Sakra (2023)

Who Am I?

Sakra is an overly ambitious attempt to adapt Qiao Feng's arc from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (天龙八部), my favorite Jin Yong novel. This is a tall task and inevitably has resulted in an overly condensed adaptation that misses the spirit of the original works. It is carried by the fact that it is such a beloved story that most viewers can fill in the gaps.

Qiao Feng, the magnetic chief of the Beggar Sect is accused of dastardly crimes and outed as being of Khitan descent at a time of conflict between Song and Liao (Khitan). He is evicted from his sect and the entire wulin (martial world) turns against him. As he seeks to clear his name, he encounters Ahzu, a minion in the powerful Murong household. He risks his life to save hers and discovers that like himself, she is also on a Who Am I? quest to figure out her origins. The narrative takes on too much between the rushed and unconvincing romance, solving murders and disentangling both their back stories. The ending is confusing with hurried character introductions to pave the way for a sequel that deals with the mastermind reveal and final arcs of Qiao Feng's story. This hurried rendition makes Qiao Feng little more than a one dimensional, lean mean fighting machine. It is a pity because Qiao Feng is Jin Yong's most powerful, complex and misunderstood male character.

Qiao Feng is the ultimate master of Jin Yong's epic 18 Dragons Subduing Palm martial arts technique, which employs inner energy and is used in most of Qiao Feng's fight scenes. The action scenes are almost ridiculously bombastic - Qiao Feng pulverising an entire horde of martial arts with his amazing energy blasts; gravity defying roof leaping and up close and lethal hand-to-hand combat or swordplay. Qiao Feng's showdown with the entire wulin is the most thrilling action sequence but it comes a bit too early in the movie. It is both incredulous and stupendous to see one man take on so many. I truly feared for Qiao Feng's life but what was more terrifying was the hypocrisy and cowardice of wulin. They basically cancelled a brother-in-arms who stared down death alongside them multiple times and ganged-up on him to try to kill him! I didn't enjoy the final fight scene as much - while splendidly choreographed and thrilling, it veered too far into the territory of wildly exaggerated almost superpower like flying leaps and from a distance qi energy strikes.

I watched the Cantonese dubbed version because to me, Qiao Feng will always be Kiu Fung and Jin Yong's famous lines always sound so diminished and lacking in vehemence and intensity in Mandarin. I think this is a great watch for the action scenes alone. I rate it 7/10.

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Worth to watch for the action

This movie has some seriously good fighting scenes. It's so hard to find a good wuxia series or movie. A lot of has more CGI and natural action. This one doesn't disappoint in the fighting department. There's plenty of action from start to finish. Fighting scenes that keeps you at the edge of your seat. Donnie Yuen does it again. I always like his movies. However, if you're looking for the story in this movie, you will be disappointed. Well, this movie is adapted from an old Jin Yong novel, so if you already know the story and watch the TV series, you kinda know what the story is about. If you're not a c-drama fan and just watch this movie without any background, you will be disappointed and confused. The story seems rushed and you don't get to know much about the characters. In my opinion, period or costume drama is best watched in a series form (although it can be a long one) because you will see the character's background and their development and you get to know the character's story. Overall, this is a really good wuxia movie with good cinematography. I would still recommend watching this movie and I might re-watch if I have time.

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"Those who had feelings were caught in them"

Donnie Yen starred in and directed Sakra, a wuxia based on Jin Yong’s novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. As I haven’t read the book I’m only critiquing this movie as a stand-alone. Kiu Fung was a man who had to figure out who he was and what he stood for after tragedies and treacheries befell him.

The infant Kiu Fung was left on the doorstep of a Song couple and grew up to be a master in the infamous Beggar Gang. After rescuing a caged young man from turning into a sacrifice he returns home only to be accused of murdering a fellow Beggar by the man’s wife. The wife also produces a letter revealing that Kiu is actually a Khitan, the most hated of enemies. He’s not given a chance to refute the “evidence” and ends up turning in his Dog Beating Staff. It goes downhill from there for Kiu as the bodies begin to rack up with everyone blaming him for the deaths. During one of the angry mob scenes, he rescues an injured thief and romance blossoms.

This was one of those movies where it was hard to like any of the characters. Donnie’s Kiu was a masterful fighter but came across as not terribly bright. He was framed and double-crossed on a routine basis. And when it was his turn to communicate and seek the truth he reacted like the Beggar Gang, Shaolin monks, and townspeople had and jumped to an illogical conclusion which led to deadly consequences. The rescued thief, Ah Zhu, had only one job-to be carried around and make big puppy eyes at Kiu.

Parts of the story needed to be explained better. Kiu had stood up for the downtrodden, sought to be moral at all times and yet everyone believed he could murder the people close to him. Was it jealousy? Or were they all simply awful people who refused to hear Kiu’s side of the story? The romance fell flat, partly because of the development on screen but also because the 60-year-old Yen was twice as old as his costar. He came across more paternal or perhaps as a kung fu master to her. I could see him feeling sorry for Ah Zhu and she in turn hero worshipping him, but romance didn’t come across on the screen. And while I’m at it, why would he ever think he could pass for thirty?

There were numerous fights as the world took on Kiu. I understand Yen is 60 and his body has taken enormous abuse through the years. It would make perfect sense to rely on camera tricks and stuntmen to sell the fights. What ended up on the screen were ridiculously undercranked/sped up moves as if The Flash and Quicksilver went at it. When fights are repeatedly sped up in martial arts movies, it usually means the moves were slow or missing their targets. I don’t mind light body work with people leaping and skipping over rooftops, but they seemed rather awkward here. Wuxia “magic” doesn’t bother me either except how many times can you watch people being blown through walls or floors before it becomes exceedingly redundant? I would normally enjoy watching Donnie pummel his opponents but the exciting brawls were few and far between in this one. It didn’t help that before one long drawn out fight, he had to have a drink with anyone who wanted to take him on---which turned out to be everyone. The scene dragged on interminably.

Sakra was watchable, but at 2 long hours, just so. The natural scenery was gorgeous and a couple of fight sequences were entertaining. The rest of the time it was painful watching the hero be slow-witted in thought and artificially accelerated with his fists.

6 January 2024

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Amazing fights and visuals, disappointing otherwise

It was a surprise for sure.
1) The movie looks shockingly good. Yes, it was supposedly made for cheap, there are some instances of visibly lacking CG. But the way it's lit, shot, coloured etc. - amazing. Stuff is clear, visible, intentional, pleasant to the eye. Looks a lot like a 90s movie, but with a wider palette.

2) It's, unfortunately, a black tanktop vanity project for Donnie Yen. The guy cannot pass for a man in his 30s, effectively half his real age. Yen also does not have the acting range needed for this kind of character.
The funny/lighthearted parts are not that funny or lighthearted and the serious moments are awkward, feel extremely long and overly pathos-filled. (for an example, time the wine-bowl scene. That could've easily been edited down some, with more of an emotional impact.)

3) The story is whatever. The more wuxia/series movies I watch, the more I realize I don't enjoy Jin Yong/Jin Yong-style stories. It is what it is, I'm sure fans of the book are outraged about stuff.

4) The fights however, are incredibly good. Excellent, thrilling, fucking cool as hell. If you looked at the 90s wuxia and imagined a logical evolution with advances in filmmaking, this is what it would be.
No notes.
(also goes to show what you can do on a budget if you have real martial artists instead of celebrity idols in your cast)
Whatever the fuck the new Kung Fu Cult Master did with the flashy CG bullshit, this is the opposite of that.

5) Minor point, but I really enjoy this "gritty" portrayal of the jianghu people. Everyone's wrinkly, greasy and rugged. The costumes are very different looking and quite lovely.
It's not quite The Blade, but it's miles and miles from the usual "wuxia" you see in cdramas nowadays.

Overall: Meh, but watch it for the fights.

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Action Scenes strung together....

The only redeeming quality of this movie, are the action sequences and production value.
Watch it once if you can pay attention for that long and move on.

I have no prior knowledge of the novel this is based on, nor watched any of the previous adaptions.

These series of novels are famous and very popular supposedly. Based on this and another adaption of a different novel from same author, they just seem like badly written webtoons. Makes sense if these are what inspired all the badly written webtoons... lol. I am a fan of Wuxia, but so far these adaptions of these popular novels are not it.

The way the story is told, pacing and unlikeable characters presented you left with the feeling of indifference and confusion. The way ML is setup/found multiple times in the same way, was almost comical. The romance seemed forced, and many of the characters introduced are rushed and thrown in from out of nowhere.

The ending is rushed with a few flashbacks causing more confusion rather than completing the plot holes. You don't make a standalone movie expecting your audience to have knowledge to fill in half the story.

It just feels like this movie was just to showcase Donnie Yen directed action sequences. Which was great! Except the final fight, too much telekinesis ki power maybe? Every time ML fired off his ultimate move, i heard the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. lol.

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