zhāng Mùyě explains: "I discussed with the director, the producer, the screenwriter and others, concerning what would arouse the utmost interest from readers or viewers. We reached consensus they wouldn't be curious to know any ghost stories about any tombs but what lies in store for the main characters. Thus we decided to devise new plots on the basis of keeping the best part of the original story there. And "Mōjīn: The Lost Legend" is actually written as the sequel to "Ghost Blows out the Light", saying at the premiere that he actually "…wrote a new volume especially for the film," adding that "…his involvement in the project felt like a dream come true." Zhāng Mùyě worked with Wàndá Film for "Mōjīn: The Lost Legend," and China News reported, "With the original novelist as one of the screen writers, "Mōjīn" boasts a more original feel and has a stronger cast and crew." This production was "a first" as a preeminent coproduction collaboration of China's three major private film giants, including Wàndá Film, Huáyì Brothers Media, and Běijīng Enlight Pictures.Directed by Wū Ěrshàn, the 125-minute film premiered on December 18, 2015, starring Chén Kūn as Hú Bāyī, Master of the Tomb Raider Mōjīn Xiàowèi and lineal descendant from ancient school tomb raiders once commanded by first century BC Chinese emperors; Huáng Bó as Wáng Kǎixuán (known as Fatty, Wǎng Pàngzi), Hú Bāyī's 'dearest' friend and Colonel of the Mōjīn Tomb Raiders; Shū Qí as Shirley Yáng, a wealthy Chinese-American of Mojin ancestry, now HúBāyī's fiancée and Captain of the Mōjīn Tomb Raiders; Yáng Yǐng (Bǐmíng: Angelababy) as Dīng Sītián, Hú Bāyī's and Fatty Wáng's first love who died in the episode of the "Weasel Grave"; Xià Yǔ as Dà Jīn Yá (lit. 'Big Gold Tooth'), known as 'Grill', an unscrupulous antique dealer and scoundrel; Liú Xiǎoqìng as Yīng Cǎihóng, the wealthy clandestine Machiavellian owner of the "Global Mining Group", founder and leader of the mystic cult "Global Spiritual Society"; Yán Zhuōlíng (Bǐmíng: Cherry Ngan) as Yōko, Yīng Cǎihóng's Secretary and cìkè assassin; and Jonathan Kos-Read (Bǐmíng: Cáo Cāo) as Mark, Global Mining Group executive director and shyster lawyer, and Yīng Cǎihóng's faithful henchman.Filming locations included 210 South Street, Manhattan; Cortlandt Alley, Chinatown, Manhattan; Greenpoint Terminal, Brooklyn, New York City. Most of film's more than 2,742 hours of shooting was on a vast set that occupied almost all of China Film's studios, including Asia’s first and second largest studios (at five thousand and three thousand square meters respectively), and required the building of an enormous underground space to depict northern nomadic shaman culture, connected by a timeline to the three tombs; and on site at Hūlúnbùyǔěr, Inner Mongolia, China.Hú Bāyī was born on 'Army Day' August 1, 1950, and he was 18 in 1969 when he and his forever 'dearest' friend 'Fatty' Wáng Kǎixuán (Bǐmíng: Wáng Pàngzi) left home together to live in the Gǎnggǎng Yíngzi village in the Inner Mongolian Grasslands under the Máo Zédōng Cultural Revolution 'Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement', requiring 'zhīshì qīngnián' educated youth be sent to mountainous areas or farming villages to learn from the workers and farmers there through cultivation. Thus began their first Mōjīn adventure, where they met their mutual 'first love' Dīng Sītián, who was killed in the episode of the "Weasel Grave." Overwrought with the death of Dīng Sītián and haunting nightmares, he joined the army in the winter of 1969, and after three months at the military recruit training camp, he was transferred to the 62nd Squadron Station at the Kūnlún Mountain Pass on the Qīnghai-Tibet Plateau. Ten years later, as a Chinese People's Liberation Army soldier in the Sino-Vietnamese War, he violated military regulations and was dismissed in 1979. On his return to Běijīng, he was greeted and reunited with Fatty and immediately welcomed into Fatty's business, upon which the two confront Fatty's business acquaintance Dà Jīn Yá (lit. 'Big Gold Tooth'), known as 'Grill', an unscrupulous antique dealer and scoundrel, at the Pānjiāyuán Flea Market to recover a valuable heirloom jade that Grill and his cohorts swindled from Fatty. It was during this time that ShirleyYáng enters the scene, seeking Hú Bāyī's help to find her father who went missing during an expedition, and the threesome, Hú Bāyī, Fatty Wǎng, and Shirley Yáng come together as the Mōjīn "Iron Triangle" in their future adventures.The "Mōjīn: The Lost Legend" introductory 'Scene Heading' sets the beginning of the storyline in 1988, eight years after the "Iron Triangle" trio moved to America in 1980 at the insistence of Shirley Yáng because of Hú Bāyī's haunting nightmares following the death of Dīng Sītián, the worse for other terrifying expeditions and war memories.This brings us to Yīng Cǎihóng, the wealthy clandestine Machiavellian owner of the "Global Mining Group", founder and leader of the mystic cult "Global Spiritual Society", who commissions Grill and Fatty to find the 'Tomb of Áogǔ', an underground burial chamber enshrining a shamanic thousand-year-old Liáo Dynasty Khitan Princess and goddess, the guardian of the life-restoring Equinox Flower (Chinese: Bǐ'ànhuā – lit. Flower of the Other Shore) entombing her body, which we are told is a fabled gateway through the veil of the land of the living and the land of the dead, between the yīn and yáng realms. Cǎihóng's altruistic reasons for wanting to find this tomb for the benefit of humanity are actually a guise for her ulterior motive to possess the companion Equinox Flower Medallion entombed with the princess, a celestial stone, an amulet to immortality, for Cǎihóng's personal benefit. And so, Dà Jīn Yá recruits his friend, the hustler tomb raider Mōjīn Fatty Wǎng to lead the lucrative expedition. Of course, the reluctant Hú Bāyī and Shirley Yáng soon come to the rescue.The storyline is at once fascinating and mesmerizing, both suspenseful and thrilling, set in a world beyond imagination, an ancient world set with myriad perils, in a journey brilliantly brought to life by our performers' charismatic and enthralling characterizations. This is a wonderful and entertaining adventure.My only criticism is that the "Guǐ chuīdēng: Ghost Blows Out the Light" eight-volume novel series should be produced for the screen, whether film or television, in the chronological style of the 'Star Wars' series. As it is, the disparate productions fragment the timeline, distorting and obscuring the continuum, leaving us confused about the sequence of events. The screenplays fail to provide a prologue introduction to give us a chronological beginning date for each adventure, with two exceptions: "Candle in the Tomb: The Weasel Grave" and "Mōjīn: The Lost Legend". This is disappointing. Still, what we have is better than not, and each production should stand alone on its own merits without considering what precedes or follows in the series, as incoherent and disjointed as this discourse may be.Apropos: Hú Bāyī's fēngshuǐ Bā guà compass as seen in "Mōjīn: The Lost Legend" is very different from the fēngshuǐ Luópán compass seen in "Candle in the Tomb: The Weasel Grave". The fēngshuǐ Luópán geomantic Chinese magnetic compass would be more typical of one passed down through the generations, where the fēngshuǐ Bā guà compass seen in the film seemed like a contraption created for the film, or an invention of the early 20th century if such ever existed.

Veteran tomb raider Hu Bayi’s tomb raiding days are behind him until a tragic event from his past brings him and his partners back to raid another tomb for the mythic Equinox Flower for a cult who want it for their standard nefarious schemes. Between them and the Equinox Flower are an army of ancient traps and puzzles that despite years and years are as fresh as the day they were installed. I am jealous of the reliability of old time workmanship. My washing machine barely lasted two years before I had to replace the pump but these traps are still utterly lethal and probably can wash my clothes better than my washing machine can.The semi-sequel to The Chronicles of a Ghostly Tribe which is based on the book series Ghost Blows Out the Light is a fun filled Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones style romp through an ancient tomb. Some of the means to move the plot from point A to B are fairly tortured, the only way to make them more tortured would be to tie them to the rack and release a thousand caterpillars over their body. The ending too is a little too Scooby Doo but the movie makes up for it with some amazing set pieces and thrilling action.

Three modern practitioners of the ancient art of grave robbing pursue a mythical treasure in the wilds of Mongolia. Great scenery, some flashbacks adding to the context, sympathetic leads, unexpected ending. I enjoyed it.

It was an ok movie with decent elements of humor, action, etc, but have low expectations going into it. The trailer portrayed a movie with some pretty badass action sequences and while it did have a couple, they were few in number. The overall film made me want bash the comic relief's head in.

If you are not familiar with Ghost Blows out the Light aka Candle in the Tomb series, this would the first movie I would suggest to watch. Make sure you have English subtitles on when watch it with Mandarin as the audio. it gives you the full affect of movie as they battled out with zombies and other mysterious things.I've watched this movie twice and still loved it...well except for the zombies and it has become one of my favorite shows as well as the Candle in the Tomb series.

Both serious and entertaining

The Mojin movies are a mix of Tomb raider & Indiana Jones. Good story line, great effects, and fun to watch.

It says that supports English subtitles. Only about .01 percent of the movie is in English subtitles. Those are things like grunts, whistles, and the occasional English speaking actors. You have no clue as to the content because all the dialogue is in Chinese.