Gu jian qi tan zhi liu yue zhao ming

Legend of the Ancient Sword (2018) is only the second Hong-Kong action movie directed by Renny Harlin and it is among one of his best movies in his filmography.

Positives for Legend of the Ancient Sword (2018): This movie is basically Renny Harlin doing a Hong-Kong version of Final Fantasy, so this movie absolutely appeals to me especially since my second favorite video game of all time is Final Fantasy X just behind Resident Evil 4. I loved the journey these characters go and there are some amazing interactions between these characters. The movie has an insanely awesome pace to it to where it had my attention from start to finish and I was never bored. And finally, the action sequences are absolutely phenomenal and I got those Final Fantasy vibes from them with some of the best fight choreography I've seen in any Hong-Kong action movie.

Overall, Legend of the Ancient Sword (2018) is a movie that I didn't know I need in my life until I finally watched it. This is one of my favorite Hong-Kong action movies of all time and one of my favorite Renny Harlin movies.

It's kind of a funny story to see Renny Harlin directing career when from Die Hard 2,Cliffhanger to crappy CGI-fest like Legend of the Ancient Sword but compared this movie to The Thousand Faces of Dunjia a movie with a similar plot directed and written by two of the best men from old Hong-Kong cinema industry like Woo Ping Yuen and Tsui Hark and believe me or not Legend of the Ancient Sword actually miles better and I'm rather rewatch this movie ten times than to rewatch that movie one time

For some background info, this movie is adapted from a game, and there was a drama adapted from this game as well in 2014, though it might be a different storyline (I don't play that game). Thus, one should lower his/her expectations when watching this film. After all, the storyline in games usually go along the same lines of defeating a villain to save the world...

What's great: Graphics, some CG, fighting scenes, some famous actors.

What's disappointing: the acting, the background music (or lack of it for some scenes) and the incoherency of some scenes.

More on the acting, like most reviews from a Chinese review site, I felt that the acting was mostly stiff and a bit awkward. To be blunt, I think I see a few Kristen Stewarts in there, and the interraction was very bland at times. It was hard to imagine this would be the level of standard in a seemingly high budget movie. And it's sad to say, but I felt that the choice of actors, especially the main male character was kind of wrong. Wang Lee Hom seems a bit displaced as a happy go lucky MC who goes around with highly flexible moves and jumps around, since he is not that young anymore. Thus, I believe younger yet sunny type actors like Show Luo could be more suitable for the role.

Incoherency of some scenes was quite jarring, as the switch from a scene to another hardly makes much sense at times, and in some scenes were obviously shot at different times and put together. Again, this is quite bad for a seemingly high budget film.

Overall, the movie was quite boring as besides the cliched storyline (well this is a video game adaptation), the presentation of the scenes was quite monotonous (partly due to the acting and lack of music at times) but the graphics and a few big shot actors are worth supporting the film for.

Gu Jian Qi Tan 2 (The Legend of the Ancient Sword 2) is the second film of Gu Jian Qi Tan series based on the mobile game having the same name. In the past, games are made based on the films. Nowadays, it has become opposite. Films are made based on the games as well. No matter what they are based on, some turned out to be great ones. Some are terrible. Some are good. This film is not that good.

Unlike previous TV series, Gu Jian Qi Tan (The Legend of the Ancient Sword), the plot of this one is too simple. Bad guys do bad things and good guys stop them, as usual. We've all seen that kind of things in a lot of films. That's why I've said the plot is too simple. If the plot is a bit different from what we've seen and has some twists and turns, it'd be better than this.

The special effects are better than the previous one, which was released in 2014. Of course, it's 4 years passed since that one was out. So, the way the special effects are improved isn't something to be amazed. If it didn't, that is something to be amazed. That being said, some of the special effects are not that much good. So, I could see that it was special effects, and it's not real.

Moreover, the actors and actresses' performances are not that good. I feel like they are acting in front of the camera(s) and the events are not happening in the real world. I actually feel like I'm watching a film, not watching the events happening in front of my eyes.

As for voice artists, the voice artists in this film are not good either. I've seen voice acting's director Bian Jiang's voice acting, such as Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation), Chen Qing Ling (The Untamed), even Gu Jian Qi Tan (The Legend of the Ancient Sword). Those ones are perfect unlike they are in this film. I can't believe to see that Bian Jiang's voice acting is really bad in this film. And also I didn't know the main character's voice actor is Bian Jiang until I saw it in the end credits, and I was totally amazed. Maybe because his voice is somehow different. And maybe, he's acting is bad in this one. If the voice artists' performances are good, this film will be better somehow.

To conclude this review, I've expected a lot. But because of the facts that the plot is too simple, the special effects need to be improved, the bad acting and also the voice artists need to be better, this film didn't turn out to be that good. When I watched this film, I stopped after 19 minutes passed because I had to do something and also I felt that the film was so boring. When I finished my work, I thought about continue to watch. But I didn't because at that time, I didn't want to continue to watch. After some months, just today, I continued to watch this film. So, you can all guess how much good this film. If they have done better job, I think this film might turn out to be better than now.

I normally like these sort of films, Asian fantasy-esque fims. But from the get go, it did not hold my interest. Yes the special effects were ok, but could not really make head nor tails of what was going on. That may be in part to the English subtitles, they were very small and and very fast subtitles, so while straining to try to read them, by the time you had started reading them, they went that fast, that you never got all of the subtitles. If it were dubbed into English, Imay give it another go. But overall, it did not impress me, sorry.