Brief Story Line
Set in the Song dynasty period, Qiao Feng (Donnie Yen - Come Back Home, Chasing the Dragon etc) was the famous leader of beggar clan and highly respected by everyone in the martial arts world. However, he was then accused of murdering official of the clan by Madam Wang (Grace Wong - A Fist Within Four Walls TV series etc). The situation worsened by news that he was said to be descendant of Khitan, the enemy of Song. Qiao Feng was later stripped off his position but vowing to find out the truth.
Meanwhile a mysterious person named Murong Fu (Wu Yue - Ip Man 4 etc) was keeping close tab of the situation. He also assigned his trusted maid Azhu (Chen Yuqi - Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre TV series 2019 version etc) for a special mission where she unexpectedly crossed path with Qiao Feng.
So what would happen to Qiao Feng in his quest to clear up his name? You can find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
When I read that this movie was based on Jin Yong's popular novel titled Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (aka Tian Long Ba Bu), I was really excited to see it since I liked the series a lot. Now the plot of the novel actually focused on 3 major characters but the movie was emphasizing on Qiao Feng who was the biggest hero at that time with his amazing martial arts ability and righteous characteristic. Obviously I would have loved if the movie also showed the other two characters as one of the best traits of the series was their very close brotherly bond. But it would not have been possible to fit all into a 2 hour movie.
In this film, we would be shown a lot of really well executed fight scenes when Qiao Feng had to fight against various enemies. And it should not come as a surprise with Donnie Yen's pedigree and experience in doing these kind of movies in the past, plus he also served as a director and action director (with Kenji Tanikagi) in here. The fight sequence were quite exceptional and some were quite breathless, especially the one in the middle which I thought was very spectacular. I had to really hold off going to the restroom till the fight was over (thought of waiting till the film was completed, but it had a duration of 130 minutes and we were just crossing half of it).
As I have watched 3 versions of the series adaptation before (2003, 2013 and 2021) and the incomplete 1982 series when I was a child, I pretty much knew by heart about the story. And this one actually was quite loyal at least on Qiao Feng's side. Although there were few times that I felt jumped/rushed, but in general I believe it was still easily understood for those who did not have any knowledge of the full story. My wife who never watched the series was still able to follow it without difficulty and she could even amazingly guessed few of the surprises. Only thing that I felt too brief was the scene where Qiao Feng was being accused by the leaders of the beggar clan, cause that should have been the time where we would be in awe of how patriotic he was. Luckily the scene before the major fight really made up for it.
For martial arts fan like me and my wife, we were in awe with the cool fight scenes that were very swift and sometimes brutal. There was no feeling that the fights were slowly choreographed and sped up in the editing room, which made this very enjoyable to see. The cast in general did their job adequately in term of the fights. Aside from Donnie Yen, I think Chen Yuqi was pretty convincing as Azhu, although Wu Yue seemed a bit of miscast to my personal opinion as he was supposed to be young and suave, but he did not exactly give that kind of aura to me. There were other support characters such as one of the leaders of Beggar clan Bai Shijing (Du Yuming), Azi (Cya Liu - Reunion Dinner etc), Duan Zhengcun (Eddie Cheung - Sky On Fire etc) and few others, plus cameo of pretty well known actor as an important character.
One thing that made me curious was the ending that seemed to hint at possible sequel. Perhaps if the movie ended up being successful commercially, they would be interested in making it. Who knows they might focus on the other major characters as well (they were shown so briefly in here that people who had not read or watched the previous adaptations would not realize that they were actually very important). Btw, there was no mid or post end credit scenes in here and the closing credit did not really have a memorable song.
Overall this is an amazing martial arts movie that would satisfy fans of such genre. I am not sure how the hard core fans of the novel would react to this movie though, due to its abridged version which might seem to belittle the 2 other characters. For me and my wife though, we were really excited and entertained by this film, particularly in those grand fight scenes. I personally was very pleased to have seen this kind of movie in the cinema after years of their absence. So if you are like us, then most probably you would enjoy this movie, especially if you are also fans of Donnie Yen. You can give this movie a try as it is currently playing in Indonesia ahead of its release in China on 21 January.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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