Reviews

Beautifully bittersweet

A wonderfully bittersweet update on the classic Chinese Opera, The Lovers thrives on overdone romanticism, but one that consists of lots of muted slapstick, opulent visuals and unbearably cute moments that are impossible to hate. Foremost, this iteration of The Butterfly Lovers is very adorable, wacky, and endearing until it suddenly turns horrifically tragic. One where our doomed lovers cry tears of blood, the sky is tinted pink, purple and orange, with the earth swallowing them whole. It all builds with incredible emotional power as it progresses, largely thanks to Tsui Hark's trademark style and his excellent eye for beautiful imagery. The visuals for the film are utterly luscious, with stunning art direction, production design and cinematography. The performances and chemistry between Charlie Yeung and Nicky Wu are truly breathtaking; you can't help but fall a little in love with them yourself. The music is simply beautiful, elevating the events of the film and immersing it in a dreamlike atmosphere. Sometimes the music alone can make you feel like you're floating in a state of infatuation, or mourning a tragic situation with much sorrow and tears. While The Lovers plays on some rather familiar and dear emotions, it also succeeds at being perhaps the most self-indulgent romance ever heard of, but equally compelling and utterly watchable.

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Life in the fast lane!

Life for 1970s movie characters was dangerous. The water wasn’t safe (The Poseidon Adventure, Jaws), buildings weren’t safe (The Towering Inferno), and the sky wasn’t safe (Airport). In Japan, the railways became a thing of danger when a down on his luck businessman decided the government and economic society had left too many people behind and planted a bomb on The Bullet Train.

Passengers board Hikari 109 only concerned with their own lives and problems. After the train begins its journey, the railway receives a call stating that a bomb has been planted on the train. If its speed dips to 80km per hour, the bomb will detonate killing the 1500 passengers on board. The RR company, police department and government quickly assemble a task force to identify the bomber and determine the best course of action.

The 1994 American film Speed was based on The Bullet Train. Aside from the speed and ransom elements, the two films diverge significantly. In TBT, the chief bomber, Okita Tetsuo, is the focal point. His schemes and unfortunate background dominated the story. Takakura Ken was more than up to the challenging role even imbuing his character with empathy. While Sonny Chiba is listed as a main, his part as the train operator was fairly small. The Street Fighter was in a constant sweat fighting panic every moment. There was no loose cannon cop who didn’t play by the rules. Though there were plenty of officers trying to do their job and failing spectacularly on several occasions. Utsui Ken as the level headed and compassionate Kuramochi was the star on the side of good. He struggled to find a way to save the passengers and showed why learning how to do story problems in math saves lives. Seventy-year-old Shimura Takashi had a small role as the railroad president. The hysterical, self-centered passengers had me wishing for a good old zombie apocalypse in a mirror image Train from Tokyo instead of Busan. The crew had no idea how to handle desperate salarymen more concerned about their deals than their lives. I suspect in the film’s world they had a post disaster meeting to install locks on the car doors and cabin.

My biggest complaint would be the music which was dreadful even by 1970’s “bow-chicka-bow” style tunes. Also with a large cast, it took quite a bit of time for me to nail down who was in charge of what. The police continually waffled between wanting to surveil, arrest, or kill the suspects which put the passengers’ lives at risk.

At 2 ½ hours, the film ran long though most of the time was put to good use with few scenes dragging down the action. The economic divide drove the bombing team who were looking to kick the government in the side. It was hard to be too sympathetic with Okita as he did threaten innocent, if annoying, people’s lives. Perhaps these passengers who could afford the expensive bullet train tickets appeared complicit with the struggles so many people in Japan were facing. As the world’s first high speed train, it made for a shiny target of revenge. The people in charge callously weighed the passengers’ lives against their reputations, with Kuramochi caught in the middle only caring about the 1500’s safety.

For a 1975 disaster film, The Bullet Train acquitted itself well. The ending was a small emotional letdown, but also what made it distinctly Japanese. The primary antagonist and protagonist weren’t in a life-or-death guns drawn brawl, but rather in an existential and ethical battle that held people’s lives in the balance.

8 August 2025
7.75 rounded up to an 8.0

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An everlasting spirit of breathtaking and fantastic adventure !

It's rare for the second film in a trilogy to be better than the first, but this is definitely the case here ! It's been a long time since we've had such a good Chinese movie.
This second part was incredible : super action scenes, the acting was good, very creative directing, a great cast with a lovely chemistry. It was epic, highly entertaining, filled with splendor, glory and epic tragedy.
The direction is really nice and also very convincing. You can tell that the team behind this film was highly motivated and put a lot of effort, love, and rigor into depicting the story as best as possible. A boundless energy emanate from this movie. It really feels like a breathtaking tragic adventure !!
The aesthetics, sets, costumes, and landscapes are reminiscent of many classic fims from Hong Kong & China, which I really appreciated.
The writing succeeds in combining extremely serious and triggering subject matter but also very specific to tragedies (such as perfidy, the themes of justice and revenge, legacy, legitimacy, what is right, good or bad, love, desire, the occult, friendship, the group, self-esteem, jealousy, the question of beauty, strength, the extremes that can provoke power or the monopoly of power, courage, spirituality, the idea of duty etc.) with a lot of humor, and a truly wonderful and adventurous childlike spirit (in a good way).

Some acting perfs could've been far better, I wish we got more depth through the dialogues.

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the first half is yawn fest

I never read the novel so idk about the story. My favorite character are Dokkaebi, Junhyeok, Jihye, Heewon. For the movie, I find Dokja contradicting himself many time; on train he seems to care to save people but then all his thoughts is about "if I want to survive I must make sure the hero don't die". So is he selfish or is he trying to save everyone? In green zone, his 1st thought is to save himself bcos Jihye said so like what...and Jihye, her role is literally being like added just to add a member. The part she killed the human-monster and shattered the green spot are cool but the scenes are def filmed separately despite they're supposed to be together. she appears out of nowhere and suddenly mentioning "master". The master never mention her what even is this? And how did she get the gun and speed? They show how Sangah, Heewon, Hyuseung, Gilyeong got their skills/weapon, but Jihye just appears as is. Then after she shot 1 bullet to fire dragon when everyone else did something too But on 2nd round when everyone fought the dragon she's not seen even for a sec? So is her role not important there? Then in end scene she's there ready for next scenario. It's really an odd character like should I care about her bcs the director don't show much of her but seems like she's important

I kinda not rooting for Dokja at all and hope that blue dokkaebi will eat his ass. Sangah Heewon Hyuseung Gilyeong can survive by themselves. And I think he should be shorter and skinnier if they want to make him look weak and easy bully target bcos he's so well built,no way he's a loser irl even as office boy like be fr. But after they killed the fire dragon, I still want to know what will happen next since Dokja knows stuff others don't so we still need him just bcos of that. They barely show Junhyeok backstory too like it's too simple to narrate a supposed hero when some other's scene being unnecessary

Everyone acting skills are just about the same. The game and coin concept are cool BUT the vfx is really bad. I only stayed til the end bcos I know Jisoo going to show up soon. Idk how many times I yawned during the train and that dinosaur stomach scenes, he took like forever. I'll only rewatch to see Jihye and Dokkaebi he's kinda evil-cute

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Even If It’s Propaganda — It Doesn’t Change The Fact That It Happened

If you’re watching Dead to Rights (南京照相馆) expecting a safe, dramatized war story, you’re in for a brutal wake-up call.

Based on real events during the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, the film follows a postman, A Chang, who pretends to be a photo developer for the Japanese military to survive. Inside this false identity, he secretly turns the photo studio into a temporary refuge for Chinese civilians and soldiers. But in the face of unforgivable violence and horror, A Chang risks everything. Smuggling people to safety and preserving photographic evidence of the atrocities.

The story and visuals are brutally honest. This film does not shy away from the horror. It doesn’t soften the truth to make it easier to watch. Instead, it forces you to sit in the reality of one of the darkest chapters in modern history and to understand it for what it was: genocide, terror, survival, and silent resistance.

The performances in Dead to Rights are just as unforgettable. Every actor delivers with such rawness and restraint that it’s easy to forget you’re watching a movie. There’s no overacting here, just honest, human reactions to inhuman cruelty. I have never jump-scared in a movie before… but the tension in this film had me on edge the entire time. It’s not a horror movie, but the fear feels so real that your body reacts anyway. This isn’t just a film you watch but it’s one you feel in your bones.

But beyond the emotional weight, Dead to Rights is also visually stunning in the most haunting way. The cinematography is rich, atmospheric, and deeply intentional. Every frame felt like a carefully composed photograph, echoing the film’s themes of memory and documentation. The visuals don’t just show violence. They capture emotion, stillness, grief.

Some are calling this film CCP propaganda but honestly, that kind of reaction says more about the discomfort of facing truth than the film itself. You don’t have to take the movie’s word for it. A simple Google search will show you the reality. There are real photographs from the time: babies impaled on swords, civilians shot point-blank in the streets, bodies piled like garbage. These aren't exaggerated for film but they're documented, and they’re horrifying.

Because of Japan’s censorship and silence around this part of its history, many in Japan still grow up unaware of what truly happened in Nanjing. That silence is not just painful, it's dangerous. It allows wounds to stay open and accountability to fade. Dead to Rights may be confronting, but it’s confronting truth. And often, the real thing was worse. Far worse ... than anything a film could show.

There’s also been criticism about young children watching this film and coming away with anti-Japanese sentiment. And while it’s a complex issue, I think we need to ask: why are we blaming the Chinese government for children’s reactions… but not the parents who took them to see a film this raw, this heavy? This is not a movie for kids and that’s clear. But the responsibility lies with the adults who chose to bring them, not the filmmakers who told the truth.

And even if this was CCP propaganda... it wouldn’t change the fact that it happened. The events of the Nanjing Massacre are real, recorded, and undeniable. No amount of political framing erases the truth of what survivors endured. What matters now is that we remember, that we educate, and that we don’t look away.

In the end, Dead to Rights doesn’t just tell a story. It preserves memory. It confronts silence. It says, “Look. Don’t look away. Someone lived this. Someone died here. You can’t pretend it didn’t happen.”

And for that, I believe this film is not only necessary but it’s a masterpiece of remembrance.

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such a great film

this really was a great watch the actors all played their parts so well, i enjoyed the plot of it all and i cried so much oml. just wanna say i dont think u understand how MUCH that yon suk guy? pissed me off omfg i wanted to punch him through the screen. i feel like it was also nice to see the devolpment of gong yoo’s character as well, the little girl his daughter played her part amazingly as well!!! the sets were amazing just everything i really recommend watching it if you haven’t, even if you dont like zombies or stuff liek this i feel like its a must watch!!

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Graphic war film with a focus on photography

Dead to Rights is a traditional war film. War movies are not my usual cup of tea, but as a photographer myself, I was interested in the photographic element of the story.

Honestly, there’s a lot I could say about this film but won’t, because that critique is more of war films as a genre rather than anything special about Dead to Rights. The only thing I will note here before talking about the photography element of the storyline, is that I believe accusations of propaganda against this film are a bit redundant. All war films are propaganda. It doesn’t matter whether you’re watching Dead to Rights or Gallipoli, you can’t expect the genre to have no political motive.*

The initial drawcard for me was how Dead to Rights depicted the use of photography in war and atrocities. A lot of films I’ve watched that feature photographer characters normally position them as a truth-teller. One example that comes to mind given its narrative similarities is The Photographer of Mauthausen (Spanish, 2018) which tells the story of real-life Spanish concentration camp prisoner, Francois Boix, who took photographs at the camp, the negatives of which he hid until liberation and were ultimately used to prosecute the Nazis.

Dead to Rights was a little different because, while it had a photography-as-truth protagonist, it also used the Japanese military photographer as a foil. Although not delicately handled, I at least appreciated that the film attempted to go beyond the usual narrative of photography-as-truth. Even the Chinese characters seemed less interested in journalistic style documentation**, and more so in using the photographs as an act of resistance.

But all in all, I think the film did ultimately fall back on the simplistic photography-as-truth trope. It was made clear that scenes in the film were derived from the photographic archive of the Nanjing massacre. This also meant that that the film ended up trapped, I suspect willingly, in a paradox that Susan Sontag describes of war photography:

“The photograph gives mixed signals. Stop this, it urges. But it also exclaims, What a spectacle!”

—

*Of course, propaganda films aren’t just limited to war films, although this genre is one of the more blatant forms.
**I should mention that, citing Sontag again, war photography as critical documentation – rather than as morale-boosting PR – didn’t really come into the fore until the Vietnam War.

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Watch this for my Alphabet challenge. This film is about reconnecting with family members who have long been out of touch and how to blend two cultures together through a single dish.

Once again, MDL’s summary is absolutely on point. So, I’ll not bore you with another summary, just read the summary provided by MDL.

What I like:
+ Interesting to see the family dynamic of Masato. How he managed to search and reconnect with his maternal family.
+ It’s so funny to see how easily the grandson is able to soften his strong-willed grandmother’s heart.
+ It's interesting to see Japanese people dare to walk through an exhibit that shows their brutality during World War II. And to see Masato actually show remorse—there’s something profoundly honest and reassuring about that moment.

What I don’t too like:
On the joke side, I just wish they had shown us more of the dish. Haha…

Overall this is a journey of Masato to find and reconnect with his maternal family.

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Stripped everything that made ORV good

They turned Dokja into a nervous loser. I could have accepted various other changes but ruining Dokja's character from an unabashedly confident, strong, incredibly smart on-the-go thinker, and strong-willed character who LOVED Three Ways To Survive The Apocalypse (TWSA) into a weak-minded, loser-ish, selfish man who hates TWSA? And on top of that they used his trauma to turn him into becoming a murdeous bully. Why? They also got rid of his main trauma. My heart actually broke with the way he was portrayed in the movie. I admired Dokja in the webtoon and that's why so many things made 0 sense in the movie.

SPOILERS/COMPARISONS

Dokja's reality is now the novel that he alone read which is what gave him his confidence and even arrogance in several instances. He never lowered himself to anyone. Not the Dokkaebis, not the constellations (which are barely given importance in the movie whereas they are crucial in the webtoon), not even when he faced the protagonist Yoo Joonghyuk, whom he admired in the novel. In the webtoon, he challenges Joonghyuk to throw him off the bridge. He also NEVER calls himself the prophet but let's Joonghyuk think whatever. And because they got rid of the fourth wall skill, he couldn't block off Junghyeok's lie detection in the movie. The fourth wall is an incredibly useful protective skill for Dokja and I don't understand why they decided to get rid of it. In the movie, he is practically shaking while talking to Junghyeok. Their back and forth in the webtoon is so good. The movie ruined it.

In the novel/webtoon, Dokja levels up his skills extremely quickly because of how in-depth his knowledge is of the book which impresses constellations and their curiosity gets them to sponsor him a lot of coins which just does not come across in the movie and is not given importance. His actions also shock the constellations and that is why BiHyeong agrees that Dokja is impressing them and decides to strike a deal. But in the movie, Dokja has not been impressive in any way. In the train, he is so timid he allowed his boss to take control of the ant box. In the novel, he is the one in charge of the situation and gets everyone scrambling for the insects. He leads the group in every scenario which gets them to trust and respect his leadership. Like telling them to leave the train as soon as possible and run across the bridge. This is why he gets so many constellations who want to sponsor him. And he knows that tying himself to a sponsor early on isn't wise which is why he rejects the selection. In the movie it is Lee Hyeon Seong who tries to escape the train and not Dokja guiding them. They don't explain why he rejects picking a sponsor and barely goes through the list. Can fans of the movie really say they were impressed by Dokja at that point?

Dokja having the fourth wall also helps him to offset the memories of his past haunting him. He also understands the importance of having companions because he read the novel. Because movie Dokja hates the novel, he has no foresight into the importance of his companions either. He even becomes selfish at crucial moments wanting to abandon them and survive alone and his survival comes across as more luck and not active use of his knowledge. The original Dokja also works hard to help them grow their skill set and become more powerful. Movie Dokja is like - oh btw you can use coins to power up.

Honestly I could complain about his rescue of Hui Won (leaving her to breath poison gas), not being able to expose the mayor (who is now a monster for some reason) of killing people for coins and how coins "spill" out rather than directly being transferred to the killer, the kid (Gilyeong) being so much younger than in the webtoon and Bihyung shooting lasers from his eyes. But it's not as important. But little things build a character and they took everything away from Dokja that made him Dokja. Also getting rid of Heewon's backstory of being SAed? This is what explains her anger and her seeking justice. Sang Ah became an average healer instead of a brilliant woman turned assassin.

On top of that they even tried to make Junghyeok a horrible person in the movie when he asks Dokja to ditch the kid while they are surrounded by monsters. Nothing of that sort happens in the webtoon. If anything Joonghyuk tries to get the kid to team up with him. They made him into such a lackluster character. The guy who is supposed to be a looker by the way.

Gong Pildo was also a big character but I can let it go because they didn't have enough time to set up every character.

Also the use of guns in this movie is ridiculous especially for Junghyeok. Even Lee JiHye should not have been using guns. But then they removed any connection to constellations.

The final fight, as everyone said, did not exist in the webtoon. The closest is the lesser dragon disaster which was way above their level that the Dokkaebi acknowledges but in the movie the Dokkaebi is like, yeah let's make this harder. But the situations were entirely different. It was really funny when Junghyeok lay charred to death because if he dies, he actually moves to a parallel timeline and Dokja has 1 less hero in his. But in the movie, everyone dies. Half of those characters were not supposed to be there in this fight. This is the problem when the movies decides to spend all it's budget on a star-studded cast. The director changed the plot so much in order to give everyone importance in a limited time. So now the main character is a shell of himself with no redeeming qualities or useful skills besides strength and even that he seemed tired at many points of the movie.

All that remains in the movie is a lot of different action sequences to wow audiences that have never read the source material and are missing much enjoyment from the original plot and true character of Dokja. Because you could have gotten action from any action movie and disaster scenes from any disaster movie.

I don't normally hand out 1 stars but the director chose to forego the whole OMNISCIENT READER part! They could have made a movie using elements of ORV and called it something else. That would have been better than reducing this incredibly detailed and complex story with great character arcs to action and CGI.

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Not what I expected

Going into it, I was expecting something similar to Guardians of Dafeng in the sense of humour, pacing, and action. I was met with something different. This is a film that can sit by itself, though it would be hard to follow along if you didn't know the lore of Guardians of Dafeng.
This is a quiet movie about struggle. The ending made the difference of how I viewed it - from a 7 star rating to an 8.5.
There were a few things that I was a bit confused about, namely when it was set. And if I remember Guardians of Dafeng correctly, this film might have created plot holes regarding where characters were and when.
If there ever is a series sequel to Guardians of Dafeng, I will be even more excited to watch it just because of a certain character in this I will be looking forward to seeing.
GREAT acting.
GREAT cast!!!
No Dylan Wang cameo, so don't be disappointed.
A beautiful story. 8.5 stars just because of the ending. I bust into tears.

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