This review may contain spoilers
One of the better Condor Hero adaptationns.
Overall I really enjoyed this movie. The music, costumes, sets, vfx, and just overall production was top notch. The story was serviceable but was made up by the performance by the cast. The actor/actress for Guo Jing and Huajun stood out to me in particular. The portrayal of Huang Rong was fine to me. She just felt a bit too passive, looking around alot. I also appreciated that they spoke Mongolian whenever it was present. For a big chunk of the movie as well, not just a few phrases.
But.....this is coming from someone who has seen the other adaptations and knows the story. Which leads to some criticisms.
The movie does not cover the entire first part of the trilogy, but rather a section of it. To catch viewers up to speed on what has happened with our main characters, the film had a 10-15 minute compilation/recap of the story along with flashbacks here and there. I personally thought they were well done, for....someone who is already familiar with the story. If you are a new viewer, you might be a bit lost with all the names, lore, and relationship they throw at you. Even within the movie, the characters act as if the viewer already know of them and their relations. The way the recap and flashback scenes presented also felt like it was taken from or was a part of a previous prequel film. Because this definitely felt like the 2nd or 3rd movie of a longer series.
My last comment is more of a personal preference. When watching wuxia , I like the martial arts to be a bit more hand to hand combat with some fantasy/supernatural elements. In this movie, they went all out on the special effects for the fighting. Almost like Air and Firebenders going at it. At one point I laughed thinking wow they did Avatar the last Airbender better than the actual live action.
But.....this is coming from someone who has seen the other adaptations and knows the story. Which leads to some criticisms.
The movie does not cover the entire first part of the trilogy, but rather a section of it. To catch viewers up to speed on what has happened with our main characters, the film had a 10-15 minute compilation/recap of the story along with flashbacks here and there. I personally thought they were well done, for....someone who is already familiar with the story. If you are a new viewer, you might be a bit lost with all the names, lore, and relationship they throw at you. Even within the movie, the characters act as if the viewer already know of them and their relations. The way the recap and flashback scenes presented also felt like it was taken from or was a part of a previous prequel film. Because this definitely felt like the 2nd or 3rd movie of a longer series.
My last comment is more of a personal preference. When watching wuxia , I like the martial arts to be a bit more hand to hand combat with some fantasy/supernatural elements. In this movie, they went all out on the special effects for the fighting. Almost like Air and Firebenders going at it. At one point I laughed thinking wow they did Avatar the last Airbender better than the actual live action.
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