Chief of Thieves: Chu Liu Xiang (2021)

from the beginning i already like the cinematography and the setting. it wasn't anything fancy, but good enough. also, the fighting scenes were nicely done too

the poster making it look like harem. but the romance wasn't shown much.

the pacing were a bit too fast. which resulted in poor character development, plot holes, and makes it a bit difficult for me to keep up. but when i finished the whole movie, it's all connected.

I'm not familiar with any of the actors, but they portray their roles nicely

if you want to watch it, don't think too much and just go with the flow

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Superficial entertainment at most

I liked the poster as it suggested fantasy and maybe interesting relations between the ML and the different women, so I watched it on a whim. Well, I was disappointed somewhat, because the poster as well as the title are rather misleading.

It is too short to introduce fleshed out characters, the ML and the female antagonist are probably the best among them as they have a relatable backstory. The rest does not have much explanation as to who they are and what made them that way. There is scarcly any development either (just weired fluctuations)
The FL was pretty annoying in my opinion. There is no consistancy in her behaviour, she seemingly randomly does stuff without much justification or explanation why she suddenly acts that way. Constant fundamental changes in character that need a lot of goodwill and thinking off-screen to sort-of explain. I don't like having to fit together the story myself all the time. She is also always in need of being rescued, whatever she does on her own, usually doesnt end too well. The other females would have been so much more interesting, but we learn only little about them. In the end, they are just mainstory supporting steppingstones.
Some scenes are riddiculous, like the dress up as males.
World building is sloppy and does nothing to establish some framework. Everything seems random.
There are massive plotholes and whole storyarches missing that would offer some connections between different ideas. The fun of the first scene ends there and is not picked up. It could have just been deleted and no one would know. I really don't think the title fits the story, it is really not about the Chief of Thieves at all.

Acting was okay but nothing stellar. As I have watched much worse recently, I might be biased. Costumes and Set are well made and fit the story, that's a strong point of the movie. The martial art scenes are okay with quite some CGI that is so-so. Music was okay but not memorable.

All in all I feel the movie stays superficial in all aspects: romance, inititial storyline, character development, world building,...

I will not watch the movie again.

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