La Légende des héros du condor

The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants is a great film for any fan of the wuxia genre or martial arts movies in general!

Some aspects about the movie that are especially noteworthy in my eyes:

• The great performance by everyone, but especially by Xiao Zhan as Guo Jing, Zhuang Dafei as Huang Rong, Zhang Wenxin as Hua Zheng, and Baya'ertu as Genghis Khan. They all portrayed their characters convincingly and made them easily likable for the audience.

• The high amount of Mongolian spoken in the movie gave the movie a more authentic feeling.

• The fight scenes a felt so smooth and flawless, easily moving from filmed material to CGI without barely an indication where one ends and other begins. It's truly amazing. The fight scenes themselves look masterfully, and the dedication of the cast and crew shines through.

• The movie includes unexpected subtle or ironic humour at times, which I really liked.

• The cinematography of the movie is stunning, and the music is simple amazing.

The movie doesn't aim to re-invent the wheel but tells a visually beautiful story with a lot of heart, great performances and a timeless theme, wonderfully captured by the master of the wuxia genre Tsui Hark.

If the movie has one flaw that helps it to reach a 10/10, then it's the nature of it being only a snapshot in Guo Jing's life that requires the movie to establish a lot of context in a very short amount of time. The movie could have been even bolder in leaving more elements of its literal model out in orders to focus on the core of the story it wants to tell.

All in all, the movie deservedly has become the highest box office wuxia movie ever in chinese movie history!

Meaningful, fast-paced movie, with breathtaking sceneries.

Story's ultimate focus on Guo Jing's inner struggle, and how he coped with the conflicts between Song (his ancestral homeland) and Mongolia (where he was raised by a loving royal family).

Ending has a beautiful meaning for present times --- when there's so much war and hate.

(Real heroes are not about muscles and power, but about the heart for the greater good of the people.)

*** Tips for NON-Mandarin speakers: To appreciate the story details, you need some prior-background knowledge of Guo Jing, or you may find yourself too focused on the captions and miss a lot in this fast-paced (with various flashbacks) movie.

A decent theater is a MUST for the stunning sceneries and effect.

*** ***

I am the mother of two children. In this Chinese New Year time our family with grandparents six of us went to see the legend of the Condor heroes together. This is such great choice for the family time.

After watching I was really surprised that big scene very bright screen design and this is such wonderful movie!

The story is smooth and natural and each character's outlook on life is fresh.

I love a movie with a tight plot and no mud. Worth to watch will highly recommend to everyone!

The aesthetic of this film is too good what is the home country feelings! My martial arts soul is coming back.

Tsui Hark does not disappoint me. Its staging is wonderful and the landscapes of northern China are beautiful.

The aerial and ground shots are incredible. You can see the emotion in every scene presented.

This proposal by Tsui Hark is novel and its characters are very well chosen.

This time the modern Guo Jing does not present himself as the fool described in the books, but gradually grows in knowledge and evolves in thought, because he is intelligent.

The performance of all the characters is artistic and very well presented. The martial arts of this movie are interesting; they do not always show the violence seen in some film genres, but they form a philosophy to show that not everything is war and resentment.

Very good and I recommend it.

It was released in the UK as well, I saw it and it was really good. I'm already planning to go for a second shoot. Some of the scenes were very touching. The cinematography, the pacing and the bgm are all so beautiful. The film is so romantic with the hero and heroine. The martial arts are very combustible, the fights are very cool. But the core of the film is love & peace, it's an anti-war film. Powerful strength will be used to eliminate war and protect the weak. Moreover, the film emphasises that people who are powerful should have a heart of compassion. Such people are the real heroes. Regardless of countries and nations, mankind is a community of destiny.