18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Beauty of Mythology, April 28, 2002
Green Snake is a movie directed by the imaginative hands of Tsui Hark (Once Upon A Time In China, Time and Tide).
This movie is a enthralling fantasy set during the Southern Sung Dynasty about a monk who sets out to eradicate the world of evil spirits. During his moral missions, he encounters "Green Snake," a spirit who takes the shape of a beautiful woman in order to benefit humankind.
Maggie Cheung (Police Story, The Heroic Trio, In The Mood For Love) and Joey Wong (Butterfly & Sword, A Chinese Ghost Story) play two beautiful half-human/half-snakes. Son Ching (Wong), after 1000 years of discipline, has begun to evolve from her snake form into a human being. Green Snake (Cheung), with only a mere 500 years of practice, is content on simply slithering around, until a Buddhist monk, played by Vincent Zhao Wenzhuo (Fong Sai Yuk), with magnificent powers becomes their greatest foe.
In her human form, Son finds love. However, Green Snake is torn between the love of her best friend Son and her mischievious spirit-self that wants nothing better than to middle with the love interest of Son as well as play with and beguile humans.
Enraged over the fact that either would dare to even attempt to assume human form, the Buddhist Monk quickly passes judgment and takes matters into his own hands.
This movie stars: Joey Wong (Wang Zu Xian), Maggie Cheung (Cheung Man-Yuk), Vincent Zhao Wenzhuo (Chiu Man Cheuk), Wu Hsing-Guo (Wu Kuo Chiu, Wu Hsin-Kuo), Ma Cheng Miu, Tin Fung, Chan Dung Mooi.
This movie offers exquisite plateaus, vivid costumes and sets, and simply unforgettable imagery.
Lastly, the only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because of the subtitles. The subtitles at times are barely legible. They are small and in white. Its hard very difficult to read them at times. Other than this, it makes an excellent addition to my growing of films from China.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A better edition?, October 14, 2005
This movie is beautiful, but if you care about video quality and the readability of subtitles, you might want to look instead for the 2004 "DTS Version" from Mei Ah Entertainment.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Old Folk Story with a Twist !, February 17, 2001
From highly-acclaimed special-effects Director Tsuk Ke, comes a story based on a old Chinese Folk Story (but with a twist).
Story goes like this:
2 Snake Spitirs, one White & the other Green (played excellently by Joey Wong & Maggie Cheng respectively) wanted to feel what's it would be like to be a human, decided to descend onto earth to become one. What they desired was also, most importantly, to understand it's complexity and feel what human love is.
Wise and more powerful was White Snake (as she has been mediating for more than 1,000 years) as compared to Green Snake (500 years).
Fun they had but trouble soon erupted when White Snake choose an honest man (played by i can't remember the name)to wed and to hold. To make matters worst, Green Snake incidentally falls for the Monk (played by another HK actor), which is determined to ride the world of all spirits & devils. This soon brings upon jealousy between the 2 sisters as one has a happy marriage while the other cannot fufill her wish to be human & being love.
Finally, after discovering the 2 Snake Spirits. The Monk decides to capture White Snake's husband by force in hope to awaken him from the sins (for have a relationship with a unworldly spirit).
Both Snake Spirits, bonded together as sisters, decided to make an attempt to rescue him from the monk despite knowing their chances of winning are slim. For Green Snake, she finally understand the cost of being a human and the love for her Sister. As for White Snake, to finally become a human and have in her the child of her husband. She's determined to save the only man she so love, even if it means ...
** The story boost some of the Best Special Effects in the history of Chinese film making (Coming from Tusk Ke, it's no suprise) and a great story line.
One last note, although this movie didn't do well at the box-office. But look beyond that, it does help tell you -- never underestimate the power of love and the human race or spirits for that matter.
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