Yan Chixia - Five-Tailed Scorpion (2020)

Too much talking, not enough monster

If you saw The Rock’s Scorpion in The Mummy 2 and thought, wow!, that’s amazing CGI, you may be impressed by the brief appearances of the Scorpion Monster in this film. The synopsis said the film was based on a famous Taoist monk, but he never made an appearance in this story. There was Ye, a self-absorbed officer for the Monster Killing Bureau and Yan, a self-absorbed monster hunter who was ordered to help Ye by the imperial court.

Yan had consumed the power of a Red Wolf demon and managed to bring her into human form. Ye and his two cohorts dropped by and ordered Yan to help them find the missing Yue Ling village. Ye feared the Scorpion Monster was at fault for the village’s disappearance. When they finally found Yue Ling they discovered the villagers were indebted to the Scorpion Monster who had saved them and wished to live in harmony with him. Neither Ye nor Yan believed that was possible even though Yan and the wolf demon had become close. In the shadows, was a mysterious woman who whispered into Ye’s ear (repeatedly) that Yan was responsible for his father’s death and if Yan absorbed the scorpion’s powers, the emperor would make him a state preceptor instead of Ye. In the end, it would be a struggle to see who would conquer or kill the scorpion and what would become of the villagers.

The above bland description of the basic premise of the story was actually more entertaining than watching this plodding movie. A movie with the title Scorpion Monster, should have some exciting scorpion scenes. There was very little Scorpion Monster in the movie, and probably for the best as the CGI was quite poor. The acting was on par with the CGI. The writing was substandard, dull, and quite repetitive for a movie that ran less than 90 minutes. Eighty minutes into it I was wondering who I was supposed to be rooting for aside from the monsters. And the final battle was the definition of anticlimactic. I actually said out loud, “Was that it?”

Normally, I would try to think of something positive to say about a movie for those who might possibly be interested in it even if I wasn’t. But with below average acting, writing, CGI, and fights, it’s hard to recommend. If you get a kick out of watching a cheaply made monster movie that only shows the monster briefly a couple of times, this might be for you, otherwise best to skip this one or get stung.

10/17/23

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