Film Review: New Gods: Yang Jian

By Manuel

New Gods: Yang Jian is the latest animated film from Light Chaser Animation and director Zhao Ji, both of whom previously brought us White Snake and New Gods: Nezha. It is the second movie in the New Gods series and is a take on the Chinese mythological figure of Yang Jian (also known as Erlang Shen). The English-language version, presented in both subtitled format and with a brand new dub, is brought to us by way of GKIDS. So, let's take a look and see if this is the first must-see animation movie of the year.

The movie opens up with Yang Jian, a bounty hunter who struggles to make ends meet, deliver a bounty for a paltry 20 strings of cash. This money is desperately needed as he isn't working solo. Yang Jian not only has an entire ship to keep fueled up, but he also has a crew that feel like they were lifted straight out of Cowboy Bebop. After depositing his bounty in prison he soon finds himself hunting down Chenxiang, a thief that the mysterious Wanluo wants found since he stole the magical lotus lantern that belonged to her sister. Nothing is ever simple though as it's shortly revealed that Yang Jian is not just a simple bounty hunter, he was once a powerful god, one who lost his powers twelve years ago after he trapped his sister beneath a mountain for the crime of having an affair with a mortal. What about Chenxiang? Well, it turns out that he's Yang Jian's estranged nephew who is trying to use the stolen lotus lantern to free his mother, Yang Jian's sister, from the mountain she's trapped under. Oh, and Wanluo lied about the lotus lantern's ownership and why she wants Chenxiang tracked down. It doesn't take long for the simple plot to get surprisingly complicated and the story weaves between several characters, all of whom have ulterior motives as to why they're helping or hindering Chenxiang in his quest.

Our Hero: Yang Jian

Wanluo In Action

Let's talk about those characters a bit. It's hard to watch the first half hour of this movie and not get the aforementioned Cowboy Bebop vibes. Yang Jian and his crew have an almost one-to-one with the crew of the Bebop, right down to having a dog. This doesn't affect the movie much except as an odd series of references and a section of the movie that feels like it belongs to something else. Actually, very little from the first half holds all the way to the end as the movie has a major shift in the partway through that makes one wonder if two different crews worked on it. It can also be a bit confusing keeping track of some of the characters and their motivations as they are often presented with little introduction, or refer back to events that are only briefly mentioned. This seems a bit odd as the movie doesn't always shy away from overtly letting the audience know where we are at most times. If only they'd carried on with that throughout. Without going too deep into plot spoilers, the movie's antagonists are also thrust upon us rather abruptly and because of this their motivations are barely developed.

Like I said earlier, New Gods: Yang Jian has two distinct halves: the first follows Yang Jian unravelling the mystery surrounding Chenxiang and Wanluo, and the second attempts to bring all the various plot threads together. This leads to pacing problems as the first half is full of action, impressive set-pieces, and moves along quickly even with its occasional awkward exposition dumps. The second half slows to a crawl and manages to twist up the movie's simple plot. It also trades off characters as Yang Jian's interesting, if copyright-infringing, crew drop out of the movie by this point, and those barely developed antagonists start to take front and center stage. We even have a very useless character in the form of Shen Gongbao, the General of the Eastern Sea, who was all but wasted on one good action sequence. The setup of the main plot, and the ending, give off the feeling that this is part of a larger series, which it technically is, but the New Gods movies are so far standalone so there's also nowhere to go if you're looking for further clarification on where certain characters are dropping in from and why they're doing what they're doing. Also, before anyone wonders, this isn't exactly an accurate retelling of the popular stories surrounding the mythical Yang Jiang/Erlang Shen. Basically, this is all you get of the story and it definitely leaves one wanting.

The Elusive Chenxiang

One of The Many Beautiful Locations

​What New Gods: Yang Jian fails to deliver in plot, writing, and characters it makes up in animation and music. The animation is incredible and there's level of detail in most of the settings that make them all pretty memorable. Everything feels unique and the action sequences have the perfect mix of wuxia-style action while not being too over-the-top. Other sequences, such as Wanluo's dance scene and a sequence that changes art style to one that is hand painted, stick out too. Light Chaser Animation really outdid itself here and it makes one want to check out more of the work. Thankfully those are more enjoyable experiences. Music is also on point as both the score and the original vocal songs shine throughout and compliment everything well without being too distracting. The voice cast is also great in both Chinese and English and, even though I was unable to watch the dubbed version for this review, it's worth noting that GKIDS went out of their way to bring together an entire AAPI cast for the dub.

There clearly was a lot of love put into this movie, and Zhao Ji is a very talented director, but there are just too many points that make this one hard to recommend. It also runs over two hours in length so it doesn't even lend itself well to a casual viewing just to experience the visuals. It isn't a bad movie, but it is far from a good and one can't help but feel that it may have benefited from some rewrites and tighter editing. If you choose to check this one you probably won't regret the time spent on this movie, but it doesn't really stand up when compared to New Gods: Nezha Reborn, or even White Snake, hopefully the next title in this series proves to be better.

For More Information on New Gods: Yang Jian:
https://gkids.com/films/new-gods-yang-jian/

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Overall Rating: C-

Pros:
+ Excellent animation and action sequences.
+ Great voice casts in both versions of the movie.

Cons:
- Bad pacing keeps this one from being as enjoyable as it could've been.
- A relatively simple plot becomes oddly convoluted by the end, and the character's motivations aren't well characterized.
- The first quarter of the movie feels completely detached from the rest, right down to the Cowboy Bebop feels.
- Is not the best adaptation of the Yang Jian/Erlang Shen tale.

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