Brief Story Line
Story was set during Southern Song dynasty period where its people were caught in the war between Jin dynasty and Mongols. Guo Jing (Xiao Zhan - Jade Dynasty, The Untamed TV series etc) who was an excellent martial artist was separated from the love of his life Huang Rong (Zhuang Dafei - My Wife's Double Life TV series, Be My Wife etc). While searching for her, Guo Jing met with his Mongol old friends that included To Lui (Alan Aruna - The Knockout etc), third son of Genghis Khan (Baya'ertu). He later decided to return to Mongolia to meet his mother Li Ping (Ada Choi - S Storm, Empresses in the Palace TV series etc), though things got complicated when Guo Jing also met with the Khan's daughter Huajun (Zhang Wenxin) who was betrothed to him.
Meanwhile Huang Rong turned out to be captured by one of the Five Greats, Venom West (Tony Leung Ka-fai - Chasing the Dragon II: The Wild Wild Bunch, Cold War etc) who wanted to get his hands on the most powerful martial arts book, Noverm scripture. She had to use all her wits to outsmart Venom West to try to escape and find Guo Jing. With the war further enraged, Guo Jing had to decide if he should help his adoptive father who was going to invade the Song or protect his own country.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
As a major fan of wuxia genre and the Condor Heroes trilogy, I was obviously looking forward to see this movie in the theater. From the trailer that I saw and a bit info I read earlier, I realized the film would focus on chapter 34-40 of the Legend of Condor Heroes novel by Jin Yong. This would explain the lack of many characters from the first half that made the story so engaging. It was also one of the reasons why the fist twenty minutes or so seemed a bit convoluted as it tried to cover many things through flash back and difficult to grasp. It's a good thing though once those parts were out of the way we could finally enjoy the main story.
The movie's action sequence was definitely my favorite part as the fights and capabilities of Guo Jing was shown in such a grand manner which made me and my wife in awe. The fight scenes were not only one on one but there were also one against many and several war scenes too that did not disappoint me. And that climax fight was really worth to be seen on a large screen. I believe it was due to the work of its director Tsui Hark, famous for directing martial arts & action films such as Once Upon a Time in China movies, A Better Tomorrow and its sequel and even action comedy like Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back etc.
I have watched almost all of the many adaptations of this beloved novel that I practically know the story by heart. This helped me a lot in understanding the complete picture and I was also able to give bit info to my wife. Strangely though, of all the series I watched earlier, I do not think the stories from these chapters were told in details like in this movie. Certain parts shown here were new things that I never saw before, which made me enjoy it better. However, as much as I like this latest adaptation, I still think that it would be nice to at least mention or show the major important characters who made Guo Jing as he was (I am talking about his evil adoptive brother of course). I can understand the film would not have sufficient time to show everyone, but still having few minutes of screen time to show that part would not significantly impact the length of the movie.
One thing that I strongly felt here was the romance between Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Despite focusing on the war and action, I admired Tsui Hark's ability to show the powerful love between them with one or two scenes that were quite emotional and also affected my wife. The chemistry between the two of them were quite convincing as the story progressed (not during the early part which I think was too brief). Xiao Zhan who portrayed Guo Jing here seemed a bit too intelligent for me, though it can be argued that he already had few years of experience and not as naive. Zhuang Dafei seemed decent enough as Huang Rong, but I thought Zhang Wenxin was pretty good in characterizing Huajun. Btw, my wife and I were surprised to see it was Tony Leung who played Venom West. Aside from those names above, there were also few other cast including Hu Jun (As the Light Goes Out, The Battle at Lake Changjin etc) as Guo Jing's master the Beggar North and Wu Hsing-kuo (The Accidental Spy etc) as Reverend Yideng.
Overall this was a nice enough adaptation of the beloved first book of the trilogy. Though it focused only on the final chapters of the novel, it was still able to grasp some of the best traits like the patriotic sense of Guo Jing, his relationship with Huang Rong and obviously the martial arts parts. The fights scenes were entertaining and supported by good special effects and amazing sound effects. It was pretty well received in China and making it into Top 10 of the year (obviously it was not as big as the major blockbuster Ne Zha 2) and became the highest box office wuxia movie in Chinese cinemas to date. My wife and I who are also fans of such genre did enjoy this film along with some other audience who looked to be fans of the series in the past. Oh, during the closing credits, there were plenty of interesting scenes that could be seen, although it was accompanied by sadly not too great song for us. So if you are fans of this story or wuxia, then most likely you would like this film too.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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