Heroes (2020)

The Strong Man of Asia

Huo Yuanjia is a true blue real life martial arts hero right up there with Wong Fei-Hung, Fong Sai-yuk, Ip Man, Bruce Lee... they would all be top picks for my fantasy Shaolin soccer team! It is impossible to grow up without watching boat loads of kungfu shows about them. Even before I started this, I knew I must have already seen some permutation of it at least a gazillion times. And yet I still ate it all up like it was the first time; hovering anxiously for it to air every night and thrilled to my toes at every hair rising fight.

Like most other accounts of this iconic and legendary figure's life, this drama clearly takes creative license with the truth in many places but overall, it still rhymes with the main figures and events that shaped Huo Yuanjia's life. Beyond all the typical martial world values and morality, this drama asks the question of whether standing up for one's beliefs and values is worth the heavy price and whether it is fair that family and friends become collateral damage. As a concession to the controversy surrounding his portrayal in Jet Li's Fearless, this drama emphasizes that Hua Yuanjia valued human life and did not kill indiscriminately which is more consistent with the philosophy underlying his famous Chin Woo Athletic Association that martial arts is practiced for keeping fit.

It goes without saying that this drama is extremely action intensive. And it is the kind of close up hand to hand combat that I really love with intense acrobatics and high impact flying kicks and punches aimed with devastating cruelty at internal organs. I don't have to sing praises for Zhao Wenxzhuo; nobody could better play this kind of intense action oriented martial arts role. I am a much bigger fan of his Wong Fei-hung than Jet Li's. There are lots of villains in this fast paced drama as Yuanjia's fame attracts as many enemies as friends. But the nasty Qing Mandarin Ying Si is just simply the most vile, fantastically dangerous villain I have seen in a long time and so convincingly acted that I loved to hate him.

As a life story, this is told chronologically and the action unavoidably climaxes in the middle and predictably builds to another peak at the end that underscores the message that Chinese can stand up against mismatched physical odds and show and the world not to underestimate the strong man of Asia. I have seen that David vs Goliath moment so many times and yet every time I am so satisfied I feel like belching loudly and thumping my chest.

What I love most about this drama is Huo Yuanjia's wife - Madam Wang whose given name is unknown (imagine they had five kids and no one even remembers her name!). She must be almost entirely fictionalized but nonetheless they made her completely awesome. She can't fight but she is so brave, loyal, gracious, forward looking and so clever she saves them multiple times. I also like that this Huo Yuanjia is far from perfect - he can be chauvinistic, patriotic, inflexible and overly conservative. How these flaws impact his relationship with his family, friends and disciples and how he experiences growth as he comes to understand and accept other points of views is very well articulated.

This is more than just another extremely well choreographed gratuitous martial arts action drama. It all gets wrapped into a story about an amazing life journey with many cherished companions, some who sadly are lost along the way. Even though it definitely feels very familiar and is at times even predictable, it is only in the best of ways. So if you are in the mood for some intense action and a trip down memory lane, this is a good choice, I give it a solid 8.0

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The story is something you will look forward to. At some point this drama was able to make you experience the emotion they were trying to portray. It's a martial arts themed series but it didn't fail to give you bits of pain, love, loyalty, friendship, family and humor too. Camera work to showcase wushu is also good as it should be. And although the story focuses on Huo's life challenges, you will also appreciate the different encounters and the value of each significant characters. Not to mention that from beginning to end, it's impossible not to admire the beauty and dignity of Huo's wife. :)

Plus I also enjoyed listening to the opening soundtrack.

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Best version of the story of Huo Yuan Jia

Compared to the previous versions (which surely have a different storylines), Vincent Zhao's version of Heroes 2020 invites the audience to dive into Huo's family and his students.

This series presents a complete emotion-arousing scenario. There are stories of sadness, tragedy, anger, despair, but they are also balanced with stories of love, touching and happiness.

What's interesting about this series is that every single actor / actress manages to give a strong character to their respective roles.
Vincent Zhao made the character Huo Yuan Jia a true hero who was wise and humble, different from the character in the previous version who was too ambitious.
Two thumbs up for Nikita Mao Lin Lin's impressive acting. She managed to portray the ideal wife, who is not only beautiful but smart and devoted. Also with all the actors involved, both the main role, supporting roles, protagonists and antagonists.

I also like the soundtrack, helping to build up the emotions of the audience.

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Rare Old School Wuxia Drama

You thought that China forgot how to make action wuxia dramas ever since they discovered CGI but out of no where, this appears.

The only disappointing part of this show is perhaps how Hou Yan Jia is a tragedy and he's made popular by fighting for his rights during the events right before WW2/Japanese occupation occurred. Alot of events in the show are also fiction that pretends to be non-fiction and a biography.

Unlike the other dramas or movies about him, this drama portrays a longer period of his life, while not historically accurate for the purposes of entertainment, still reminds you about the tragedies of war and how the West and the Japanese who viewed themselves as superior to everyone else acted in weaker countries.

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Without Nikita Mao, I wouldn't watch this

Nikita Mao deserved an award for single-handedly made this insufferable drama into a watchable one. I'm not sure of the historical accuracy, but Huo Yuan Jia and his male disciples (except for Xiao Wu) were all insufferable to watch. Lots of virtue signaling, naivety, and hypocrisy. Like how does a virtuous hero fell into the trickery of a sweet talking magistrate twice is beyond me (fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me?). Not to mention the students tried to cover up for Gao Qi who seems to have insatiable desire to kill people for any reasons (good or bad), only for the cover up to be undone by the honesty & innocence of Yuan Jia's nephew (Dong Fang). The only thing that kept me going is Nikita Mao's superb acting of Madame Wang as a strong, loving, devoted, intelligent, wise, and beautiful wife of Yuan Jia (who he treated badly anyway, which infuriated me from time to time). Yuan Jia's xenophobia is also apparent (his initial treatment of Dr Federer was appalling, in spite of Jing Sun's deference for the doctor!), he definitely judged book by its cover despite being a consistent poor judge of characters. He basically thought that all foreigners are inherently evil and Chinese people are inherently good (yet, the people who gave him troubles are all Chinese: Ying Si, Xue Xue, Cheng De Li, Hu Liu, and that Shuoyang gov official who received the opium delivery). He's also misogynistic by the way he treated Madame Wang and Sha Yan (how the heck did Sha Yan not getting a second chance after she accidentally killed Xue Xue, yet the hot-head Gao Qi got a pass for killing Hu Liu & his 2 accomplices)? Overall, the story is well told and paced well. Perhaps it was told too well that made me have some strong feelings towards the characters. But watch it with an open mind so you can bear some parts that are difficult to watch.

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Zhang Yong Gang was a better lead than the lead role

Started watching this ONLY for Zhang Yong Gang.

He's out EARLY in the show. That's unfortunate. Stopped watching because of it
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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