Heroes

Surprisingly well-done, brutal wuxia

I read all the reviews here first as well as the episode recaps on Cpophome to make sure this was going to be worth my time, and it was. I agree that the martial arts is not that impressive but it's serviceable for the story. I don't really agree with the reviewers who say that the plot is messy and doesn't make sense, I think everything made sense and tied together. I don't feel like any events betrayed the earlier characterizations or motives. The ending did not feel rushed or non-sensical, which has been the plague of many recent dramas in the last 3 years or so. The only thing I will agree on is that Su Mengzhen really taking a liking to Wang Xiaoshi and Bai Choufei so much as to want to become sworn brothers really quickly seemed a bit forced. I get that they rushed to help him without any obligation, but why he loved them SO much and why he was willing to immediately make Bai Choufei as Vice House Master right away over other loyal subjects does feel like it's just required machinations for the plot.

I also found some of the reveals and twists to be shocking in the moment, but after you think about it, there was enough foreshadowing for it to make sense. That's a sign that a reveal was done well: you shouldn't necessarily see it coming but it will make perfect sense after the initial shock.

Overall a really good but brutal, grim wuxia, so you have to be in the mood for it. Liu Yuning and Baron Chen were the standouts as far as acting goes, with Meng Ziyi a strong runner-up (this was before she got all the botox and lip filler that made her face immovable). Liu Yuning as Bai Choufei: incredible, enough things have already been said in other reviews so I won't prattle on. Joseph Zeng did well in his role but his role didn't demand that much as far as range in emotions. I was pleased with the character: oftentimes the morally-just ML is also a bit dimwitted, but thankfully Wang Xiaoshi was just but smart, aware, and still willing to kill without hesitation for those who deserved it. This is in contrast to Su Mengzhen (played by Baron Chen), who was also a moral beacon but he let himself be restrained by it in a way that Wang Xiaoshi did not. You could argue that it was because Mengzhen had more responsibilities as the House Leader though, so I guess that makes his character all the more tragic. Either they let Baron Chen use his real hair, or he had a fantastic wig, because it did not look like a wig at all, particularly the half-down look with the natural waviness of real hair. His hair didn't have the characteristic unnaturally-wide sideburns that most cdrama wigs do so I'm 99.99% sure it's his hair, at least in the latter half (I didn't pay much attention to his hair in the first half.) He looked gorgeous as the sickly, conflicted beauty. You can tell he's older than the others but he could pass for being 10 years younger than he is.

Yang Chaoyue as Wen Rou, as others mentioned, was a letdown but a lot of FLs in old wuxia and xianxias are kinda one-dimensional pouty girls so she didn't have a lot to work with anyway. Meng Ziyi as the 2nd FL really was more of the FL in that she had a lot of scenes and did the heavier emotional lifting between the two. I've never seen anything with the actor who played Di Feijing before, but he was great in his role as well.

Quick spoiler: I forget the episode, but there is a child's death at the hands of Guan Qi, so just be prepared for that.

As a total aside: Either they let Baron Chen use his real hair, or he had a fantastic wig, because it did not look like a wig at all, particularly the half-down look with the natural waviness of real hair. He looked gorgeous as the sickly, tortured moral beacon. You can tell he's older than the others but he doesn't look that old at all.

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Storyline could be better but the martial wuxia is pretty good

If story was as good as Sword Snow Stride this would be a 9.5 or 10.

I like all the characters and the seriousness of the story. People actually die and the main leads are not constantly crying about having to kill someone.

The fighting is much better than Sword Snow Stride. And I love the lore of the swords.

But one thing that's missing is nobody seems to level up. Everyone starts about the same and although the main lead learns one sword skill, there's not much leveling up at all. I miss the HK 80s shows where the main leads or even the evil leads learn new skills along the way. One of my favorites is 天蠶變

So far, a lot of the characters are kind of forgettable. I like the main lead but not sure what the main female lead is about. She's sort of in the background. She's quite beautiful and gorgeous. Male lead is good. But I am on episode 21 and still trying to figure out what the heck they are doing. I am kind of worried it'll end up like Luoyang where nothing is resolved at the end and it's a stupid ending. That was one of the most disappointing shows for me last year. Luoyang started out great and just ended up crap last several episodes.

So far after 21 episodes, I think it's 8/10. I hope it gets better. It's still good but a bit incoherent.

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Liu Yuning

I came to watch this drama because it has Liu Yuning.... I had watched him in the story of the pearl girl but its the prisoner of besuty and the dresm within a dream thar has made me to want to watch more of his dramas. Sincerely Am hurting watching this because hes playing such a repulsive character. I don't know if the writer decided to cast him this way or if its the character from the novel, from his nick name cabbage, to his ambition of wanting to make a name for himself in the city and questinable decisions he constantly makes displaying greed, arrogance and selfishness. It makes my stomach churn. Am used to him not beinggiven great roles or costumes in the past, but this is too much. It seems the writer really did not like Liu Yuning or didnt think much of him. I hope future writes can give him great stories because hes such a charismatic person that can carry a drama

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Ai, ai....China e seus finais abomináveis.

Começo dizendo que tentei dropar esse drama algumas vezes. Primeiro quando percebi que não se trata de um BL ou bromance (minha preferência absoluta), segundo pela quantidade de episódios, pois uma obra desse tamanho deve ter um enredo muito bom para conseguir prender o público.

Minha dúvida principal sempre foi: quem é o protagonista dessa série? Principalmente pelo fato de que muitos oscilam entre mocinhos e vilões por diversas vezes, como Bai Chou Fei (a imagem da bipolaridade e do egocentrismo), Lei Chun, que mesmo sabendo que sei pai queria matar seu amado preferiu dar todo aquele ataque de pelancas, Zhu Xiao Yao, que fez com que minha opinião sobre ela oscilasse diversas vezes, entre vários outros, que ora demonstravam um tipo de caráter, ora modificavam totalmente seu jeito de ser e agir. O protagonismo da série realmente fica dividido entre os dois casais principais e Bai Chou Fei, que revezaram os holofotes até o último episódio.

Em se falando do mundo das artes marciais, do qual meu pouco entendimento provém apenas das séries assistidas, posso dizer que me surpreendi como foi colocada a vulnerabilidade das vidas humanas (era muito fácil morrer, e em algumas séries os personagens parecem imortais), tanto sobre saúde como vida no sentido literal da palavra. O elemento "fantasia" também não foi tão explorado como normalmente, o que traz como benefício o fato de não sermos obrigados a ver efeitos especiais vergonhosos. Elementos comuns a esse tipo de drama, como as traições, dramas, o ar de aventura e a imprevisibilidade são muito presentes nessa obra.

O ponto principal do drama é a análise profunda do caráter humano, de como as situações podem fazer-nos mudar o ponto de vista e opiniões, como nos comportamos quando são os nossos interesses pessoais em cheque.

Em se tratando do roteiro, é muito bem construído, com fotografia e estética fenomenais, desde às locações até a caracterização dos atores.

Sobre os atores, gostei da atuação de todos, todos combinaram perfeitamente em seus papéis e convenceram em seus personagens.

A cena final, dos três irmãos encontrando seu destino final após tantas aventuras e desventuras, é realmente de cortar o coração. Não achei justo o final de Su Meng Zhen, já que ele foi o único que se manteve incorruptível até o fim, esperei do fundo do coração que ele ficasse curado, tive esperança até o último episódio, e que Lei Chun revelasse que tinha sido apenas um plano deles para que ela desmascarasse o representante do governo, afinal eu assisto séries para me alienar, de sofrida já basta a vida real hehehe.

No mais, gostei do drama, recomendo apesar de ser muito longo, aliás, eu não pretendo rever por esse motivo.

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A sinopse me iludiu

História forte e dramática sobre lealdade, ambição e escolhas, particulamente eu achei violento. A história é sombria, forte e bem contada, contém muitas estratégias políticas e de poder, vale salientar ao impacto das diferenças culturais que existem entre a cultira chinesa e o ocidente, inclusive nas relações e interações pessoas, familiares e compromissos assumidos. É preciso destacar que as atuações são realmente muito boas, as atuações são excelentes na verdade, para todos os personagens, as cenas de luta são bem marcadas e ensaiadas, tudo bem feito. A película é tipo escura, para caracterizar a ambientação e a história em si, a iluminação influencia na percepção das histórias dos personagens e das casas marciais, e vai evoluindo em alguns momentos com eles.
A OST não tem muitas, mas as músicas são de impacto e bem colocadas nas cenas.
Não gosto deste estilo de história, e pela sinopse jamais imaginaria que era assim, pois se soubesse nem teria começado, demorei para terminar, por achar violento, nem toda hora estava disposta para ver estas coisas, então alternei com coisas mais leves para poder finalizar, e me deu trabalho terminar, terminei sem pressa, e realmente para não abandonar depois de já ter passado da metade, pois fui assitindo esperando acontecer o que a sinopse dizia. Com certeza não assistiria novamente, nem indico a ninguém, posso falar sobre a história e deixar a pessoa decidir.

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