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The Butterfly
True love rarely goes smoothly, especially when it happens during a politically tumultuous time and both lovers are framed for different murders.
The no-name female lead was a Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. A brilliant fighter, she looked after her group of people and helped protect their small, somewhat peaceful island within a sea of deceit and battles. The new leader of the Wu Dang tribe stumbled across her on his way to deliver the curative red pills to the emperor. He promised to give her a name worthy of her beauty and skills. Along the way he was framed for murder, she was framed for murder and everyone ended up in the mountain fortress. As often happens, they fell in love and he gave her a name.
Trying to keep up with all of the plots and traitorous groups was difficult at best. Most of the time I was a bit lost as to who was supposed to be the bad guys. Except for Wu Dang and the mountain fort, the rest were duplicitous murderers. When the story stayed with the lovers, I found it to be engaging. Elsewhere, it tended to lose it's way, especially near the end.
The heart of this movie was the love story with all of the betrayals swirling around them for external conflict and to test their love and trust. The actors certainly looked earnest enough, though I wasn't completely sold on their chemistry. I'm really not sure why it was titled, The White Haired Witch. Zhuo Yi Hang had substantially more time on screen and development than Lian Nishang (the name he gave her). I was disappointed that she was given less time and character development for what could have been a much more interesting character. The titular character shouldn't be relegated to practically a supporting role in her own film.
The cinematography and costumes were beautiful and the natural scenery made for alluring settings. The movie did not disappoint in these areas. The CGI was disappointing when it came to people leaping around the mountains.
I thought many of the fight scenes were good. Most were fairly short and brutal. It was a wuxia which meant there was some flying around and special powers. None of that bothered me in the least. The only problem I had was when huge armies clashed with the view narrowed down to a few people making the battles small in scope.
The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom had great potential, it was beautiful to look at but was let down by the muddled political plots and lack of meaningful evolution for the main character.
The no-name female lead was a Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. A brilliant fighter, she looked after her group of people and helped protect their small, somewhat peaceful island within a sea of deceit and battles. The new leader of the Wu Dang tribe stumbled across her on his way to deliver the curative red pills to the emperor. He promised to give her a name worthy of her beauty and skills. Along the way he was framed for murder, she was framed for murder and everyone ended up in the mountain fortress. As often happens, they fell in love and he gave her a name.
Trying to keep up with all of the plots and traitorous groups was difficult at best. Most of the time I was a bit lost as to who was supposed to be the bad guys. Except for Wu Dang and the mountain fort, the rest were duplicitous murderers. When the story stayed with the lovers, I found it to be engaging. Elsewhere, it tended to lose it's way, especially near the end.
The heart of this movie was the love story with all of the betrayals swirling around them for external conflict and to test their love and trust. The actors certainly looked earnest enough, though I wasn't completely sold on their chemistry. I'm really not sure why it was titled, The White Haired Witch. Zhuo Yi Hang had substantially more time on screen and development than Lian Nishang (the name he gave her). I was disappointed that she was given less time and character development for what could have been a much more interesting character. The titular character shouldn't be relegated to practically a supporting role in her own film.
The cinematography and costumes were beautiful and the natural scenery made for alluring settings. The movie did not disappoint in these areas. The CGI was disappointing when it came to people leaping around the mountains.
I thought many of the fight scenes were good. Most were fairly short and brutal. It was a wuxia which meant there was some flying around and special powers. None of that bothered me in the least. The only problem I had was when huge armies clashed with the view narrowed down to a few people making the battles small in scope.
The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom had great potential, it was beautiful to look at but was let down by the muddled political plots and lack of meaningful evolution for the main character.
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