As a franchise based on a series of books that are brilliantly written, nationally acknowledged, beloved and familiarised by Chinese people, it already had loads of adaptations, but one dilemma this classic franchise is facing is on one side, the older generations who are familiar with the story and various of versions filmed previously already have a clear idea about who they think the story, the characters are, it will be really hard to offer them a different version and gain acknowledgment from them; on the other side, it takes considerations to think about how to reach out to the younger generations who perceive this franchise as already out of date. I've been a Tsui Hark fan for years and I have believe in him on his vision and abilities on handling wuxia genre, that's why I felt so excited since I knew this project, and it actually didn't disappoint me.
First because everyone cares a lot about whether the actors fit the well-loved characters, I'm gonna guarantee you that they all get it so right! I knew there are actor with zero acting experience in the cast but overall their actings are so incredibly sophisticated I was actually in awe, I think that's where Tsui Hark's ability of instructing, monitoring and adjusting actors' performance kicks in, he's really good at it! Btw one thing I loved about Guo Jing's portrayal was I had this feeling that he had intentionally made the Mongolian lines slight ly more fluent than Chinese lines which matches Guo Jing's background (he grew up in Mongol), as a Chinese actor I knew it takes effort to make it happen!
Back to the movie itself, that scene Guo Jing and Huang Rong running towards each other in rain was so beautifully filmed and incredibly touching, I actually cried at that moment and strongly feel this is THAT moment I'm gonna ruminate for a long while.
The fight scenes were so well-thought and designed so easy to understand how it works, which is what I think always good in Tsui Hark's films, the visual communication never fails
I also like the way this film dealing with what we called identity crisis nowadays, our debate was no longer what identity you are, is it where you grew up or where you originally from? GJ's answer after going through all sort of things: its actually the care for ppl matters
I'm not a moviegoer but I had this gut feeling like I am kinda a Tsui Hark fan and I've watched most of his works and I can confidently say when ppl vertically compare this legendary director's works on the timeline and talk about it LOCH will be the work you can always find something interesting.
