The lovable cast and their chemistry as well as the Yi City arc saved this drama for me!
This drama's overall worth watching, but you need to adjust expectations. I suspect the reason it's so highly regarded is because of its efforts to adhere to the BL elements, cast chemistry (despite relatively poor acting from many, they all fit their character counterparts and shared great chemistry with one another), and overall faithfulness to the main story beats in the novel.However, this drama is plagued with major problems in its storytelling and overall production (aside from its low budget). There's a good story somewhere in there due to the source material (I later read half of the book in Chinese and it made a lot more sense than it did in the drama), but the drama has the worst production I've ever seen and fails to properly tell the story. Everything the drama changes due to censorship is not well thought out, but they're too lazy to work on the script more and just assume people have read the book.
For example, in the novel, the past was told in a series of short flashbacks and was the least interesting part. But for some reason, the drama creators decided to devote around 30 episodes to the past when there really wasn't enough novel material to warrant all that time wasted. This resulted in padded filler (they actually made up a storyline that ended up being a complete waste of time) and slow pacing for the first 30+ episodes. The drama only started getting good around the Yi City arc, which was when it started focusing on the current timeline.
Even then, the drama's storytelling was often confusing without prior knowledge of the novel. I was lucky enough to have my sister by my side to explain some of the main story beats because the drama did a piss poor job of telling it using the camera. There were some weirdly shot sequences that left me utterly confounded about what the director was trying to tell me. This confusion was all cleared up by the novel, which was well-written and completely believable. Lol, the novel author's a much better storyteller than the drama crew.
The editing and camerawork is also very shoddy and amateurish. There are many awkwardly filmed sequences where they cut off character's heads or the camera angle's not quite right. But all this gets a free pass just because many people are in love with the cast/chemistry btw characters.
The best rating I can give this drama is an 8/10 and that's only because I fell in love with the Yi City arc (loved the relationship between two characters) and I also loved the sibling chemistry btw the ML and his brother (I actually found them to have the spark and angst that's missing from the lead couple -this is largely due to censorship preventing the leads' romance from having central focus).
In addition, I adored the younger generation disciples and all of their interactions with the leads. But I can't give this drama a 9 or 10 when almost everything aside from cast chemistry/music and some well-done sequences are all executed poorly.
Honestly, even an 8/10 is generous, but that's my biased rating and I admit to it freely, lol. The cast chemistry and relationships are what ultimately save this drama for me. This is the main area where I give credit to the production crew. I don't credit them for the ambitious plot because that came from the novel and they weren't even particularly skilled at telling it, lol. In fact, many story changes they made only served to confuse the viewer and some, like the Yin metal storyline, were a complete waste of time.
It's certainly not a masterpiece like "Nirvana in Fire" and it's not just the censorship holding it back either since the entire drama's replete with numerous craftmanship flaws that has nothing to do with censorship. Censorship certainly doesn't excuse shoddy storytelling (ex: the romance btw the ML's sister and another character was poorly done/inconsistent whereas it made complete sense in the book), crappy editing, and amateurish camerawork.
So overall, this drama is worth watching if you can forgive the amateurish production and manage to connect and fall in love with its many lovable characters. But do prepare yourself to be patient for the first 30+ episodes (some got into it after the first 15 or so terrible episodes, but I didn't fall in love until the Yi City arc).
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Deserves its current top rating on the list
I am very selective of dramas I watched online and typically I only watched those with high ratings. I must say this drama deserves its current top rating for Chinese dramas. Good looking actors and actresses, bromance, mystery, beautiful cinematography, special effects, comic moments, heart-wrenching scenes, melodious music rolled into one.The initial couple of episodes were rather confusing. But I was intrigued by the mystery of Wei Ying's death and resurrection, and I watched on - great job of introducing that at the beginning. When I reached the episode he was thrown off the cliff, I revisited the two initial episodes and they all started to make sense. Similarly, I was not impressed initially with the cast. But the drama improved further down the track and so did the acting of the actors/actresses.
I had not read the novel, but this drama deserves credit in its own rights. From the reviews of readers of the novel, there were suggestions of homosexuality in the relationships. But the drama was tastefully done and there were no homosexual scenes. Although I am not homo-phobic, I really do not appreciate homosexual scenes so I am glad of there were none - I do not share and appreciate the emotions - in fact, they are a bit of a turn-off.
However, intense feelings and camaraderie were enacted. The looks that Lan Zhan gave to Wei Ying were full of quiet intense emotions, and the feeling of pain at his death and suffering was well expressed. Wang YiBo acted Lan Zhan well. If WeiYing or LanZan is replaced by a female, coupled with a bit of tweak, this could become a romance story. In dramas, I have a type - I am strongly attracted to the charismatic, calm, intelligent, handsome hero of little words.
The mystery of what happened in the 16 years that Wei Ying was dead was not quite satisfactorily explained. Did he stay dead for 16 years until he was resurrected? If not, what happened to him in the 16 years? How did Mo Xuan Yue found and resurrect him?
And I love the music pieces - the theme song at the end and the music piece at the beginning.
I was impressed with the attention to details - they had chosen a boy who had dimples on his cheek to act the young Jin GuangYao - consistent with Zhu Zan Jin who had very obvious dimples and acted the adult.
Finally, to those who had started watching this drama and are the impatient type, stay on for a few episodes before you give up. And if you have not started, go ahead and you would not regret it.
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so otw to episode 14 and still, yes STILL i don't understand why this drama rated so high.
9.4! c'mom... the acting of this drama is so lame.
am i being like this bcoz i never had the chance to read the novel??? really???
don't get me wrong but i'm not into romance as well.
story of minglan is way waaayyyy better than this drama.
guess comparing them both will not give justice to minglan.
ps. got me until episode 14 bcoz of the rating
pps. i made an account just to express my dismay of this drama
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Just watch it now did you hear me...
I think this is a very good show and i'll recommend it to everyone to watch. It has a very good story line👍, very good characters👍, very good actor👍 and very good chemistry👍 in them so i think it is perfect in every way.... So watch it now.... Did you hear me..?! If yes, then what are you doing go now...?! That all and I hope you enjoy watching this drama...bye..?! No i haven't reach 500 characters yet so i can't post it yet.. 🤭🤭 I know I'm posting my review this late... And i have watched this drama so late and I regret it so I hope you won't regret missing this drama.....Was this review helpful to you?
Not my cup of tea, sorry.
I've started this drama because of all the good reviews it has received but I ended up dropping this drama at the episode 6. I even forced myself until the episode 6 because I wanted to see why it has received all those good criticism, but for that I've skipped a lot of scenes, way too much to be honest.The story sounds like a mess, to me. I really did not understand anything. Fantasy is not my cup of tea so it does not help at all.
The two main leads are very good especially the main one (the one who is quite stubborn 'in a good way'). They are good looking and well written. But even their interraction became boring after a while.
The action/fight scenes were really bad. To be frank I've skipped them all withouth hesitation. The reason is simple, it is as if we could see the rope that held the actors even though they did not appear on the screen we could clearly guess that they were well present. It is annoying. And, again, fantasy did not help it, I think it even made it worse.
The music is really not my cup of tea as well so I did not find it attractive, but that's my personal taste.
I respect those who have enjoyed the drama but to be clear, I would not recommend it. I am not saying this drama is bad, but in my opinion, it is overrated.
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This drama is made for fans
I meant what I say in both a good and bad way.When I say this drama is made for fans in a bad way, I mean that the series had poor directing overall, with the series sometimes feeling like it's a bit all over the place. And there's a lot of things I can criticise for in this drama too; the occasional weird camera angles where they zoom in and out on the characters for not much reason, the fight scenes with way too many ballerina pirouettes, the sometimes weird colour grading, the misplaced slow-motions, the moments when they linger their camera for much too long on the characters sometimes, and the clarity of the plot. The inexperience of the actors along with potential lack of directing doesn't help much either, leaving some moments that could have been much more powerful a bit lacking.
However there are plus points for fans watching the series as well.
As a fan of the original series, I've tried to avoid watching this drama purely because I know how bad adaptations can be with them often editting out key parts of the story, so I was pleasantly surprised at how they tried to keep most of the plots and characters intact for the series. The main cast had chemistry together and the moments they share together and the moments after when they part endear me to the series.
Overall, my conclusion is that this is a great series for fans to watch if you are not very stringent about how good the actual production is and details on how the plot is presented, because this show can be quite terrible at that, and not a great series for people that aren't as interested in BL and are not as likely to pick up the subtle chemistry when the main leads interact.
The original story itself had been great as it illustrated not only the main character but also the side characters personality, motives and how some of which lead to their downfall, and I think the series tried to show most of the ideas explored in the original, though in a more confusing manner than would have been preferred. If I was not there to explain the plot to my siblings who watched it along with me, they would have been pretty confused on how the plot is progressing.
I am pretty happy to see BL getting adapted into different mediums, but I do hope that when it gets adapted, the strength of the medium is used to create an even better story instead of a copy and paste. After all, novels are not scripts, and each has their own strength that can be used to a better advantage. But overall I still enjoyed the series as a fan.
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just because
OMG this is one of the most bored drama I've watch so far. Hanging on until the last just because this is untamed, which all the people keep telling this is good drama.Wonder what make people really like this drama. Yeah you can say this one good plot, really good written, their costume also good enough. But their CGI sometimes not that good, we can say their budget not that high, especially because I've watched this in Netflix, it became really clear of the bad aspect.
But I can't say I didn't guess who is the bad guy and his reason. Maybe that's one of the reason this drama became quite bored for me. This drama also really2 slow pace drama. Their start to get a little bit interested start from Wei Ying come back after missing for 3 month (I forget that place name) & having changing his personality a little bit.
What I like:
+ Sean Xiao & Wang Yi Bo indeed really amazing job doing their part. No wonder after this they name is reach the top. Especially Sean Xiao, he is one of the reason I still can hold on to this drama
+ If eyes can talk, they talk so much in this drama. All the hatred, admire, hurt, resent, etc really show in their eyes.
Overall: I glad I can say I've watched this drama, so I don't keep wondering about this drama.
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many breakthroughs in chinese drama
Im a fan of Chinese drama. I had watched many dramas since last year with the total accumulating up to 20 dramas at least. Much of the storyline reviews boy girl love relationship and struggle for power within hierarchy to name a few. So basically plot would always the same no matter how they twist the story into a different way. The untamed had been the most unique every created and it still fascinates me until now after 1 year. The story does not belongs to any of the usual plot I seen before. First I need to give 3 salutes to this drama.1) 95% of the cast consist of MALE. Surprising there are so few female casts in this drama and I would expect this drama would not be marketed towards female viewer. Well I was wrong in gender viewing statistic female and male viewers are equally balance. The center attraction well focus towards a very strong 2 male lead actors like xiao zhan and wang yibo. Both of them strong enough to magnet female viewer in watching them play.
2) NO KISSING AND LOVE SCENE but still xiao zhan plays a bit of gay-ish attitude towards wang yibo. I did not find it comfortable at first but later I got used to it. If xiao zhan one day change into a female attire and wear a wig., Im pretty sure I be easily fooled by him.
3) This is the biggest surprise for me. In a story full of brute force and very much masculine storyline I never expect the original author for this drama is actually a FEMALE!!... I did not mean to be gender bias but I had to praise her for her story work. To immense a female brain into male centric drama thought is a totally impossible feat let alone to make it so perfect without flaw , This author really deserve my praise. I really did not find any feminine trend inside every scene , Quite impressive indeed.
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Too long, too slow and too much information
Everyone was raving about the show so I gave it a chance.I have to start saying I don't usually engage on watching shows that are this long and about ancient China, they kinda bore me. I think that 50 episodes is too much; I watched 10 and I was already bored, the story was moving too slowly for my taste and the relationship between the main characters was in one hand beautiful and poetic but in another hand to cold and lacking touch (probably because it is a chinese drama).
The characters have these powers and they kinda give me anxiety, like when they are fighting a villan I am almost shouting to the computer "Why don't you use the other power you have, will be more effective" and so on. And my final complain is that the show gives to much information: I was watching this with so much attention but at the same time there were so many clans and information being thrown.
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This review may contain spoilers
mid
ok it’s been years since i watched this but complaining knows not the constraints of passing time. for ME how good a mdzs adaptation is depends entirely on how they tackle the lotus pier massacre and here it just … Had no weight to it at all. no menacing atmosphere, barely stirred my heart besides an immense disappointment. it wasn’t even nighttime. sorry for being a donghua warrior. xiao zhan was perfectly cast but that’s about it. no one and nothing else rly stood out to me and i should have just dropped thisWas this review helpful to you?
Headpiece Wang YiBo
I couldn't stray my sight from Wang YiBo headpiece, it's ridiculous period. On the other hand, Xiao Zhan was a beautiful and happy cheerful man. I love this guy...he's a great talented actor....a charmer...kind and I can name every good things about him and just focusing on him instead. I am not into 'chasing super natural' story line or 'school (class set up)'...Wang Yi Bo character wasn't that outstanding so far - he spoke little to nothing while Xiao Zhan did a lot of running (metaphorically) so I was kind of disappointed with Yi Bo. I am not into this line of story but I heard good things about the drama and yet still don't understand why this drama so famous and Yi Bo was getting much credits which in my opinion he's not as good as Xiao Zhan. I haven't have the power to rewatch it...not as memorable as I thought it would be so I let it off on ep 18 but will try it again for Xiao Zhan...lol.I couldn't finish the drama with reason like 1) too late watching it (2022) 2) don't like Wang YiBo who barely talked and especially the head piece 3) not my favorite of genre (super natural) and school set up 4) couldn't bring myself finish it as many other newer more interesting dramas out. So, I dropped it. Might not a popular opinion but...Xiao Zhan is indeed the best.
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This review may contain spoilers
Those idiots that gave this drama rating 10 read this
This is the worst drama I've watched, the storyline is totally ridiculous illogical flow. Is the screenwriter sleeping in his job? The flaws in the storyline are seen on every episodes with inconsistent character and storytelling development.When you're involved in death situations, would you be indecisive? The world is at turmoil, but these clans are indecisive even though they're being attack. They're wiped out by enemy they knew coming, but the screenwriter choose to keep a blind eye on the story development, which led the illogical reasoning on the clans demise. Is it logic? Those idiots that gave this drama rating 10, did you even watch this? Or perhaps you're supporting this drama because of your favorite actors and actresses.
My main complaints on this drama are the director and screenwriter didn't do their job well. How could you not seeing the illogical flow of storyline on the screen? It would have been a good drama if the director and screenwriter developed the story with attention and passion.
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