Literary massacre.
Since this is a remake, I was obviously expecting something fresh that would make this title stand out against previous ones. Sadly, CGI and choreography were worse than previous versions. All the other aspects fell short too, with acting being the worst. I couldn't bring myself to feel any sympathy for the characters because there was no reason to, they looked like puppets with no facial expressions.Storyline: I cannot understand how a novel adaptation could be so badly written. You already have an outline, how do you fuck that up? Who are they hiring to write these? From the dialogue to character development to the actual sequence of events, everything was terrible. I could not find a single redeeming factor for this show to make me continue. Throughout, I was hoping it would improve, but it got progressively worse. Halfway through, I knew the only way to end the torment was to turn blind or turn off the show, I chose the latter and left my boyfriend to watch it on his own.
Cast: Not a single person on this cast could pull off their characters. XuDan looked like a doe-eyed, constantly frowning figurine, pouting throughout the entire show. Regardless of whether she was supposed to be happy, sad, evil, she looked the same. You could replace her with one of those life-sized sex dolls and no one would know the better. Just put some eye drops on the sex doll for the crying scenes and you're golden! If I had the power to extend my hand into the screen and slap some facial expression into her, I would. The ML was just as bad. I watched him in this role before his other shows, so he did not leave a very good impression. I have to say that he did well in the other show, therefore, I know for a fact that he is not the worst actor out there. It is simply poor directing, poor writing, coupled with poor development for the ML. I actually thought YuQi did quite well, but it isn't because she is a particularly outstanding actress. The rest of the cast did so poorly, she stood out as the best one.
Music: Best if one could just pick up the OST for this show without having to sit through endless, neverending visual and mental torture.
Conclusion: Dropped it, so make of that what you will.
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Before I start my review I want to thank the writer Jin Yong (Chinese: 金庸), real name Louis Cha Leung-Yung, very much for writing such a beautiful story with the latest adaption. I certainly give you kudos for your marvellous piece of work. Sadly the writer died 30 October 2018 at the age of 94, may he Rest In Peace, Amitābha ( 阿彌陀佛 ).
Also thank you director Jeffry Chang for making this great and best drama ever.
People should respect the writer changes in the plot because he did this for a good reason. He made the plot better and logical and with this adaption he wants to tell us something and hopes we all will learned our lessons from this drama.
A lot of people can’t let the past go and can’t forgive which make it hard for them to live peaceful, in good health and happy. The Grandmaster said it perfectly:
Don’t fill your heart constantly with revenge. We must learn to forgive.
Don’t let things or people bother you because you’re letting their errors torture you.
If one cannot let go enmity for even a moment, the reality is that the one who suffers as a result is himself.
Revenge is a never ending cycle. By learning to forgive others that is the biggest mercy you can show to yourself. One should be forgiving and magnanimous but at the same time one must not lose their basic dignity and respect.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I usually don't write review(s) but something tells me I must write this. So here is my review:
This is by far the best storyline ever then all former version. Even the casting is way better then ever. I cried so much for and with the 10 year old little Wuji, the Godfather, Wuji’s parents, Wuji and Zhao Min. But they also made me glad, laugh, sometimes angry and that means that this drama really really gets to me.
The scenery is really awesome and extremely beautiful for example the Yandang mountains, the temples, the waterfalls, such beautiful nature. My compliments for the best wardrobe ever with natural and beautiful colors. The soundtrack is very good and my favorite beautiful songs are Cǐshēng Wéini (此生惟你; This Life is only You) performed by Zhou Shen and Hewei Yongheng (何为永恒; What Is Eternity) performed by Hu Xia.
The battle scenes slow and fast are very well done and the dialogue allows us to understand the plot better. The bond between Wuji with his parents, his godfather, his grandmaster, uncles was very touching. The chemistry between Wuji and Zhao Min is amazing and beautiful to see and also the chemistry between Wuji’s parents Cuishan and Susu, something that has never been seen in all earlier versions.
The whole storyline shows us the characters who are struggling, being hostile, hating, harboring resentment, being jealous, being deceived, being sad, suffering and yet finding true love through fate.
My first and most favourite actors are Wuji and Zhao Min. Wuji is very handsome just like his father Cuishan and Zhao Min a pure beauty just like Wuji's mother Susu. They acted perfectly making you able to see the details and making you laugh, cry, angry, sad and finally happy in the end.
Wuji and Zhao Min are outstanding and great actors. I really enjoy watching their superb acting and the beautiful chemistry between them, just wonderful.
My favourite child actor is the Zhang Wuji (10 years old). His real name is Han Haolin and is a brilliant child actor, a very talented and excellent child actor who has stolen my heart from start to finish. My second favorite child actor is the teenager Wuji, he was also great.
My second favourite actors are Wuji’s parents Yin Susu and Zhang Cuishan, the Godfather Xie Xun, Yang Xiao , Fan Yao , teen Wuji, the grandmaster Zhang Sanfeng and yes Zhao Min’s father Lord Ruyang.
Wuji and his father had almost the same fate like:
- both are young and very handsome
- the beautiful chemistry between Wuji and Zhao Min/ Cuishan and Susu
- being open-minded, smart, kind-hearted, martial arts genius, have poison knowledge and could cure poison
- catching a fish in a beautiful place
- meeting a young bad girl and falling in love with her
- the boat scene where the father kissed Susu by accident and due to the rough sea water ( destiny ) / Wuji and
Zhao Min on the bed embracing / almost kissing by accident due to the rough sea water ( destiny )
- disapproval, hatred, disrespect and enmity of others
- cures the poison of the bad girl and taking care of her, Wuji on the farm and on his way to rescue his Godfather/
Cuishan on the boat curing Susu from the poison Shao Lin darts
- the umbrella scene where Cuishan’s hand was touched by Susu / the heaven sword lent by Zhao Min to Wuji
where he touches her hand
- Cuishan on the island hugging Susu and spin her in circles / Wuji in the end finding Zhao Min hugging her and spin
her in circles
Zhao Min and Wuji’s mother also had the same fate like:
- being young and very beautiful
- first being bad, bold, wicked, strong and smart
- tricking and deceiving with her beauty
- Wuji touches Zhao Min hand when she lend him the heaven sword
- later changing to a good person, doing good for the people , stopped killing and being loyal and kind
- the boat scene where Susu get the kiss by Cuishan due to the rough sea water ( destiny ) / Zhao Min almost kissed
Wuji on the bed after teasing him due to the rough sea water ( destiny ) falling in the sea
- being taking care of and is cured of the poison
- falling in love with the enemy, a man form the good cult
The plot:
Sects fight each other for the dragon saber. Third brother is poisoned, his joints are broken making him an invalid. Fifth brother Cuishan search for the culprit falls in love with Yin Susu thanks to Xie Xun who snatches the dragon saber from Susu at theTian Ying Sect demonstration and kidnaps them to a remote island. Their ship sinks and fate makes Cuishan and Susu arrive at an unknown island which they named Ice Fire island and get married to each other. Xie Xun arrives the next day at the same island. Susu gives birth to a son, making Xie Xun name him Wuji and becomes his Godfather. After ten years Cuishan, Susu, and 10-year old Wuji leave the island and return to the mainland. Reaching the mainland child Wuji is captured. Cuishan and Susu arrive at Wu Dang. Third brother recognizes Susu's voice and Cuishan takes responsibility for all killing she committed in the past and kills himself in front of the other sects. Grandmaster Sanfeng rescues Wuji but sadly Susu kills herself too. Wuji ‘s cries his heart out after his parents suicide and collapses because he is also poisoned badly.
Ten years later Wuji managed to cure the cold poison by himself, has acquired medical skills and martial arts skills by accident and also became the Ming Cult leader. Wuji was used by everyone and especially the Ming Cult. They used his greatness because of his best martial art skills and as a leader will protect them. They used his kindness, manipulated him and acted disrespectful because they knew he would never kill them. His weakness was his naïveness, extremely kindness and indecisiveness and allowed others to use him. His mother warned him about woman deceive but still he was blind to recognize it. Influenced by others he almost made a big mistake in his life but Heaven and Earth ( fate ) stopped it thanks to Zhao Min brilliant second wish. Wuji's fate and destiny prevailed and his eyes and heart opened for the one and only true love in his life and that is Zhao Min.
Wuji lost his beloved parents, the 7th uncle , his grandfather and in the end his beloved Godfather. Zhao Min had sacrificed and endured so much, a princess who betrayed her country and her family. She knew all along the hardship they will face together. Zhao Min lost her beloved father because Wuji was all about reasoning and talking while his subordinates used him to kill her beloved father by a very low trick. Wuji foolishly stopped Zhao Min from killing that wicked general what made her leave him in the end when he chose not to leave with her. Everything that happened made it look that Wuji doesn't deserve Zhao Min because she has never been his first priority and she was the one who sacrificed so much but he didn't.
In spite of all entanglements , struggling , hardship and sorrows they both lost their dearones but still love each other to the bones because they were destined to be together no matter what happened.
In the end Wuji promised to search for her till the end of the world no matter how long and he finally found her through fate.
For me the ending is beautiful and the way it should be because destiny let him to his lover Zhao Min.
Hopefully we will see part 2 of Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min realizing their dream together.
Thank you the whole team from the bottom of my heart for making this beautiful drama possible and able to watch.
Love you forever Joseph Zeng , Chen Yugi and Han Haolin. I bow to you forever. Amitābha Zhan Sai Zhan Sai.
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Acting: I do appreciate the actings which brought by some actors, specially the seniors. Joseph Chang did quite well as Zhang Wuji, but not the best, still lack of emotions and the love chemistry between the lead characters. However I like the act which Bambi Xu brought as Zhou Zhiruo. She’s did it brilliantly.
Music: I love the OST, specially the song This Life For You (Ci Sheng Wei Ni) by Zhou Shen. It’s addicting.
Rewatch value: not really fond of this version, so perhaps won’t rewatch it
Overall: I like the cast of most characters, they depict the characters impressively , with the love and hatred that are so genuine. Not to mention the story is always be a legendary wuxia story which never to be missed
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Action sequences start off with a lot more slo-mo than you can handle but it gradually balances better later. Acting is fine for the better part of the series, but climax scenes tend to drag on longer than necessary.
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This review may contain spoilers
Average
Heaven Sword is one of my all time favorite Jin Yong stories. While this 2019 adaption is overall done well and quite watchable, I am still disappointed because the story is so gripping and epic that properly executed it could have and should have been a 10. I feel that way about most of Jin Yong's stories and I am time and again disappointed with C-drama's inability to turn the gift of a fantastic storyline into a kick-ass 10.The first problem is that riding on the gift of a great storyline, the production team was very sloppy with the cast and the casting of the key roles. It was obvious from the start that many of the lead actors struggled to get into character: Zhang Cuisan and Zhao Min notably. And while I think Zeng Shunxi is a very promising young actor, at 21 he is too much of a boy still to fully pull off Wuji. He wasn't bad but his chemistry with both female leads was little more than warm and friendly. That's just not good enough as Wuji's two main love interests are bad-ass, devious and willful women; a handful for any man much less a boy. To make matters worse, they saddled him with the worst man bun that highlighted an unflattering roundness to his features - many times I thought the Pillsbury doughboy was going to burst right out of him! It wasn't till the much later episodes they fixed his look in a good way. In addition to the main leads, poor chemistry between the couples is a consistent theme throughout this show. Whoever paired up the actors must surely be the matchmaker from hell. The initial flat romance between Zhang Cuisan and Yin Susu almost made me give up on this early on but it somehow clicked once the fantastic child actor playing young Wuji was brought into the mix.
While it seems I will still have to wait for a version of this epic story with the A-list cast it deserves, some of the roles were played by quite strong performances (Yangsiu, Zhou Zhirou, Xie Xun, Song Qingsu) while the others were good enough (Wuji, Zhao Min) that the uninspired ones (Xiao Chao etc) were drowned out and it still came together well enough to be quite enjoyable. And the action was quite good although they went a little bit overboard with the slow motion that made the many good kung fu scenes a lot less exciting. While it is definitely technically much better polished than my best loved 1986 version, the A-list 1986 cast wins hands down when it comes to breathing life into the main characters.
While this version broadly sticks to the original storyline, it digresses meaningfully from it in a very subtle way. This is a more politically correct version that dials down the cruelty of many of the darker characters and deals with them compassionately, offering them a path to redemption. In the case of Song Qingsu, it was well done because he is just a weak character that strayed off the wrong path. But in the case of Zhou Zhirou, I really didn’t see the point – this is an ambitious, selfish and cruel character that is innately much more bad than good, it is fundamental to the plot. Zhu Xudan is an actress that is naturally blessed with a mal-contented expression – she would have been an even more brilliantly wicked Zhou Zhirou if they didn’t try to make her slightly nicer. But what was even more criminal was they kind of tuned down Zhao Min, one of my all time favorite Jin Yong heroines by making her less sassy towards the end to the point of being almost like the clingy and pathetically devoted Xiao Chao (yuck). It was as if they were flirting with the idea of a shock alternative ending where Wuji ends up with the Zhirou and then thankfully chickened out at the last minute. Two thumbs down is all that I can say. And they didn’t stop with Zhirou and Qingsu, they pretty much made excuses for and/or tried to make all the bad guys slightly less bad. Boring and tiresome after awhile and it had the overall impact of diluting the passion and vehemence of Jin Yong’s characters both good and evil.
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One Of the best Dramas that I've watch This Year{2020}
At First I don't really get the story of this drama but after the main character grow old i get the story he wanted the Six clans and the Ming clan not to fight just for a misunderstanding.I love the casts,story,production,and their songs.even this drama was release last year but i feel like this is a new release drama.My mom said that this is one of the best dramas when she was still young but she didn't watch it so this time she watch it with me.Now since that I'm still watching ongoing I know this darma will have a Best ending.Was this review helpful to you?
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Love and hate relationship
i watch the old version back then in 90's and i like it very much. I have high expectation on this remake but somehow it doesn't impress me so much like the older one.Story. it's not fully adapted similiar to the novel - but yeah still connect to the stories.
From ep 1~22 interesting. We have to wait until ep 5 or 6 (i forget this :p) to Wuji make an appearance.
From 23 - end, the story starts to slow pace and some parts is draggy, makes me forward it occasionally. it happened when in Snake Island - Wuji 's trapped along with 4 beautiful girls. Lol...he's harem. Too soft hearted with girls and make them fall in love with him. Somehow i prefer Wuji end up with Xiao zhao.
Finally the ending (which is happy ending) it doesn't leave the feeling "empty" after watching a good series.
I kinda forget the older version ending, but this version Dragon slaying sabre only show off to cut Emperor's seat ? seriously ?
Acting - best acting goes to actor of :
- Zhang San Feng (Wang De Shun) : he looks like a real character alive from novel. Wise great leader and teacher for Wudang Clan.
- Cheng Kun (Terry Fan) : he reprised a role of good and a bad guy in one character very well.
- Little Wuji (Han Haolin) : can't imagine he's just 9 years old when it's shooting but he's acting very good. Cute and smart boy.
- Yang Xiao (Lin Yu Shen), I like his charisma as a wise leader and glance of his sharp eyes.
Music : not impressive. They can do better with epic classical music.
Rewatch : only episode 8,21, 22
Overall :
Hate it because of i can't get chemistry between Wuji and Zhao Min. ( i used to be a fan of Joseph Wang)
and the fight scenes too much slow motion. Best fight version of HSDSS is Jet Li as Chang Mo Kei.
Love it because of the story which has been well known worldwide - great writing by Jin Young master.
You must watch it especially if you're a fan of Jin Young master. Otherwise, still go watch it ^^
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Looking at the drama in a broader perspective, the pacing was very good and the build up allowed to a lot of conflicts to develop together. The story was definitely encompassed more than just the main leads' life and romance. However, this created a very simple male lead character - kind, pure-hearted, and naive. He really doesn't change. Other side characters actually had more character development than he did. In a way, he is supposed to be the rock of pure energy that brings harmony to this wretched world, but sometimes it was very frustrating to see him struggle to understand that not everyone's thoughts and actions were as innocent as his.
The reason I didn't give 10/10 on story was because the ending wasn't as satisfactory. It completed the romance and the world conflict. But the way it redeemed his naive nature with one 'not-as-stupid' action seemed insufficient. I still don't forgive him for how many facepalms I did throughout the drama. I would have liked to see some more growth but I don't know if that would have tarnished the purity of his character.
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Ok a clear and pure review....
First of all male adult lead wujj shows up in ep 14 and entry of female lead is in ep 23 which is very strange . The story in starting is good I like wuji 's journey from a child to an adult .But in his childhood he met many female characters as his *childhood sweethearts*and too many girls are into him. I mean literally 4 girls into one man . He doesn't know how to maintain a distance and a line with a girl he like and a girl he don't like . He is too naive and innocent . Overall acting is good and I like main leads acting . But seriously I mainly prefer storyline and I think writer does very well in raising my blood pressure with this.
At last I think I watched this drama to overcome from love and redemption drama but it could be done way more better.
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The Fallen
This series has the end of the Condor Trilogy. I really can't recall the first two, which I watched when I was in my early teens and thought they were just the greatest Wuxia story ever told in our modern times. Jin Yong's finale of the trilogy was a great ending and rather a sad one too and frustrating as he told us how the young hero rose to prominence too early and how his strength began to ebb gradually into an emotional mess, be it being a leader or his love lives. I must admit I have skipped quite a few episodes as they were mere long dialogues, which doesn't work in series, a ploy perhaps to prolong the series to 50 episodes. Some scenes were totally unnecessary. If they had kept it down to perhaps 35 episodes it would have been bearable. The ending is neither a happy one nor a sad one, it's just the way it is. We can't have everything and we have to choose, in the end, whatever is left, you have to accept it. I feel sorry for Wuji, such a promising lad but too soft inside, to be a leader you have to be harsh and decisive to a point of being merciless, he didn't possess any of those qualities. Still overall a good story.Was this review helpful to you?
The storyline was not confusing me but again, these dramas are using the male lead to line up the women and he will just fall in love with all of them. I believe if the writers didn't have so many women in love with Wuji... Zhi Ruo wouldn't go through her avenge moments to keep Wuji After all she met Wuji first and Wuji kept her in his heart until he became a man. But the screenwriters had to ruin it all by bringing a mean and spiteful female into the picture. Why do men always go for that type of woman... You see who he ended up with! I didn't feel any romantic chemistry with any of the ladies. I did feel just a tad bit that he had chemistry with the Princess with beautiful eyes.
Visual Effect was the best part of this drama series, loved the Martial art scenes. I didn't pay attention to the music and usually, that is a good sign that the music was good for me. KUDOS to Children Actors! BEST PART also.
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Based on :hidden secrets of martial art in two swords
I decided to watch this drama because of main male lead ,he is ultimate . I had seen all his historical based drama and in every drama he just nailed it.Come to story .
As I written in title the story about to find the secrets of two mentioned sword because of this some people selfishly killed the innocent people and the male lead thinks that to save the innocent is his obligations. So when he was doing this many people come across in his each phase of life and in each phase of his life he lost his important person.
At the end secret reveal and it went under wrong hand but everything went fine at the last .
One thing disappoint me that the chemistry between the leads started at the end's few episodes . As I like love story so I wanted to see their scenes equally than other scenes.
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