A new adaptation of the classic story of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, is receiving a lot of buzz in China. However, it is trending and making headlines for the wrong reasons as movie buffs say that the film looks a lot like a direct rip-off of the Hollywood blockbuster movie "Iron Man."
According to Kotaku, fans in China have been flooding the social media platform Weibo with their complaints about "Armored War God Monkey King." People are calling out the production for its shameful adaptation, which has been labeled as an "Iron Man" copy.
Fans also did not love the movie's CGI effects, as well as the bad storyline. For many, the film did not depict a Monkey King that should have been a strong and inspiring character.
It also did not escape the observations of the moviegoers that a lot of the scenes from "Armored War God Monkey King" were directly copied from "Iron Man." The Monkey King was even wearing a similar red and gold armor as the Hollywood superhero.
Some fans on Weibo also said that the film was disrespectful to the memory of Stan Lee, the creator of the character Iron Man, who died last Nov. 12. Others stated that the timing of the movie's release was off as Marvel just came out with the teaser to "Avengers: Endgame," the final movie in the franchise that showed Iron Man lost in space with impossible chances of being rescued.
The filmmakers admitted to Abacus News that they were inspired by movies like "Iron Man," "Gundam" and "Transformers" while filming "Armored War God Monkey King." But while never acknowledging the rip-off accusations, the filmmakers also said that they created the armor for the Monkey Key to show their vision for a Chinese-made smart suit.
This movie has been a childhood dream for one of the producers. Despite the difficulty in the technical aspect of the film, the creators implied that they wanted to present something that came from the creativity of the Chinese.
"Armored War God Monkey King" is a modern take on the 16th-century story of "Journey to the West." It centers on a monkey birthed from a stone, which then acquires supernatural powers and imbibes Taoist principles. The new version, however, injects the high-tech suit to update the classic story for today's audience. It opened in China's box office last Tuesday, Dec. 18.
