Kingudamu

I love historical movies, including the films about the history, either real or fictional, of the Asian countries. And so I had high expectations of spending a nice evening by watching another Asian historical movie. Alas, my expectations were ruined by the totally annoying acting, or should I say - over-acting, of the main character. His grotesque bulging eyes, yells and totally stupid demeanor, either caused by the script or his own 'contribution' to it made it so irritating that me and my wife could not watch it for more than first 20 minutes.

This movie has all the elements of what you would expect from a movie like this. Action, story, history, interesting characters etc. Its all there.... except the main character's actor goes out of his way to just spoil everything with his over the top acting. I'm not sure how the director didn't just tell him to turn it down a notch or two but at points you just find it hard to take him seriously and are stunned that this is the protagonist and the one you're supposed to be backing and taking seriously. I remember watching the same actor in another show he did called Alice in Borderland and he carries the same over the top acting from there. The difference is over there he is surrounded by children so it its ok, while here in a historical piece, he doesn't match the role at all. I'm certain this movie rating would have been 7.5-8 overall if it was cast by a different lead.

I was hoping this would be an action packed war movie, and it was in some ways. But the constant emotional cry/screaming drove me absolutely insane by the end of the movie, so much so I didn't even finish the last 15 mins of the movie. It was unbelievably predictable, the lead character was uninteresting who was constantly screaming and yelling for long periods of time. There was more drama in this movie than anything else. If you took out all the screaming, crying, flashbacks, and talking in between fighting (super unrealistic) you could condense this movie into a short 30 min movie and you would still get all the important parts of this movie. I went into this movie expecting to enjoy it, and ended it early because it was that boring and annoying. It could have been such a better movie than it turned out to be because the plot of the movie was good. I would advise skipping this movie unless your into drama war movies where there's almost non stop crying and screaming and very little action.

Unlike Rurouni Kenshin live action movies, I have no idea about the source material. I know it has 3 seasons of anime right now but I haven't really considered giving it a read or watch. I stumbled upon this movie after looking into any other Japanese movies based on manga and this came up.

The basic premise is a once slave boy named Xin (Kento Yamazaki) unites with a king Ying Zheng (Ryo Yoshizawa) to help him reclaim his throne from his evil younger brother Cheng Jiao (Kanata Hongo). They battle assassins, mountain people and huge armies in China.

My first praise is the story which is pretty well told and intriguing enough to keep me invested. The story isn't the most original and is clearly inspired by chinese stories but it is pace very well so that the audience themselves are ever really bored. This maybe in part thanks to the movie using a lot of Star Wars wipes which surprised me at first but it keep things moving along. They do use it a lot but The stakes are also clear and very high which is compelling enough to make the third act feel really desperate and urgent. It also seems to be following the source material faithfully according to fans of the source material so in a way that is a plus.

The set and costume design did a phenomenal job in making it seem like a China from B.C. which is in part thanks to them filming it in China. Despite the relatively low budget they still managed to make every costume feel authentic. The soundtrack is also quite good in bringing the scenes to life with its orchestral score but there isn't any real memorable soundtrack like with the Rurouni Kenshin films. Although, it does have a ONE OK ROCK song in the credits just like the Rurouni Kenshin films.

The action scenes are not on the level of Rurouni Kenshin movies but they are still fun to watch nonetheless. One difference is that they are much more over the top with ridiculous jumping and huge crazy beat down characters take but this is part of the charm of Kingdom. There is a moment in this film where Xin hits an assassin with a sword and he bounces on 4 different bamboo trees, it's as ridiculous as it sounds but entertaining to watch.

The cast also do a great job in bringing the characters from the manga to the big screen in a very accurate portrayal. This does end up creating a weird issue for me though. Xin (Kento Yamazaki) and HeLiao Diao (Kanna Hashimoto) are two of the main characters and they are performed like the source material with anime-esque personality. However, Ying Zheng (Ryo Yoshizawa) is performed in a more grounded performance. This isn't only with the main leads though but with 70% of the cast giving more believable grounded performance but 30% giving an over the top anime performance. It's mildly jarring and creates a weird tonal problem of the film with these contrasting performance. The film is definitely fun with its goofy action scenes but the goofy performances tend to be hit or miss depending on the scenario. In my opinion, one goofy character is fine but a lot can be a bit too much.

The film also overly indulges in a lot of flashbacks especially with Xin and his bromance friend Piao. Some the flashbacks feel necessary but near the end it gets a bit repetitive with it constantly reminding us that Piao inspired Xin. The film also kind of paints war a bit light heartedly which I feel clashes with the overall message of the film. Since its based on a long running manga which has 57 volumes, it ends with a very clear sequel bait ending instead of a conclusive ending. So if this movie doesn't get a sequel the ending will be mildly annoying.

In the end, the movie is a still a very good time. It's a high energy movie that moves along at a great pace without stumbling towards the finish line. It's colorful, fun, exciting and ultimately an entertaining ride of a film. You will come out enjoying it and that seems to be what the director was aiming for which in that case it succeeds very well.

He grunts. He screams. Then he screams again.

Kento Yamazaki overacts and over emotes in every scene, specially in the first half. To show grief, anger, surprise or any other emotion, he has only one register: He screams loudly. And he grimaces. He hams it up. He acts unintelligent but determined, a gritty stubborn brainless dolt. His dialogue is also childish, culminating with the cliched speech about the power of dreams during his last major fight scene. Would you ramble on about the power of dreams when fighting a mortal adversary?

He fast becomes very annoying. And since he's the central character, he ruins the movie for me.

It is too bad, because there is a lot to like in this movie. Great fight scenes, great choreography, impressive settings, hundreds of soldiers, interesting adversaries with original looks and fighting techniques. Some very good second role actors, specially Masami Nagasawa and Takao Osawa. The director, Shinsuke Sato, has become know for his manga adaptations, and this movie is a specially faithful adaptation of the first part of Yasuhisa Hara's manga. If it wasn't for the poor dialogue and overacting, this would be a very fun Wuxia movie.

Because of these fun elements, I hesitated a lot before knocking my rating down . Then came the last scenes, glorifying the forceful unification of China (in this age of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Yughur troubles). These scenes were completely unnecessary, and probably placed in the movie to support a larger Box Office performance in China.

Not recommended.