WanderingRonin
Canada
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So this is another of my top fav dramas. I dont think Ive ever laughed so hard from watching a drama before watching this and I dont think I ever will. If you're seeking a series of good laughs then you should start watching this right now. It seems quite long at 50 episodes but it could be over before you know it if you're a drama lover as you'd find yourself laughing through each episode. You could also try out the highly successful 1992 movie versions of this (Its broken into part 1 and 2) as they are shorter and still hilarious. Then if you find yourself wanting more, you can go for this. But this tv series is at least 3 times funnier than the movie and has much better production. Your choice. The synopsis for this has all the info you need and even some extra I'd consider spoilers but even that wont stop anyone from enjoying this show. The story is based off a Jin Young novel which I think is titled The Duke of Mount Deer. The show basically revolves around this lazy lecherous street rascal, Wei Xiaobao, who is thrown into the wuxia world (or martial arts world) of conspiracy and life-threatening situations and thus he constantly has to rely on luck, his glib tongue, cheap tricks and street smarts to survive his way through because he barely knows any martial arts. A lot of laughs would come from the show revealing the thoughts that go through Wei Xiaobao's head but even besides that, this show would have you laughing one way or another. Another major character is the Kang Xi emperor and the story revolves a lot around Wei's relationship with him.
The Kang Xi emperor as well as many other characters in this are real historical figures that existed in Chinese history because even though this is a fictional story, it is based on real Chinese history (I actually learned more about Chinese history due to this show ^__^).
Unlike the movie counterparts, this show starts off with Wei as a child, who is equally as hilarious as his grown up counter part. One reason I mention this, is because I was really taken aback as to how exceptionally good the child actors were (I sincerely hope they won oscars or some sort of award for the roles they had). They could really bring in a sense of realism to their roles. Perhaps the older actors performed really well because they didnt want to be outdone by them lol. The other reason is because the child actor scenes last for about the first 6 - 8 episodes (Perhaps their screen time got extended because they were that good? Idk). You might miss their faces when they're gone but their older counterparts did just as good so you might not mind too much.
The only downsides of this show I remember is that towards the end (I think during the last 10 episodes or so), you start to get a lot of scenes that drag on or feel boring. Still it ends on a good note (both happy and sad things occur but it'll probably leave you feeling nice and warm inside) and overall it carries meaningful messages on conflicts that occurred during its time period. Honestly, just do yourself a favor and start watching this whenever you can. You can thank me later ;)
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One of the things I enjoyed most in this is when the main character goes into disguise and does chivalrous hero stuff. Theres usually lots of hilarious content when he does that though it only happened about twice if I remember correctly. This is your basic regular-martial-artist-turned-super strong/strongest-after-journeying-the-wuxia-world-and-learning-skills-from-some-master(s) type of story. So if you're a fan for that kind of stuff (or Jin Youngs novel adaptations) you should definitely give this a go. It has all that ridiculous martial arts with people flying all over the place (aka wire-fu) and explosions happening lol (like actual explosions and not a lot of the crappy cg effects you see in Chinese drama these days due to budget restraints or whatever).
Overrall production was very well done. The characters immersed with expertly/appropriately designed costumes (got to respect actresses as nuns with actual shaved heads, or at least wearing props that make them look bald), so many awesomely choreographed martial arts fights, lots of non-cg explosions, so many epic moments and the build ups that lead to them, and a really good love story that pondered some challenging questions; The love of a man from a righteous sect and a woman from an evil sect and what it meant to be considered righteous/evil in such a time. Oh and theres bloody conspiracies.
Major flaw with this series is that there are parts of the story that seem out of place or missing. It could have you confused like you missed an episode even though you didn't. An example would be when the next episode does not continue from the cliffhanger of the previous episode (Unfortunately this happens quite a bit during the first few episodes and then once/twice in the later eps). I think they might have shot too much footage and had a hard time deciding what should be included in the final cuts. And thus parts of the story might have been cut off. This was my only major gripe with the drama even though it still ends up being my fav wuxia series. Also watch out for episodes being mismatched on streaming sites e.g. a video would read ep 39 but it’ll be listed under episode 38 in most sites (this exact problem is present in most sites except youre streaming on maybe dramafever, which probably has better subs as well)
Still the overall experience definitely makes this a must watch. So if you can ignore the major flaw I mentioned and make it past a few eps, you just might find yourself an enjoyable wuxia adventure with a love story you’d be happily shipping.
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Its has great martial art fights but its not even too focused on that. The intelligence is found in the way the story is revealed to the audience. Such awesome directing! The synopsis tells you all you need to know to begin watching the movie but when I watched it, I had no clue what it was about aside from the fact that it was a martial arts movie featuring Donnie Yen. In the end, the only issue I found with this movie is that the 1st half of it is so awesome and engages the audience thoroughly in this roller-coaster ride (a 10/10), while the second half of it is a bit dull in comparison like the roller coaster slowed down a bit (a 7/10). All together it still remains and awesome movie which I rate 9/10. Highly recommended! XD
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The story starts a little slow but is still interesting right from the first episode. Its the kind of drama you could marathon but personally I didn't because although it gets really interesting, it was never so addictive that I couldn't stop watching (guess thats a good thing? Hehe). There are many unpredictables in the drama all around. Things that you'd usually want to happen in dramas but never happen will happen here and things you'd probably not want to happen will happen as well. You might like it because it feels fresh tries to avoid the stereotypical stuff rampant in dramas but you might also detest it and curse the writers for not allowing things to go the way you want. This might especially apply in the romance department, it never really goes in the direction the romance lovers would want it to (especially the way it ends).
Some nitpicks for this drama (why it doesn't get 10/10) would be for one, I couldn't agree with actress Chae Si Ra being cast as madam Jami (the main female antagonist). According to the drama madam Jami is supposedly beautiful, seductive, intimidating and at times, scary. When the drama tries to give you any of these impressions from the actress, it just falls flat. Also, I found some of the fight scenes hilarious with all the unnecessary jumping and funny sound effects but overall they are actually very well done (also considering the year it was done, the experience the cast had at the time with fight choreography and just the overall fact that Korea has never been on par with China when it comes to martial arts in films or dramas). Anyways the hilarious parts are few. The ost in the drama are ok. Sounds like typical stuff if you're a k-drama veteran. You either like the ost or dont really care.
As a whole this drama has amazing production, excellent actors, deals heavily with themes of dirty politics, merchants & trade, pirate battles, country wars and is highly recommended to all k-drama lovers especially those who like the historical & martial arts blend and the rise of an underdog.
POSSIBLE SPOLIER BELOW:
The ending is why a lot of people might rate this drama poorly and I'd have to agree that it was a bit bad. Not anything I couldn't swallow so it didn't weigh heavily on me like the ending of Queen Seon Duk did (maybe because Ive seen worse or maybe because it seemed ridiculous). You could say the ending is similar to Bad Guy with a little extra. It sort of makes sense but if the writers wanted to, they could've made it happier.
POSSIBLE SPOLIER END
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Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
6 mensen vonden deze beoordeling nuttig
Later on, you get some "unique" romance since the main female lead is...interesting? And pretty much everything is mixed with comedy so you'll get enough laughs and chuckles throughout the whole journey.
The important special effects are well done and you get some martial arts mixed in but its not alot. I think the action in this movie was balanced between martial arts and special effects. But since its such a good story with great production, great ost/music and awesome actors, you dont really mind such details no matter what your preferences are between martial arts and special effects.
The movie as a whole felt like a tease because it left me wanting more. Wish it was at least a 2hr movie. It kinda reminded me of KungFu hustle (though that movie is probably funnier. The lead in KungFu Hustle is the director of this). It adds new content to the Journey to the West story that most are familiar with so if you are one of those then its a reason to definitely check this one out! (And if you arent it dosent really matter!)
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Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain
8 mensen vonden deze beoordeling nuttig
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I can't reccomend this drama enough. Though I rate it 8.5/10 as it did have its boring moments (usually some of the slice of life segments)but once you give it a go you'll find every episode is quite rewarding.
They also ended it on a good note which I think was executed in a cheezy manner but Im VERY sure a lot of the audience would love it. Every thing was directed, scripted and executed properly so you dont have to worry about not being able to take it seriously. This is a very good family drama but also very good for action lovers with great fights, well choreographed action sequences and camera angles. One thing I found quite funny and sometimes annoying (but not reaaally annoying) was the way they mess with the camera sometimes during some action scenes or a case. They zoom in and out really fast and shake the camera around alot. Its a good camera techinique for action flicks but there sometimes where I just think they went overboard with it to the point of it being funny and I think to myself *Well seems the scumbag camera guy is at it again*
Anyways watch this drama whenever you have the time to. Its a good mix of family, romance and action. Everything else you need to know about it is in the description.
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Then there’s the casting itself. I don’t think Micheal was the perfect cast for this role but I think he did ok overrall. He does have the face of an avenger and looks mean when he needs to but the problem is he looks mean/too serious most of the time including times when he may not mean to. Like when he’s being a cool flirt, or acting as a gentle man. He just comes off as a bit too serious most of the time. And it seems the script wright isn’t knowledgeable in the “cool flirt/player boy” area because he/she was too dependent on cheezy cliché stuff like the “catching the girl when she’s falling/beating up bad guys to save her” type of tricks to make Micheal the “smooth” guy character. Using such techniques is understandable and ok but the way it is executed in this drama doesnt pull off quite well. The scriptwright & probably director as well, certainly need lessons from movies like Batman or dramas like Bad Guy or Que sera sera or maybe real smooth guys in action because the cheesiness in this drama can be a bit overwhelming lol. That being said there are other noticeable minor faults contained in this drama but still these “minor” faults eventually add up and take a toll on what could have been a perfect 10/10 drama bringing it down to like a 7/10 or so.
On the good side of things the big budget in this drama does pay off and you get to see alot of cool things and eye candy characters (well maybe not a lot but a fair enough amount). And I sorta liked the overly fancy hairdo’s, the action scenes were cool enough and I definitely enjoyed the Oceans 11/Batman part of things here. So if you liked those two movies then this drama is for you just as long as you don’t let its minor faults get to you. *Bibian, would you marry me?? I can’t live without you!* Lolz XD (“Bibian” is kinda like an inside joke if you’ve seen this drama lol)
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Next is the story & plot. Lets get over the bad first. There are quite a lot of cheezy parts, which I found annoying and there are some severely unrealistic stuff. Some I could laugh off and some had me with the long face again. I could just visualize the script writers and directors not being able to come up with good enough ideas so they just got lazy or something and went along the easy-crappy route. Also there were times I didn't quite like Kang Hye Na’s style. Though I’d consider it stylish, I perceived it as too derogatory to her as an actor and person. Some might count is as sex appeal though but I just happen to care for her image as person? (kinda like brotherly love I guess? Yea we're far from being related but please get my point -_-") And therefore I wasn't pleased with it. And lastly a good part of the story was predictable but maybe that's just me.
Regardless no need to worry there is enough good stuff in this drama for us viewers which is why its able to get an 8/10 from me. The story, though very typical k-drama style, can surely hold even the interest of long time viewers. And there are also great supporting actors. Like really. Yoon Eun Hye is probably the only actor I had an issue with. You’ll also find the good chunk of comedy in this drama and that helped a great deal.
Overall I felt this drama seemed like "just another job" to some of its creators (its lacking that special love & great attention to detail) but due to their professionalism it still ended up ok. Good for them.
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The script came off as very amateur like which made the show hard to watch as I found it pathetic. It generally followed this basic plot (mostly in the 1st few episodes) - someone dies; their ghost bothers Tae Kong Sil for help; Tae Kong clings to Joong Won at every chance she gets while fulfilling the ghosts request; some unrealistic and pridictable climax occurs where ghosts request is completed so it does some cheezy interaction with its living loved ones before finally leaving. Things improved a bit in later episodes but the grassroot problems remained constant enough throughout the drama to mark down its quality.
There's just so many things wrong with this drama that made it unbearable to watch. None of the important relationships are scripted well enough to make sense or feel natural. The CEO of a company puts up with this random woman clinging onto him with very minor resistance because she claims he makes ghosts disappear (I mean she's survived b4 she met him so wtf). She survived for so long with ghosts but still freaks out at every ghost she meets (was kinda cute but still stupid). And they try so hard to scare you with every ghost scene (which got annoying fast cause I'm like get on with the story already, there are more clever ways of being scary sheesh). Much of the plot felt like a copy and paste from other dramas (even characters) so you get bombarded with cliche drama stuff used in boring and predictable ways (least they could do is use cliche stuff in interesting ways). The list could go on and on really.
If youre looking for a romantic ghost story with more intelligence and a plot that isnt this sloppy then I'd reccommend Arang and the Magistrate. This was just a bad waste of time imo.
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Return of the Condor Heroes
6 mensen vonden deze beoordeling nuttig
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So this is basically like a Romeo and Juliet story of China as this is apparently a very famous wuxia tale there (I didn’t know this when I first watched it. If only someone had warned me I would have avoided it since I don’t like Romeo and Juliet either due to its tragic nature). Contrast to Romeo and Juliet though, it ends on a happy note. This drama is an adaptation of one of Jin Young's famous tales (probably his most tragic one with pitch fork tragic events that I cant stand and a major plot point that is dragged on to frustrating levels). There have been various adaptations in anime, movies and tv series but this drama has the best quality so far production wise, and follows this interestingly addictive pitch fork tragic tale closely. Personally this isnt a story/drama Id recommend to anyone (unless its someone youd like to torture >:] ) because although it an awesome martial arts story and ends on a somewhat happy note, the journey through so many tragic plots was just too depressingly unbearable for me. The show is filled exceptional actors making it even harder not to take things too personally/seriously. Perhaps if your already familiar with the story you might be able to stand it but I still wouldn’t recommend that you watch it.
Consider this a disclaimer/ warning that I only wish someone gave me saying, watch this at your own risk. This drama is comparable to the drama Chuno so if you could watch and enjoy that then you might enjoy this as my sentiments in this mirror almost exacly my sentiments in Chuno.
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