Sakra

SAKRA (C-) is Donnie Yen's attempt at crafting a new epic Wuxia classic, bit instead crafts three decent action sequences surrounded by a hot flaming mess of storytelling. I'm not even going to try and give a plot description other than to say it takes place in Ancient China and features a horrifically confusing and unnecessarily convoluted plot with Donnie Yen's good guy kung fu artist constantly being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's apparently based on a wuxia novel series that's rooted in Buddhist ideas, but it's just not very accessible, even for a charitable and engaged outsider like me. I knew I was in for a confusing mess when even the opening title cards were a confusing mess of an English translation. The good news is that the large budget is all on the screen with incredible looking sets and great costumes. Donnie Yen has been quoted as saying this was his attempt to make a Marvel like film using the wuxia genre and he absolutely failed to do so. He doesn't seem to recognize that the power of the first few phases of Marvel films was in how simple and straightforward they were: Simple plots with instantly likeable characters and great action sequences. Sakra does emulate some of the superhero like abilities into its action sequences, but Yen's character largely mopes about the film while most scenes feature endless talking and complications. The three major action sequences we get are pretty good, featuring impressive wire work and stunts, but they also feature oppressive sound design and CGI that feels like it could have used a bit more love. Skip the film and youtube the fight sequences in a few months from now.

Sakra, a martial arts fantasy film produced and co-directed by Donnie Yen, delivers a grounded and gloriously detailed vision of Louis Cha's wuxia world, featuring spectacular martial arts choreography and beautiful production design.

While Sakra soars with its action, it falls short on storytelling. The script starts solidly but rushes to set up the sequel in its final act, sacrificing character depth for scope.

Adapted from Louis Cha's classic wuxia novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, the story is set during the Song Empire. Qiao Feng, the orphan leader of the Beggar's Sect, is framed for murdering sect leader Ma Dayuan and his adopted parents.

Qiao Feng is revealed to be a Khitan, the warring enemy of the Song Empire, and is banished from the Beggar's Sect. Wrestling with his new identity, Qiao Feng seeks the murderer of his adopted parents among the martial arts clans...

For Sakra, Donnie Yen drew from his experience choreographing 2006's comic book adaptation Dragon Tiger Gate and absorbed the lessons from the CGI-driven Storm Riders series, and creates a realism with its own set of rules.

There are long horse riding sequences through real Chinese landscapes, in which the film invests its time in. This grounds the wuxia world and presents a sense of geographic scale where heroes ride for days.

Every martial arts move, whether realistic or fantastical, is motivated, has weight, and flows well.

The stunt team has meticulously worked out all the power levels for the fighting. The way the fights escalate from sparring to superhuman feats to eventual chi blasts flows exceptionally well. You never question why a fighter didn't begin with their ultimate finishing move as there are physical limits in place and using a powerful move comes with immense strain.

People do fly, but sparingly. The way the film presents chi, as a steamy wave of hot air, was perfect.

All that said, the appeal of Louis Cha's wuxia stories is story and characters, not just fighting. The biggest challenge of adapting Louis Cha is condensing the material, which is why the best adaptations have been for TV.

Sakra uses its screentime disproportionally, devoting a lot of time to developing the Qiao Feng character in the first half. As we move to the second half, the script struggles to downsize the immense scale of Louis Cha's novel and plays like a showreel. New characters pop up to set up the next movie in a Marvel-like fashion. Being unfamiliar with the source material, I was confused and lost.

While there are many great things about it, Sakra ends up being a big missed opportunity and will be remembered most for its fight sequences. A Louis Cha wuxia cinematic universe would be awesome.

You know when a football player is about to score a goal and then fumbles the ball, and the sports fans scream passionately at the television? Sakra made me feel that way.

It's... almost there... if it can only... Sigh...

It is an adaptation of the "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils," from Jin Yong's Wuxia novel. Well, the storyline is pretty simple and straightforward, very much like KungFu Cult Master, whereby the main character is accused of many incidents, and all sects attempt to kill him, and that's where the fight starts and ends.

The pace is alright, packed with action, BUT it could be slow at certain parts! I thought it had ended several times, but it keeps going with a runtime of 130 minutes!

In terms of actions, I like it very much! You could feel the strengths and forces of every hit, and the CGI has enhanced the visual excitement to another level! They really did a great job of combining the "wirework + CGI" and martial arts into a more effective action movie.

A few drawbacks as follows:

Firstly, the movie slows down due to the relationship between Qiao Feng and A Zhu. Yet, it's NOT well managed in such a way that it disrupts the flow and momentum of the movie!

Secondly, Donnie Yen appears to be only good in action, BUT not in romance! There is no spark of chemistry between Qiao Feng and A Zhu! Donnie's acting is rather stiff when it comes to intimate moments with A Zhu. Somehow it's more like a father-daughter relationship than a lover's.

Thirdly, the sub-plot in the 2nd half is rather odd, especially on the introduction of new characters of A Zu's parents and her rebellious sister. It could be due to time constraints, things are rushing off, so it does not gel well to the overall movie and looks disconnected!

Finally, with the ending, we could predict that there may be Part 2 in future. Since it will be a sequel, why NOT break this movie into 2 decent movies, instead of rushing everything out, causing an uneven focus on some details. Also I believe that audiences could enjoy it better, rather than having watched a lengthy movie without proper addresses of some plots.

I gave 6/ 10. Despite the weaknesses above, it's an ok movie for casual entertainment. As said, I love the action and fighting scenes, with the right speed, strength, and force! A watch-able one for this Chinese New Year! Go, Go, Go!!

I'll make this short and sweet...

The script is predictable and unoriginal...

The direction is poor...

The editing extremely disjointed...

CGI is very good...

Overall, this is a visually stunning action ride but that is not enough to keep me entertain for 2 hours. The plot and editing is all over the place making it very frustrating to follow and I find myself waiting for just the action scenes without caring for any of the characters or story.

As much as I enjoy Donnie Yen's work I'm not sure that directing this film himself is the right choice for this project, but that's just my opinion.

SAKRA is another labour of love from star and director Donnie Yen, and I wish he'd give up making them. This is one of those flabby, bloated wuxia-style movies that's all over the place. After a totally random back story we meet Yen's expert swordsman, a king of beggars type, who finds himself set up by unknown enemies and forced to fight for his life. The plot beats play out ridiculously here and the whole thing has a strong air of embarrassment about it. The action scenes are unsurprisingly dominated by less than effective CGI, despite which a few are quite exciting, but it all goes on forever at a slow pace which makes it feel like four hours. And the way it refuses to end is unforgiveable.