Ancient spiritual battles collide with modern urban life in this mostly amusing fantasy starring Hong Kong’s top ghostbuster, the late great Lam Ching Ying.

Ching Ying fits comfortably into the role of a Taoist priest in ancient times who confronts an evil Japanese ghost with the aid of a bungling assistant named Tortoise and a thick-headed soldier named Ma Sheung Fung who was ordered by the Emperor to kill the ghost or else. This evil spirit possesses a beautiful woman named Cici (Joey Wong) who is killed during the ensuing struggle. Ching Ying performs a ritual to trap the ghost by opening a “Heaven’s Gate” that sucks everyone else into the portal, sending them 1000 years into the future which is Hong Kong circa 1991.

Appropriately enough, Ching Ying lands in the middle of a film shoot and believing one of the cast members to be the ghost, ends up knocked unconscious after attempting to attack him. Further mishaps in a hospital land him in a mental institution where he meets Gigi, a psychiatrist who is the reincarnated form of Cici. Meanwhile, Ching Ying’s accomplices are kicked out of a Catholic church after Fung roasts a pigeon over a burning pile of Bibles. While searching for their master, Gigi spots the pair and the ancient men are reunited since she has decided to help them. After Gigi’s insane former boyfriend (Anthony Wong) kidnaps her and brings her to the Catholic church, the evil ghost emerges from hiding and Ching Ying prepares to fight his nemesis again.

This film was another take on the “warriors out of time” scenario seen in a number of New Wave films, including Kung Fu vs. Acrobatic (1990) and The Iceman Cometh (1989) starring Yuen Biao and Maggie Cheung. An Eternal Combat adds more of a horror element with the inclusion of the ghost and the Taoist powers that provide the means by which everyone is transported into the future. There is also a surprising amount of genuinely funny moments as Ching Ying and his friends struggle to grasp the modern world around them. A highlight is the hospital scene where Lam’s attempt to make his initial getaway by smacking around several patients in casts is.

Although much of the film features lighter situations, portions unevenly remind you that you are still watching a horror film. The ghost’s heavily wired rampage early on to capture Cici leaves her guards blasted apart and roasted alive while Anthony Wong’s lunatic ravings almost make the ghost look like a nice guy. Wong made his name in Hong Kong playing extremely unsavory modern day villains such as a cannibal serial killer in The Untold Story (1993). He spends all his time in the film terrorizing Joey Wong and this is where the filmmakers begin to lose their focus. The scenes which include one very unnecessary attempted rape by a naked Wong are overlong and seriously upset the fantasy elements which otherwise dominate the film. The ghost is actually shelved for the bulk of the film and there is a feeling that the filmmakers could not decide on whether to go for slasher-style realism or ghostly evil. Luckily, as the film draws to a close, the ghost returns and Lam Ching Ying is able to have an impressively staged battle in a junkyard.

On the technical front, aside from at least one visible wire and dated visual effects, the action sequences are well choreographed. The scene where Lam Ching Ying hops from truck to truck on a busy highway is really well done and fun to see since that type of wirework is usually reserved for scaling castle walls or bamboo trees in a period setting. The lighting, sets and colors featured at the beginning of the film are particularly striking.

It’s not the effects or action but Lam Ching Ying who really makes An Eternal Combat worth watching. His screen persona is so well established by this point that he can simply walk in front of the camera and you know he’s going to kick some serious ghost butt. Yet, he handles the drama and humor just as deftly as he swings a sword. Now if they had only left out Anthony Wong’s foul character, the film would have been much better.

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