I sat down to watch the 2011 Chinese action comedy "Wu Lin Wai Zhuan" (aka "My Own Swordsman") here in 2022 without ever having heard about the movie. I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the movie, and with it being an Asian movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to watch it.
And without knowing anything about the movie, writer Cai Shen Ning and director Jing Shang had every opportunity to bedazzle, impress and entertain me.
However, I have to admit that I just could find no enjoyment in this particular story. It felt like a cluttered mess of a storyline, as if there wasn't a proper red thread to lead the audience from the start of the movie and safely to the end of the movie. It was too random and chaotic, and felt like the writer had handed in one thing, but the director churn out something else entirely.
The acting performances in the movie were fair enough, taking into consideration that the actresses and actors had precious little to work with in terms of a coherent storyline or interesting characters.
"Wu Lin Wai Zhuan" fell short of entertaining me, and just as quietly as the movie had snuck under my radar, as quietly will it fade into oblivion. This is not a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend fans of the Chinese cinema to waste their time on.
My rating of "Wu Lin Wai Zhuan" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.
