The Yinyang Master

Chinese movies are usually not very good. This one is actually better than expected. The main character by Chen Kun acts the best. Others are just so so.

This film is quite the acid trip. But I liked the CGI, costumes, & filming sets. Its fine for the eye candy, but the dialogue (at least the english translation) makes no sense.

But for real. Boya was there but did actually nothing. After watching the movie with friends we tried to discuss what he did, but it's mission impossible. If they leave out his character, nothing even will change.

Anyway, QingMing was superb and the CGI awesome. Just give me more QingMing! (and give him some medicine for his back... must be hurt from all this carry)

If you think about it, Chinese folklore has millennia of content, refined for centuries, to inspire movie makers. All they need is some computer graphics, decent acting and some experience and they are set to build fantastical worlds that the Western World hasn't even dreamed of. This film is part of a sort of thematic series, with another Yinyang Master movie from 2020 having absolutely no connection to this one, but set in the same world of Chinese mythology. And it was good!

Now, the scenes were not really polished, the actors and their dialogues not to the standards that we've come to expect from Hollywood productions, but that's as much a good thing as a bad thing. The CGI was a bit clumsy only with the "Red Devil" character and maybe the final fight, the rest being pretty spot on. But what I liked more was the story, which had complex characters, hero journeys, a big baddie and tons of fun fights that kind of made sense.

Bottom line: this is one of the most entertaining and accessible Chinese films I've seen in a long time and, what's best, it felt natural, not an attempt to clone a particular Western genre. It felt authentic as well as interesting. Keep up the good work, guys!

This was kind of a Justice League the ancient Chinese style with lots of exceptional CGI... it is actually an adaption of the phenomenon-level mobile game "Onmyoji". Director Weiran Li did what was required from him on the story of Chia-Lu Chang and Even Jian - took safely the crew all the way to the end without any hiccups!

Lots of monsters and monster hunters are fighting in fights which are never boring! So if you are a fan of action, this could be your cup of tea!