I stumbled upon the 2017 movie "Tshiong" in 2021. And I immediately saw that it had the Taiwanese metal band Chthonic on the cover, so of course I was interested in watching the movie. Sure, I had never even heard about "Tshiong" from director Wen-tang Cheng before in 2021 as I sat down to watch it.
"Tshiong" is labeled as an action comedy, well, not so much really. It was more of an outlet to vent some political views upon the situation of Taiwan's independence and reluctance to submit to Chinese governing. So you might want to prepare yourself for being in for about an hour and a half laced with political sways.
The movie's story was adequate enough, but again, everything was just oozing with political agenda. And while one or more members of the Taiwanese band Chthonic may be involved in political affairs, then I must admit that having sat through "Tshiong" I feel sort of left with a bitter taste in my mouth. And this movie actually puts Chthonic up there along side with bands such as Behemoth, Kiss, Deicide, and all those metal bands that are selling everything from toiletries to barbeque utensils, just as long as it has the band logo on it and brings in a dollar or two.
The acting in the movie wasn't the best of what Taiwanese cinema has to offer, no doubt about that. But I will say that people in the movie were definitely putting on good enough performances with the limitations imposed upon them by the rather inferior script and the political agendas.
Ultimately, then I can now check "Tshiong" off of my to-watch-list. But I can in all honesty say that this was by no means an outstanding movie, nor a memorable one. And this is not a movie I would recommend you rush out to watch. I suppose you have to be a Taiwanese to truly embrace the political message that "Tshiong" tries to bring about.
My rating of the 2017 movie "Tshiong" from director Wen-tang Cheng lands on a mere three out of ten stars. Whatever possibility of entertainment that "Tshiong" had to offer was washed away by a tsunami of political agenda.
