Between Fatal Journey and The Living Dead, this is definitely the better spin-off movie, but it's still missing some cohesion. I watched this mostly because I wanted to see Nie Huaisang's perspective as he started his grand plan, but the story really focuses instead on the actual ancestral tomb incident and the jump to the mastermind prequel is really sudden and feels tacked on at the end.

I think Nie Mingjue is the most true to his character in this movie, and it was wonderful seeing the relationship between the brothers, but on the other hand...Nie Huaisang actually feels kind of out of character. He was always characterized as someone who didn't want to take on responsibility and just wanted to enjoy life — until he was forced to act. There were several moments here where he became really courageous and outspoken about justice and it just didn't really feel like him.

I do think this was good fanservice and as a huge fan of CQL it made me happy to see everyone again (even (especially) the villains).