Stunningly beautiful LYX, a lot of CGI, promising idea... and that's all?
I've been waiting for this drama for too long, so I'm writing this review out of frustration. I think LYX is probably the best costume drama actor in China nowadays, and he deserves better - as well as we the audience holding expectations towards Chinese entertainment.Generally speaking, the drama is not bad and definitely watchable, LYX character portrayal is perfect and very enjoyable to watch, the visuals are a top notch, the costumes stunning, many charismatic actors in the cast, but...
The story is good, but the script is not. The production team wasted too much effort on the visual aspect of the drama, putting the scenario aside. As a result, the storytelling is missing a "storytelling thrill", a lot of dialogs seem very unnatural and empty, and due to the director's decisions, the screenplay is deprived of something essential to make the audience immerse into the world of the drama. The world itself is filled with too much OP elements that ruin its value as a wuxia drama setting. No cultivation cost, no power limits, no ability level logics, most of the visual effects are an obvious show-off. All of this stems from the excessive CGI usage, half of the screentime is actually a beautiful CG sequence. Can someone take the "CG-technology toy" away from Chinese filmmakers please?
The music, excluding the main theme, was unfortunately neglected by the creators as well, it sounds very generic, often too loud making the dialogs uncomprehensible, and never fitting the action. They better did remove the half of it for all good; I don't feel any investment in this.
The cast is nice, it's obvious the whole thing was set for LYX, and I can't complain. Characters are charismatic, almost each of them brings something unique: Chi Yun with his comical and cute personality; a daring, childishly stubborn miss Zhao; deadly serious and thus sometimes funny Shen Langhun; dramatic and crazy Liu Yan with his beautiful female companion... But the FL! Seriously, what was that? She made me wonder how she actually got the role in such a huge budget project. Her acting skill is like 0, just standing there in each scene staring at whoever is the speaker with opened mouth and meaningless glance (check it, I swear). The actress doesn't feel confident on the set, which is almost palpable, she doesn't understand the character and doesn't know what to do. Actually, the character's portrayal in the script is very weak in the first half of the drama, so the director was seemingly counting on the performer's charisma and creativity - and she failed. Probably, not her role (again, how she even got it?), but I think costume dramas are not her thing. Anyways, I will make sure not to see her again in any other project. Just remember Bai Lu if you think I'm mean.
So, in the nutshell, what we got is what we got, maybe the younger generation will be satisfied. We will never get quality content if all people want is just visuals, and talented actors will never have a chance to write their names into the history of Chinese cinematography. Well, LYX already did actually.
Was this review helpful to you?
