Iroki Maori
This review may contain spoilers
It met expectations but for some reason, it gave me a small sense of dissatisfaction.
Def there's something here. I bet there will be those who will not agree, but I've been fascinated with this chronicles since the very first Lost Tomb season and Mystic Nine side series and side stories... Infact, my addiction comes from even before this was adapted to motion screen and was just a light novel (Graverobber's Chronicles) so I feel like this is a very objective commentary considering how unworldly attached I am to the entire story.
STORY
I feel a little unresolved. I loved how they tried to reconnect this storyline to the last 5 episode epilogue of the prequel, The Lost Tomb 2. They used a few clips that came from the prequel and refilmed the parts that had Neo Hu and pitched in Bai Shu. However, I feel a little unresolved with the changing of the story.
For example, the scene in the Changbai mountain. That part started when Wuxie(Neo Hu) found himself in Changbai mountain with no memory of what happened after they were almost buried by the rubble back in Lieutenant Zhang's tomb.
However in this sequel, although they finally explained what happened right after they were trapped under the rubble, they totally omitted the part were Wuxie woke up in the middle of Changbai mountain's "forbidden land" with no memory, and Fatty Wang purposely going to that village because "someone told me I'd find you here after you went missing from the hospital", that was in the prequel.
There was no resolution what was the serum they injected in xiao ge from the prequel and why he was losing control and temporarily lost his memories of WuXie. There was no resolution why WuXie lost his memories prior to Changbai mountain... Simply because they omitted the entire thing in the new sequel.
It was still as amazing adventure-wise as the prequels, aorat from the unresolved prologue that they changed up entirely. Props to the effort to connect the two series(since they're both part of the same arc albeit cut in two parts) considering the changes in main casting.
ACTING/CASTING
I tried hard not to be prejudiced with Bai Shu as last I seen him was when he played A Zhai in My Girlfriend's Boyfriend and his character setting was very mean and very much homophobic.
Contrary to how every actor who has ever played WuXie had impeccable chemistry to their xiao ge, Zhang Qiling, no matter which actor played him.
I was actually happy that Bai Shu did very well in playing WuXie and his unspoken bromance to both xiao ge and fatty Wang. However there were times he slightly emitted his inner A Zhai which I hated because even in the novel, no matter how naughty and sassy WuXie was, he never went over the line of being hurtful, no matter how unaffected fatty Wang was. (slight blame could be because of the scriptwriter I guess, but mostly because Bai Shu could've done a better execution of sounding like he was teasing than insulting). I didn't want to think that they only vasted Bai Shu because of his physical similarities to Neo Hu, but I felt how inferior he was to the previous casts for WuXie. But that's not entirely his fault, he could've done better in character representation had he had a better acting guide, like how he did in his newest 2021 Wuxia series, "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils"
Also Zhang Qiling's actor made me feel like I'm seeing an entirely different character. I know Zhao Dong Ze has good acting skills, no doubt. But I feel like he isn't that immersed in xiao ge's role compared to his predecessors. The previous actors perfectly replicated xiao ge's allof, poker-face and how his slit like eyes seemed to say the words his lips didn't.
But Dong Ze has very round puppy eyes that I can't really associate him with Zhang Qiling. He had too much emotions in his face as opposed to the supposed poker-face. He just looked like a tandom person with a really bad mood. And xiao ge doesn't have brunette wavy hair. So I don't understand what prevented him from completely expressing xiao ge's iconic looks that his predecessors perfectly remade in every season.
He had too much facial expression when he was supposed to be playing the role of a very detached dead-panned persona.
THE SOUND PRODUCTION IS QUITE ACCEPTABLE IN COMPARISON TO PREVIOUS SEASONS. Although not that exceptional , it also wasn't below standards.
REWATCH VALUE: I'd watch it again... Story wise. Once or twice... I guess... But I feel like this sequel made me think for the first time, that it may be far better when I was reading it... Simply because the slight flaws gave me a sense of dysmorphia in the whole character presentation of the the main characters.
And that unresolved feeling really bothers me so...
STORY
I feel a little unresolved. I loved how they tried to reconnect this storyline to the last 5 episode epilogue of the prequel, The Lost Tomb 2. They used a few clips that came from the prequel and refilmed the parts that had Neo Hu and pitched in Bai Shu. However, I feel a little unresolved with the changing of the story.
For example, the scene in the Changbai mountain. That part started when Wuxie(Neo Hu) found himself in Changbai mountain with no memory of what happened after they were almost buried by the rubble back in Lieutenant Zhang's tomb.
However in this sequel, although they finally explained what happened right after they were trapped under the rubble, they totally omitted the part were Wuxie woke up in the middle of Changbai mountain's "forbidden land" with no memory, and Fatty Wang purposely going to that village because "someone told me I'd find you here after you went missing from the hospital", that was in the prequel.
There was no resolution what was the serum they injected in xiao ge from the prequel and why he was losing control and temporarily lost his memories of WuXie. There was no resolution why WuXie lost his memories prior to Changbai mountain... Simply because they omitted the entire thing in the new sequel.
It was still as amazing adventure-wise as the prequels, aorat from the unresolved prologue that they changed up entirely. Props to the effort to connect the two series(since they're both part of the same arc albeit cut in two parts) considering the changes in main casting.
ACTING/CASTING
I tried hard not to be prejudiced with Bai Shu as last I seen him was when he played A Zhai in My Girlfriend's Boyfriend and his character setting was very mean and very much homophobic.
Contrary to how every actor who has ever played WuXie had impeccable chemistry to their xiao ge, Zhang Qiling, no matter which actor played him.
I was actually happy that Bai Shu did very well in playing WuXie and his unspoken bromance to both xiao ge and fatty Wang. However there were times he slightly emitted his inner A Zhai which I hated because even in the novel, no matter how naughty and sassy WuXie was, he never went over the line of being hurtful, no matter how unaffected fatty Wang was. (slight blame could be because of the scriptwriter I guess, but mostly because Bai Shu could've done a better execution of sounding like he was teasing than insulting). I didn't want to think that they only vasted Bai Shu because of his physical similarities to Neo Hu, but I felt how inferior he was to the previous casts for WuXie. But that's not entirely his fault, he could've done better in character representation had he had a better acting guide, like how he did in his newest 2021 Wuxia series, "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils"
Also Zhang Qiling's actor made me feel like I'm seeing an entirely different character. I know Zhao Dong Ze has good acting skills, no doubt. But I feel like he isn't that immersed in xiao ge's role compared to his predecessors. The previous actors perfectly replicated xiao ge's allof, poker-face and how his slit like eyes seemed to say the words his lips didn't.
But Dong Ze has very round puppy eyes that I can't really associate him with Zhang Qiling. He had too much emotions in his face as opposed to the supposed poker-face. He just looked like a tandom person with a really bad mood. And xiao ge doesn't have brunette wavy hair. So I don't understand what prevented him from completely expressing xiao ge's iconic looks that his predecessors perfectly remade in every season.
He had too much facial expression when he was supposed to be playing the role of a very detached dead-panned persona.
THE SOUND PRODUCTION IS QUITE ACCEPTABLE IN COMPARISON TO PREVIOUS SEASONS. Although not that exceptional , it also wasn't below standards.
REWATCH VALUE: I'd watch it again... Story wise. Once or twice... I guess... But I feel like this sequel made me think for the first time, that it may be far better when I was reading it... Simply because the slight flaws gave me a sense of dysmorphia in the whole character presentation of the the main characters.
And that unresolved feeling really bothers me so...
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