Maggie Cheung and Joey Wong play the half-humans Green Snake and Son Ching, two beauties who live in an open-air house on the outskirts of town. Son Ching, through 1000 years of discipline, has begun to evolve out of her reptilian heritage to become a human being; Green Snake has only been practicing for 500 years, and feels more comfortable slithering around, or catching vermin with her two-foot tongue. Fa-Hai (Zhao Wen Zhou), self-righteous Buddhist monk with extraordinary powers (and a bad case of spiritual materialism), proves to be their greatest adversary. Furious that Con Ching or Green Snake would dare transgress natural law and take on human form, he takes upon himself the role of enforcer -- a kind of metaphysical traffic cop. His lack of love leads to the destruction of his own ashram and a nearby town.

(3.5/4)



[Reviewed by Steve Spinali]