The Hero's Journey.
I've always liked martial arts movies. And this series gave me the feeling I had when I watched Jet Li's movies in the 90s.Caricatured villains, fallen heroes and a revenge that transforms as the events unfold.
What else do you want?
Excellent action scenes?
Well, here you go, Qin Jun Jie and Lin Yu Shen don't disappoint. They have the best choreographed fight in a TV series that I've seen in a long time.
Simply a treat for martial arts fans.
Just watch and enjoy.
Was this review helpful to you?
Sensuality and Death
It was a very good series. I got pretty emotional while watching it. There was a lot of action, a lot of fight scenes. There were too many hit-and-miss scenes and too many deaths. As such, the feelings that spread to those left behind, of course, passed on to me while watching. My only reservation from the drama was Qin Jun Jie. I love her very much. I watch your shows. Nice, fun player. He's into comedy. There are plenty of action and fight scenes in this series as well. Of course he wins them all. But the actress is already tall but thin. She doesn't have a flamboyant body. Not athletic. Also, it is recommended because they don't dress according to him. He looks both very thin and frail in those clothes. So, you say, what kind of hero is this? So that was not taken into account. When did it come to mind, in the last scenes. If only they had remade the clothes there. The actor would have displayed a more imposing, more tidy stance. I put a minus here. Otherwise, I really liked the cast. Valuable players. Liang Jie, Xing Fei, Lin Yu Shen, Ye Xian Ming, and others were very, very good. They fit well in their roles. Our supporting players were also excellent. The effects of the series on being so beautiful and watchable are huge. Of course, there are many mistakes, redundancies, things that should not be, fantastic events. There may be people who didn't like it, but I watched it with passion. I like. It was the kind of show I loved. And when there are famous actors and strong players, the pleasure of watching increases even more. I congratulate our director for this. He's been very busy. God bless your hands. It is an ideal series for those who like action and fight scenes, who enjoy emotionality, a little love and romance, friendship events. I advise.Was this review helpful to you?
Classic wuxia in an age of extinction
Side Story of the Fox Volant is a call back to wuxia shows of the past. The martial arts displayed in the show are a wonder to see. I recommend the drama just for the beautiful fight scenes, which are well-directed, choregraphed, and performed.The plot is based on one of Jin Yong’s earlier novels, and I found it to be one of the darkest, most brutal ones (as opposed to some more nuanced and humane of his works). There are no redemption arcs. The heroes seek revenge and actually kill their enemies in a gruesome way. There’s torture, truly evil characters, and no happy endings for most protagonists. As with many C-dramas, I found that the pace was sometimes uneven, and the last few episodes were not up to par with the dozens that had preceded them.
The cast is globally good. Lively, genial, innocent, charismatic, I found Qin Jun Jie to be a very compelling Hu Fei. In Listening Snow Tower, he had to play a completely different character (the male lead who is cold and restrained), and I was surprised by how warm and charismatic he could be. I also liked Xing Fei’s portrayal of the tormented Yuan Ziyi. She stood out for me as a complex female character, who is not just the male hero’s love interest but has her own agenda and storyline.
But my absolute favourite was Lin Yushen’s Miao Renfeng!!!! I remember watching the 2019 Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber’s adaptation, and thinking that the actor playing Yang Xiao, Moon Sect’s Left Messenger, was very handsome, dignified, and cool. Well… Lin Yushen’s Miao Renfeng is that, time one billion!!! He is the perfect soulful-eyed, melancholic hero, the too noble, peerless martial artist in a world in which the ways of the jianghu are disappearing. He steals every scene he’s in, especially when he gets to fight!
The production value was Tencent quality, that is, high. The OST was memorable. And did I say the martial arts were magical?
Like many shows, it has its flaws, but it’s a drama that every old-school wuxia fan should put on their watchlist!
Was this review helpful to you?
Questionable Casting
I was excited for this to air as I really enjoyed watching Lin Yu Shen in his many supportive roles in varies historical dramas. The first episode took off with a promising start. But overall story was average with mediocre dialogue at best. Nothing witty or memorable.Costumes: some of the best I've seen. I always appreciate the fine details of these elaborate costumes. The FL had almost daily outfits.
Fight scenes: great choreography and no shortage of them.
I wish the casting matched to the characters age.
You have the drama start off with ML at the age of 13. He's smart can save bunch of people with his quick thinking then he leaves. BOOM! 5 years later he should be (18 or at least under 20) but looking like a 35-40 year old. All his youthful smarts disappeared, and he got himself almost killed many times over. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Good thing FL came to the rescue! Now the FL has a lot of historical dramas under her belt, but there was 0 chemistry between her and this ML.
Mid way through FL left and came in FL2 the poison girl. Again, this character rescued ML a million time because she's smarter than him. Somewhere along the way ML's Kungfu improved 10x and in a flash ended with an anti-climatic finish. What I call an EASY way out with so many stereotypical C-dramas.
Was this review helpful to you?
Excellent!!!
I like how Honor and Reputation was shown and the bonds of the protagonists. This story tugs at your heart and leaving you wanting more. I hope the writer do more series with the ART as the focus. We miss seeing real martial artist showing the history of those ARTs, at least I do. I think the story was excellent and the music was phenomenal, especially the song at the end of each episode. I don't like telling to much, to those that want to watch a great action filled drama, except, you won't regret it.Was this review helpful to you?
A tale of truth and revenge
Hu fei,played by Qin Junjie,loses his parents at a young age and believes that they were murdered by his sworn uncle,the martial hero,Miao Ren Feng.He sets out on a quest to avenge his parents death,and meets Yuan Ziyi,played by Liang Jie,who is a very studious,sincere,upright person who stands for justice even at the cost of her life.Together,they encounter and bring down a tyrannical lord who had been the cause of suffering of a town.
Though Hu fei develops feelings for her,she restrains herself and sticks to her original plan of becoming a nun.
I liked this part of Junjie and Liang Jie,loaded with incredible actin scenes set in the backdrop of ancient China.Both of them excelled in action scenes particularly,apart from acting.
Then he meets Hero Ren Feng who lost his sight.In order to cure him,he meets Cheng Ling Su,played by Xing Fei,in the poison hand medicine valley.
The latter part focuses on finding out the truth of his parents death,kingdom and its politics,poison valley and it's hidden conspiracies and making the martial world a place for and of justice.
All the actors gave their best performances.
From the beginning to the end,it was truly engaging with not a single boring moment.
Action scenes and martial arts fights deserve a special mention which are fantastic and delightful to watch.
Truly a worthy watch.
Was this review helpful to you?
Amazing fights and story since beginning of ep 1
I’m not so fond of modern wuxia, although in the 90s I watched lots of movies about the themes so common in this genre. I’m an idealist, so the core values and main themes resonate with me. I also like adventures, subtle love, complex and/or tragic characters, and layered stories. In modern times, with modern aesthetics, I hadn’t found anything that really really caught my attention in wuxia: sometimes the production is good, yeah, but there’s no soul; sometimes the acting just doesn’t click and the fighting isn’t strong enough to make a lasting impression; sometimes the love story is too sweet or too romantic? I’ve tried the most famous ones of recent years and dropped them all… until I crossed paths with Qin Jun Jie in Heroes (2024). I was sold by his acting and charisma and then I found Side Story of Fox Volant. Imagine my joy when I saw Lin Yu Shen was also in it—an actor whose dramas I haven’t seen much of, but also like.So, I’ve already told you two excellent reasons to watch this show:
- Qin Jun Jie (Hu Fei, and also plays his father, Hu Yidao) is the young protagonist on his path of growth;
- Lin Yu Shen (Miao Reng Fen), the mature, tragic, and almost unbeatable best martial art master of the jianghu - the world of martial arts.
The acting, the charisma they both ooze, and the physical effort they put into the fight sequences are amazing - their scenes together are a delight because of the extra chemistry they exude .
Of course, choreography and direction are crucial in these types of scenes, and in general, the whole drama is excellent in this regard, with at least one good and entertaining fight in each episode. You also have female warriors or martial artists, with agency, personality and technique, but nothing can compete with the close-combat sword fights of the two male protagonists, who are totally believable in their roles. You can tell they trained. In this regard, the opening fight and the one in episode 22 are, for me, the best in a drama where almost every fight is top-notch. I found myself smiling and jumping out of my seat like a child from pure enjoyment. The camerawork was excellent here.
The fights are sometimes quick and sometimes rightly long, but always intense; sometimes brutal, but always entertaining—and in all cases, a pleasure to watch. What did I like the most? The unbeatable hero is presented in a way that makes you totally believe he really is the best and unbeatable—you’ll understand when you see it. The director definitely knows how to create an aura and make you root for a character, lol.
You´ll find some slow-motion, but they aren´t overused and what I liked about them is that they’re mostly reserved for moments outside the fights. My favorite, of course, is the one near the end—and you’ll know it when you see it.
The music enhances the story, the scenes, and the fights. Both the opening and ending themes capture the spirit and tone of the show. The opening one is inspiring, adventurous, and grandiose, but my favorite is the ending one—bittersweet, melancholic, and beautiful. So yeah, you more or less know what to expect now...and by the end of ep 1.
The pace is fantastic, and with the exception of 2 or 3 eps in the middle, it keeps you hooked non-stop. All the characters have a part to play, the plot is cohesive, and the production and acting is solid. One important thing: you have to keep in mind the time setting and genre, as there’s a lot of Confucianism, Buddhism, and wuxia values/principles/ideas that may seem difficult when seen from a Western and modern perspective. Perhaps the Qing Dynasty style might be discouraging for some, but when the acting is so good—have I mentioned how charismatic the two main male actors are?—you soon forget about it, and you’ll even find some characters attractive.
Hope you enjoy this show as much as I do if you like this genre or similar kinds of stuff!!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Hardcore Wuxia
No excessive use of CGI, realistic wuxia scenes with great fight choreography. Cinematography and OST were really good too. I havent read the book yet but not a fan of how the relationship developed between ML and FL.Idk if Qin Junjie was the person for the role, another actor might have been better?
Stars of the show for me were Xing Fei and Lin YuShen.
The stories/plots of the side couples weren't the best for me either. Like it didnt make much sense and it just felt like tragedy all round. Come on, you gotta balance a story, it cant all be tragedy, we deal with enough crap on real life.
Was this review helpful to you?
Miao Renfeng didn’t have the Qing Dynasty hairstyle.
Don't say that the costume of this drama Side story of Fox volant is wrong because Miao Renfeng did not have a Qing Dynasty hairstyle in the drama. Obviously, this place was deliberately done by the screenwriter and the director. Especially in the villa, when a group of so-called heroes with Qing Dynasty hairstyles. The story of Side story of Fox volant is similar to the story of martial arts “Love in Between”. The martial arts heroes VS. the imperial officers. Except there’s less tears shedding in Side story of Fox volant than Love in Between. Love in Between has a happy ending while Side story of Fox volent has a sad ending. I am a bit disappointed with the screen writer Bai Yi Cong because at the end Hu Fei didn’t have any love for his life, there’s only friendship.Director Lian Yi Ming is good at choosing a role. Character understanding, good martial arts design, Qing hair styles and clothing are all online. Every actor is so appropriate. The most outstanding role is Yuan Ziyi. Hu Fei, Miao Renfeng, Cheng Lingsu, Ma Chunhua, and Nan Lan. There’s a lot fighting scenes and there’s many poison sucking blood to save lives. Hu Yidao was poisoned, and his wife helped Hu Yidao sucking blood. Miao Renfeng was poisoned, and the rescued woman helped Miao Renfeng sucking blood. Cheng Lingsu watched Hu Fei's poisoning deepen and deeper. She made up her mind to take out the seven-star begonia from the spiritual position of Master and hold it, and then suck out all Hu Fei's poisonous blood with her mouth. Cheng Lingsu said that Master did not record the solution to this poison because he knew that no one would sacrifice his life to save people. But Hu Fei was terminally ill for her, so she would rather save his life. Although she really wanted to see Hu Fei's beard, it's a pity that she couldn't wait at that time. Cheng Lingsu lay on Hu Fei and died happily and peacefully. Hu Fei killed Shi Wanqi with his own hands. He buried Cheng Lingsu in the snow cave and buried it with his parents and Miao people. Before the anniversary of her death, he will go to worship in person. In a blink of an eye, Hu Fei has grown into a bearded hero, and Miao Ruolan has also grown up. She asked why Hu Fei had always worn the pan jade pendant. Hu Fei told her the story of the pan that the pan was now Wei Tuo. In this life, his love with Yuan Ziyi and Cheng Lingsu, his family affection with his parents, and his love with Miao Renfeng and others were all like pans. In an instant, he bloomed in an instant and then disappeared quickly disappeared.
I love the sound tracks that sound very sad and suitable with the sad ending.
I think Side story of the Fox volant is the best Chinese martial arts in 2022. I love all the characters Hu Fei, Miao Renfeng, Cheng Lingsu, Ma Chunhua, and Nan Lan. I hope China will shoot more martial arts drama like this one anytime soon.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Very good, despite being a Jin Yong story. ;-P
I loved this, most of the time.I'm not going to talk about how good of an adaptation it is, because I've not read the story and there are other reviews for that.
I'll say though - some people mention that the characters were altered and "wicked" ones were made more sympathetic. That it "dilutes" the story that was originally much more cynical.
Well thanks for that, thank goodness!
It's a Jin Yong story, so you know it's gonna end tragically, and it sure does. But I appreciated that it was made lighter and less depressing throughout.
I will also say that I still hate the everpresent wuxia concept of heroic sacrifice of life/happiness for duty.
OK, wuxia blasphemy over.
Overall thoughts before a list of random stuff: The show is well done and works on almost every level. Its look is quite striking - contrasty and mostly well and interestingly lit. The fights are well choreographed, but sometimes suffer from overly rapid edits and quick cuts, it's disorienting. The truly important moments deliver the impact. Music is actually memorable. The characters are well defined and most of them complex. The actors have great chemistry and even the child actors for Hu Fei and Xiaomei were very good and entertaining. There's some dodgy dubbing, Peter Ho's character for instance and the two little sons. Most main characters sound very good though.
Random thoughts:
- buddhism is fucking dumb and cowardly
- all this love and all of it unfulfilled, almost like that's one of themes. Still salty about it tho.
- poison girl is bae, in every adaptation of these stories I've watched actually. Loved her.
- Hu Fei has a thing for strong girls who tell him what to do. I can relate.
- Qin Jun Jie actually looks like he could fight, an extremely rare thing for a wuxia protagonist lately. Sad, but we take those.
I'll probably rewatch this someday, because it's genuinely good. But man, I might just turn it off a bit before the very end.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!!
I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm geniunely fuming. I'm literally lost for words. I cannot describe the hype I had for this drama just a month or so after Heroes. We are in 2022 people and we are getting such output from the modern day screenwriters. This is a prime example of a small man in a huge suit; the cast was brilliant and I won't take that away from them as they did their best to fulfil their parts, the music was bang on as it was the right music for the right type of drama and the effects just came in time, the editing was also bang on but they were all let down by the story. That story writer let them down massively; You literally cannot turn your back to your actors and the rest of the team like that.Let's first delv into the story: It was basically drag and you kept going towards the wrong road but you kept on still. The story hits me like one written by an arrogant or amateur writer, am sorry! That's how I'm feeling right now. I would kindly want to know why that young girl (Xiaomei) was kept in the drama for that long and even given all that screentime and why was she playing the role of an adult. Then we go on, why did those two young kids suddenly become an issue in the climax episodes then theree's also the medicine sect story with the silly disciples who were to be honest introduced poorly to the story. My main issue if you're to ask me is the useless side stories (Maybe it's what the story is all about: "Side story") in the drama. The mistakes in this drama put straight: The Feng Tiannan story shouldn't have gone on for that long, Guinong and his wife carried on for too long, The medicine sect disciples were really pointless Xiaomei's role misplacement. And that's just a tip of the iceberg.
To sum this drama, it's just poor. Poor from the writer and the rest of the team had to try their best to get the drama into line but it was too late for me. I carried on watching because I wanted to see the last episodes of the fights. The drama itself is definitely not worth your time - you serious drama watcher. It's just like Legend of the nine tails fox if you have watched.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
As far as Jin Yong adaptations go, this one is subpar. It does have a few bursts of brilliance, but every time I rewatch it I see more flaws. It’s hard to get past the poorly-written characters and hammy acting.Lin Yu Shen is a brilliant actor who needs no dialogue. He can convey so much emotion with just his eyes, gestures, and micro expressions. His Miao Ren Feng is both a hero and a victim. Unfortunately, he spends way too much time being a victim, especially of a loser like Tian Gui Nong.
Qin Jun Jie is a bit of a miscast here. He can act, although his smile is less like a hero and more of a rogue. His demeanor is more suited to irreverent roles like Linghu Chong or Wei Xiaobao, but not a straight up hero like Hu Fei. Unlike the cliffhanger in the book, Hu Fei does get closure on his relationship with Miao Ren Feng in a very emotionally-charged scene. I’m ok with them killing off Miao, but I have a big problem with Hu Fei not avenging his death. For someone whose entire journey is about revenge and justice, this feels like a betrayal of Hu Fei’s character.
Hu Fei’s two love interests are woefully underdeveloped. We only get to see the tough side of Yuan Zi Yi but not nearly enough of her tragic backstory, making it hard to understand her motivations and why she would choose nunhood over Hu Fei. Cheng Ling Su is too perfect to be real or interesting.
The screenwriters really don’t know what they’re doing in making “gray” characters, especially with the likes of Tian Gui Nong, Nan Lan and Fu Kang’an. They waste so many scenes trying to show Tian as a family man only to undo it all at the very end, painting him as a flat, irredeemable villain. As for Nan Lan, the actress couldn’t grasp the complexity of the character. Instead of a woman being torn between two men, she just toggles between them like a light switch. And Fu Kang’an somehow gets his own love story which drags out like a boring palace drama.
Then there’s the overacting the nth degree, especially from veteran actors like Peter Ho and Liu Xue Hua. Many of the supporting actors are so exaggerated they might as well be cartoons. The climatic scene with the extras is just cringe because the director somehow decides that extras can act.
The fight scenes are competent, keeping the wirefu to a minimum. But even the best kungfu choreography is no good if viewers don’t care about the characters. Except for Miao Ren Feng, the rest of them are either annoying or forgettable.
Was this review helpful to you?
