Brief Story Line
A struggling screen writer named Sang Yu (Darren Wang - A Better Tomorrow 2018 version, The Wolf TV series etc) was suffering from writer's block due to constant nightmares he experienced during his sleep. It also put a strain to his friendship with his editor San Ge (Cao Bingkun - Animal World etc) as Sang Yu continuously delayed his assignment.
However, Sang Yu somehow managed to turn the nightmare to his personal gain and soon he would become very rich. With his new found wealth, he tried to pursue his lifelong love interest Hua Er (Candy Song - Shock Wave etc). But soon Sang Yu would find out that there would be consequences to his action.
So how would the story conclude? You can find them in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
As I said above, I was intrigued with the movie by its trailer which looked really interesting with some cool action sequence. So when I watched it, I was truly anticipating an amazing action film. At first the story seemed to flow nicely, especially when the lead character Sang Yu started to gain fortunes from his nightmares. And the subsequent story was also pretty nicely done, including his attempts on getting the love of his life. Although there was a really strong sense of similarity with the movie Jumper (starring Hayden Christensen) especially in the beginning.
Unfortunately though, the action were not that much. Yes there were a bit here and there but totally not like what the trailer hinted. Not till we get to the climax that there was some more actions which were OK but not too spectacular. Sadly the ending was something that felt like an over simplification which I might actually have been content with. But then came the final scene before closing credit, which made me more confused than satisfied. Plus there was a mid end credit scene that got me even more bewildered.
For a movie that seemed to promise lots of action, this one did not truly deliver but it did have some great visual effects to support the actions. Plus Darren Wang was not bad either (although his early appearance was really irritating). My favorite character was actually his friend San Ge who was played nicely by Cao Bingkun as he gave few brief funny moments. Candy Song was OK as the love interest. There were not that many supporting characters, with only King Shih-Chieh as the food stall owner that manage to leave an impression to me.
One thing that I did not get was why the film that was already completed in 2019 only released in Chinese theaters in April 2021. Anyway the movie was written and directed by Zhang Chong whose other directing credit was the movie The Fourth Wall which he did together with Bo Zhang and managed to win few nominations and awards. I got to hand it to Zhang Chong for his creativity/imagination of writing the story, even if as I state above, has some similarities with another movie. For me though, I would have liked it better if there was no such additional scenes in the end that only confused me. But the action and story was still enjoyable to see.
Overall I thought this movie might be interesting for people who wanted to see unique fantasy and some actions, and probably gratifying for fans of Darren Wang. On a personal level though, I felt this movie was just OK with disappointing and puzzling end. So if you want to see Darren Wang in action with some nice special effects, plus you do not mind the confusing ending, then you are welcome to give it a try as it's available on Netflix who acquired the international distribution rights.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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