Edit
Storyline
American journalist Nick Orton is caught up in the world of Chinese gods and monsters while on a search for the long lost manuscript to 'Hsi Yu Chi' (The Journey to the West) by Wu Ch'eng En. He is accompanied on his journey by a humanoid ape with incredible strength and magical powers, a humanoid pig-man, and his brother-in-arms, an ex-cannibal. Based on one of the greatest stories in Chinese history.
Written by
Lawrence De Meza <demzalf@earthlink.net>
Plot Summary
|
Add Synopsis
Taglines:
Reluctant hero, beautiful goddess, three days to save the world.
See more »
Edit
Did You Know?
Trivia
Uses several visual ideas from "The Monkey King" television series from the 1960s.
See more »
Quotes
Nicholas Orton:
So I might never get rich, buy my own jet, or even maintain a stock portfolio. But when I look in her eyes, I know that none of these things really matter.
See more »
Connections
References
The City of Lost Children (1995)
See more »
Well, this mini-series was the straw that broke the back for producer Robert Halmi with NBC. The faults of his previous rating disaster, "The 10th Kingdom" have not been heeded in this production. The screenplay is overloaded with over the top characters and situations that never let up. But, to me, the failure of "The Lost Empire" falls in three categories. The total miscasting of Thomas Gibson, who gives a tired and stiff performance. Gibson seems to barely be able to walk, much less perform martial arts, and his delivery is unbelievably stilted. The music score is among the worst I've heard in a production like this. There is little thematic melody and even less of the score reflects the rich culture depicted in the story. Third, the director chose to shoot most of the frequent martial arts action from the waist up, so much of the visual impact of those scenes is lost. Indeed, only Bai Ling retains her dignity in the production. The only other redeeming feature is, that the film did cause me to look into the classic book, "Journey to the West."