Uma_shakti

I went in with no expectations and ended up having a lot of action-packed fun with crazy-good visuals, as you'd expect from a movie. I am a little biased because I love both Zhu Yilong's and Tan Jianci's acting, so if you appreciate these two as actors (as well as their immaculate face cards :D) you're likely to enjoy this movie A LOT, which I did purely for the portrayal of A-Qi and Wan Ziqiang.

The movie has a very fun, campy vibe of both catch-me-if-you-can and the robin-hood-from-the-slums, where the main protagonist decides he's above the law, above anyone and anything, really, is protected by Heavens and can pull the craziest stunts. For the most part - he does! Wan Ziqian, as portrayed by Zhu Yilong, is unhinged in the very best sense, likes to play it big, and bites more than he can actually chew, so expect a lil bit of drama in there along with all the heists. He's a weirdo, but you sorta start feeling for him and his cause - take money from the rich and make the whole system bend over, including the law.

Then comes the law, as portrayed by Tan Jianci as Qi Honggang, the very charismatic bad-boyish cop with a very unyielding sense of right and wrong, kind of a perfect representative of the system (I really wished the movie would have spent a bit more time exploring his point of view and how maybe it changed over time, because Wan Ziqiang wasn't really a bad-bad person, just a robin-hoodish delinquent). Where the character went under-explored by the movie, Tan Jianci delivered in his powerhouse acting and absolutely gobsmacking looks :D Tanned and dangerous! I don't know what 'rugged' type of look they were going after, but he ended up looking more beautiful than ever, ahah XD (but in a very manly way, of course).

I loved the leitmotif of the cat-and-mouse game and game partners, which becomes evident after you watch the very final scene of the movie (I won't spoil, but it almost turns the tables and makes you think over the whole agenda of Wan Ziqiang and why he was doing all this stuff, apart from trying to prove his invincibility).

So, in general, I think these two powerhouse actors carried the whole movie perfectly well. Zhu Yilong truly excelled in portraying the unhinged/damanged, yet playful 'villain' who simply didn't know when to stop (and I felt even A-Qi would have been forgiving if he simply dropped off the face of the earth after a few heists to live out his days using his wealth). But that didn't happen, alas. I would have loved more backstory for Qi Honggang, but even so, Tan Jianci's delivery was A++. They're just a very charismatic OTP.