In the 1990s, with the influx of Japanese comics, a large number of classic comic films were born.
Director Lan Naicai became the biggest beneficiary of the Japanese manga adaptation, with two consecutive films - "The Peacock Prince" and "Asura".
Not only was it a huge success at the box office, but word of mouth also reached a peak.
As a result, in the short period of 3 years after that, Hong Kong set off a wave of comic films.
The first is "Power King" directed by Lan Naicai, the painting style in the film has stunned countless audiences, and it is very Cult color.
And Wang Jing, who has always had a keen sense of business smell, will naturally not let go of such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
He brought in Jackie Chan, along with the three goddesses Wang Zuxian, Qiu Shuzhen, and Kumiko Goto, and brought Hojoji's manga City Hunter to the big screen.
In the film, the characters of handsome men and beautiful women, as well as the bold and avant-garde painting style, became the crowning works of comic films at that time.
And Xu Ke, who has always been addicted to the world of martial arts, also embarked on the road of comic filming after filming "New Dragon Gate Inn" and "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu".
Inspired by the "predecessor" Lan Naicai, Xu Ke concocted a comic film.
The film continues Xu Ke's consistent martial arts magic style, but also adds a lot of creativity, and is known as Xu Ke's most Cult work.
"Monster City" is not only a rare science fiction film in Hong Kong films, but also a representative work of Tsui Ke Cult style.
Released in 1992, the film is based on the novel of the same name by Hideyuki Kikuchi.
Due to the large number of special effects and the background of modern cities, it seemed that at that time, the difficulty of creation was not small.
However, for Xu Ke, it is a familiar road.
In 1988, director Lan Naicai brought the Japanese fantasy manga "Peacock King" to the big screen, and after its release, it became popular in Asia.
Under this opportunity, Jiahe quickly organized the original team and filmed the sequel "Asura" of "Peacock Prince".
Not to be outdone, New Art City also adapted the popular Japanese manga "Crying and Killing God", but the box office was very unsatisfactory.
In order to save the defeat, New Art City sought out Xu Ke and hoped that he could create a masterpiece.
In fact, long before the trend, Xu Ke had a precedent of combining comics and live people.
In "Happy Ghost Saves Happy Ghost", he designed a bridge section that breaks the dimensional wall.
Therefore, in 1991, Xu Ke directed a comic book adaptation film "Uncle Cai's Sweeping Thousand Armies".
Unfortunately, under the market pressure of "bi-weekly", the film only received more than 3.6 million at the box office.
Although the box office was frustrated, it did not make Xu Ke lose confidence.
At that time, Hong Kong Comics had many classic works, such as "Wind and Cloud", "Ancient Puzzle Boy", "Dragon and Tiger Gate" and so on.
However, Nichiman has always been the mainstream of consumption.
Therefore, Xu Ke focused his attention on the Japanese manga "Demon City".
As early as 1987, the novel was adapted into an animated film by director Yoshiaki Kawajiri and renamed Monster City.
To a large extent, the live-action movie "Monster City" is borrowed from this animation.
Although the director is Mak Dajie, the whole movie has a strong Xu Kefeng.
At the beginning of the story, a brief explanation of the background.
Humans and demon beasts originally lived in different worlds. However, an earthquake connected the two worlds.
In order to maintain world peace, humans have set up a special "demon beast special team" to combat demon beasts.
In the long struggle, the demon beast gradually divided into two factions.
A faction that has a human nature and seeks peaceful coexistence with humanity;
The other faction retains its bestiality and tries to destroy humans and dominate the entire world.
The protagonists, Aaron (Dawn) and Jacky Cheung, are both anti-demon beast special policemen.
The two were born and died together, and many cases of demon beasts harming people were solved.
The head of the entire SWAT team is Captain Gasan, and there is a beautiful female secretary Violet (played by Li Ruotong).
Recently, the SWAT team found that there was a drug called "happiness" on the market, which could greatly increase people's energy, but finally died of exhaustion.
According to clues, the drug is related to a demon organization.
Originally, the case was handled by Ah Qiang, but he had half of the demon gene in his body, so the captain gave the task to Ah Long.
With nowhere to vent his inner bitterness, Cuong had to run to the bar to get drunk.
As a result, a liquid demon beast and a shape-shifting demon beast were found to be somewhat suspicious.
Fortunately, Aaron arrived in time, and the two joined forces to repel each other.
Soon, the two discover that the source of the happy pill is most likely related to the chairman of the large group, Yuan Dazong (Zhongdai Dafu), and Captain Kazan suspects that Yuan Dazong himself is a demon beast.
As the investigation deepens, it confirms Captain Gasan's conjecture, but he is not behind it.
The real mastermind is actually his son Ghost Zhongdao (Zhang Yaoyang), who is ambitious and has always wanted to take the opportunity to provoke a war between demon beasts and humans.
In the course of the investigation, Aaron meets his old lover, Fan Ji (Li Jiaxin).
A few years ago, when Aaron was on a mission, he was rescued by Fan Ji, so the two developed a relationship.
However, the reality of the special way of the demon is in front of us, and in the end, this love is fruitless.
Later, Fan Ji chose to marry Yuan Dazong.
Unexpectedly, at The birthday feast of Yuan Dazong, the Liquid Demon Beast and the Shapeshifting Demon Beast suddenly appeared and attacked the people present.
Yuan Dazong was seriously injured, and Xianji was injected with the drug "Happy", and the two were in urgent need of treatment.
At this time, Captain Kazan speculated that the two would definitely hide in a place with electricity and use the spells of the demon beasts to heal their wounds.
When the two rushed to the power station, they found them unexpectedly, and Yuan Dazong was arrested by the SWAT team in order to cover the escape of Fanji.
It is worth mentioning that Li Jiaxin contributed a performance of her acting career here, which is not small.
Afterwards, Captain Gasan suspected that the police force had an inner ghost, and Ah Qiang, who had the gene of a demon beast, naturally became the object of suspicion.
At this time, the ambitious ghosts are trying to take over everything about their father.
In order to prove his innocence, Ah Qiang secretly investigated and finally found the truth of the matter.
It turns out that the real inner ghost is the secretary Violet, who is confused by the ghost and secretly helps him sell "happiness".
Before Ah Qiang could reveal the truth to the public, he was hunted down and killed by the ghosts.
At this time, Fan Ji suddenly appeared, and he found out in his investigation that the mastermind behind the scenes was the ghost people.
At the critical moment, the demon beast ability in Ah Qiang's body awakened and escaped the disaster.
In the end, Yuan Dazong, Ah Long and Ah Qiang joined forces to fight the ultimate battle with the Ghost Dao.
Although the three of them worked together to defeat the Ghost Dao, Yuan Dazong exhausted his own strength.
Ah Qiang's demon beast blood was completely awakened, and he was no longer human, and in order not to harm others, he chose to commit suicide.
Fan Ji left with the dying Yuan Dazong, leaving Aaron alone in the rain.
It is undeniable that due to technical reasons, the picture presented by the whole film is slightly rough.
Even so, it is still impossible to bury this 25-year-old Hong Kong film classic.
Many of the concepts in movies, and even in some respects, are ahead of their time in Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters.
The film is a good blend of science fiction, love, thriller, gunfight, monsters and many other elements, and every detail is full of symbolism, full of innuendos and hints to reality.
Perhaps, from the beginning, Xu Ke did not intend to make a simple science fiction movie, but wanted to create a modern fantasy fairy film.
In this world, there is no distinction between demons and demons, good and evil are difficult to distinguish, just like rivers and lakes, full of danger.
Unfortunately, even if the film has Jacky Cheung, the two kings of Dawn, and the two goddesses of Li Jiaxin and Li Jiaxin, the box office performance is still not optimistic.
Although it is not as bleak as "Uncle Cai's Sweep of a Thousand Troops", it has only won more than 10 million box office.
The reason for this is actually the common problem of Hong Kong films in that year.
Li Jiaxin broke the scale of the performance, deleted before being released, this movie, became a regret in Xu Ke's heart.
Since then, Xu Laowei has also stopped his own pace of progress on the road of comic film reform.
After many years, looking at "Demon Beast City", its unique style is still eye-catching.