Tin lung baat bou

When Donnie Yen steps back behind the camera, you expect a masterclass. Instead, it feels like he skipped the lesson on subtle digital de-aging. With his CGI-smoothened face, Donnie looks like he borrowed Snapchat's anti-aging filter. It's borderline comical watching a "young" 59-year-old pulling off flips and striking Goku-like poses, ready to unleash a Kamehameha. Believability? About as solid as Obelix on a vegan diet.

Where Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a poetic symphony of martial arts, Sakra is its drunken karaoke cousin. The film flings everything at you-characters flying, fighting, crying, and delivering lines so overblown even Vegeta would blush. It's stuffed with dialogue straight out of a Naruto filler episode, dressed up in big-budget sets and costumes that remind you this is still a Donnie Yen production.

The special effects? Oh boy. Between a digital dragon that looks like a screensaver and chi blasts straight out of a 90s VHS intro, the visuals are far from masterpiece territory. It undercuts fights that might have been iconic otherwise. The choreography is breathtaking, but the overuse of green screens and cheesy effects yanks you right out of the action. Honestly, the 1993 Power Rangers had more credible visuals.

The plot? Shakespeare, but kung fu style-and poorly digested. Qiao Feng, our disgraced hero, drags his sword and tarnished honor through a gauntlet of twists so far-fetched they might have been written by a Red Bull-fueled screenwriter. The stakes are there, but everything feels hollow, like a lightsaber duel without the "vwoosh." It tries to be tragic, but often stumbles into unintentional comedy.

And yet, it's hard to stay mad at Sakra. Martial arts fans will feast on the dazzling fight sequences, which remain the movie's undeniable highlight. Donnie Yen still knows how to deliver jaw-dropping action with a side of airborne theatrics. Sakra is a guilty pleasure-a mix of epic spectacle and sheer WTF moments, perfect for a no-pressure movie night with snacks in hand.

Tin Lung Baat Bou (Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils) reminds us that Donnie Yen can still wow us, even if the CGI occasionally stings the eyes. With its questionable effects, freewheeling plot, and awe-inspiring battles, Sakra is equal parts epic and absurd. Worth watching for the fun-but don't expect a masterpiece... unless you're into dragons that look like they were made in Microsoft Paint.

I don't want to go into the details of the movie. Donnie yen simply killed my entire childhood on demigods and demigods. It is true that Chinese TV series have always been annoying with adding or subtracting characters and events from novels, but this series reaches another level of destruction. Of course, the martial arts in Jin Yong's novels are hard to believe, but there is still logic involved. Anyone who reads Kim Dung's novel knows that the character can't move or fight like in the movie. The action scenes are even colder than the drama, I think they would be better if this was a movie? Or did Donnie Yen even read Jin Yong's novel?

The only problem , for me, remains the beginning of story. It is pure unrealistic and seems only pretext for choreography of fights.

The real good point remains the elegant hommage to classic films of genre. And , sure, the return to history of Song dynasty , suggesting the context and the difficulties of period.

So, against temptation to be critic, a correct martial art film, including for romance and for performances, silly in few scenes, exagerated in others but , the target being clear, to see it as poor movie starting from the story reduced at sketch level ( or only petext ) can be pretty unfair.

It's an adaptation of Jian Yong's Demi God and Semi Devil, most chinese or Asian would have knew the story path, it's like the story of Arthur and Merlin... Without even any plot twist jumbled into a 30 minuted movie. The original normally spans 40-50 hours long with lots of plot twist.

And the protagonist fails to even decide whether he wants to be a kungfu practitioners or a wuxia fantasy inner strenght no hit everybody fly around

The female protagonist cant act, Donnie has a bit of charisma but lacking acting range.

Overall a convulated mess. I'd still pay to see it for the action but it's nothing more than a superhero movie.

He was written as strong but not all conquering strong.

I'll make this short and sweet...

The script is predictable and unoriginal...

The direction is poor...

The editing extremely disjointed...

CGI is very good...

Overall, this is a visually stunning action ride but that is not enough to keep me entertain for 2 hours. The plot and editing is all over the place making it very frustrating to follow and I find myself waiting for just the action scenes without caring for any of the characters or story.

As much as I enjoy Donnie Yen's work I'm not sure that directing this film himself is the right choice for this project, but that's just my opinion.