Jade Dynasty 1 (2019)

Jade Dynasty is a mediocre movie. It is kind of entertaining, but that's not because of the plot, but because of the great actors who delivered amazing performances and the pretty scenery which blessed my eyes.

The first half was very exciting, but the second was meh. And the ending was a bit unsatisfying. The characters, I must say, were very cool, especially the main lead Xiao Fan. Such an adorable dude, lol.

What I loved the most about Jade Dynasty is definitely the cinematography and the CGI was actually kind of good? Well, some fights were a bit too ridiculous, but overall, I was very impressed.

I mean, the only thing that I didn't like about this movie is the story and the way it was presented. But it has everything else - interesting characters and relationships between them, great performances, breath-taking cinematography.

I would recommend it if you are looking for a movie to pass time. But honestly, you can just pass it and watch something else instead.

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What I liked about the " Jade Dynasty " (first movie hopefully), was the
first part of the movie. It was somehow the background of the main
character and how he became his final self in the ending. However,
the second part of the movie was rushed, almost confusing, and it had
an open ending (that is a bad thing if they don't have a second movie
coming up...).

That said, the performances were good and the costumes were nice.
They did a good job with the atmosphere of the story, as it looked
epic and fairy tale like. However, the CGIs were not good and kind of
ruined the action scenes.

So, overall, six out of ten.

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Great visuals but no plot?

I don’t usually write reviews but I felt like I needed to do it for this one, since I really don’t know how to feel about it...

After watching the trailer I was really excited to watch This movie and in the beginning I did also really like it. The visuals are absolutely *chef’s kiss*. The cinematography, set design, special effects, and styling works really well together to bring this univers to life and I instantly fell in love with it.

I also instantly fell for the main character. He is very charming, which might in part be because Xiao Zhan could make a rock seem charming, and with the introduction he was given its hard not to immediately start rooting for him. However, as the story went on I started getting increasingly more and more frustrated with how passive he is. The main character never seems to really DO anything. Instead things juste sort of happens to him and he never really questions it.
I was also happy to see that the story has several female characters, but all of the side characters feel very underdeveloped. Some of them weren’t even introduced until the last third of the movie, where they were only given a few minutes of screen time.

My biggest problem with the story is the plot - or lack there of... I had to pause the movie somewhere in the middle to go and read what the movie is even supposed to be about, but even then I was watching the movie and thinking “that isn’t what is happening though?”, and when there was only 20 minutes left of the movie I still wasn’t sure what the plot was supposed to be. I spent the whole movie just waiting for it to begin, and it wasn’t until the last 10-15 minutes, that I felt like things were finally starting to get somewhere. I’m excited for the second movie, because the first one left on an interesting note, but I don’t think that this one stands very well on it’s own. I haven’t seen the series, but I definitely got the impression that this story is better suited for a series format rather than for movies.

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A bit above average movie, with really disappointing ending. Watch it if you are Xiao Zhan Fan.

Story: ★★★
I don’t know the movie or the novel so I don’t have any prejudices. A clumsy but kind-hearted boy who turned into a demon but still got the likings of all the pretty girls around him. We have seen these types of stories and they are nothing new. However, I believe the book or novel has a pretty complicated story and interesting character development. However, all these were rather difficult or impossible to pack into a 90min movie. There was just not enough time to develop any attachment to the characters and comprehend why they did the things they did or felt the emotions they try to display. Esp. the two main leads - you don’t really comprehend why they suddenly started loving each other. The final scenes supposed to evoke a lot of sadness with the audience but failed to do so. The sudden emotional changes in the main characters are just a key gap of the movie adaption (and all happened towards the end) which left a bad taste and many question marks for me.

Cast and acting: ★★★★
The movie has a great cast. The acting is pretty flawless most of the time. Xiao Zhan once again topped himself by successfully portraying the clumsy, unskilled but kind-hearted Xiao Fan. This goes for all the female leads. But I guess because it's difficult to understand characters’ motivation I also cannot appreciate their acting this much. The other problem I had was that all of them are so major that you do not know who is lead vs. supporting. I mean why is Tina Tian a supporting role vs. Li Qin? She has as many screen time or even more than Li Qin. But overall I have no complains about the acting. The fighting choreography is really beautiful and one of the best I have seen in Chinese movies.

Camera and post-production: ★★★★
The cinematography and the CGI are really nicely done. I have seen many low-quality CGIs in Chinese dramas that this one really comes refreshing. I think that it is the major watching point of this movie. However in order to show these beautiful choreographies (e.g from the female leads) one left out a quiet bit of zoom-ins to characters' faces which are a bit of shame given they are so good and beautiful actors.
A major turn off is the dubbing of the voices. The voices do not look like they are coming out of their mouth and is esp. bad for Xiao Fan. The voice does not match his mouth movement so many times. And what about this sudden lower voice at the end of the movie? Did they switch the voice actor? For me, voices are one major part of a good movie and the acting itself and that was a huge disappointment.

Summary: ★★★
Overall, I think you should watch the movie to see Xiao Zhan’s great acting (and to see some of the other female leads) cinematography, beautiful costumes and CGI. But if you want to enjoy a good movie that does not have a proper ending (that has a pretty weird cliffhanger) that’s probably not one you should go for.

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So, spoilers will follow:

So, this came up in my youtube recommends, probably because I've been binging on C-drama ever since I ran out of Untamed episodes to watch. This is the summary:
"Jade Dynasty : After the massacre of his village, Zhang Xiaofan is taken in by the Qing Yun Sect where he begins his journey of cultivation. When he finds out the truth behind the deaths of his parents, he succumbs to his rage and demonic tendencies and becomes the enemy of Qing Yun Sect."

What it doesn't say is that this "he succumbs to his rage and demonic tendencies and becomes the enemy of Qing Yun Sect" happens in the last 5-10 minutes. No, really. NO REALLY.

Before that we have a lot of messing about which is endlessly confusing and kind or frustrating. I mean, why doesn't Zhang Xiaofan get better at cultivating over ten years? Were they just using him as a male Cinderella type or was that just a red-herring? Also, what's with "demonic tendencies"? AFAIK, he found a stick and bled near it - it was kind of an accident.

I honestly can't say anything about the acting - that was good throughout, and if at times seemed over the top, well that was the character.

Pacing was terrible - alternately nothing happening and then everything happening at once - as I've said, in the last ten minutes. That's kind of what happens when you try to compress a 50 or so episode series into a movie which isn't even 2 hours long.

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watch it for the actors, not for the story!

I'm approaching this without knowing anything about the novel or the drama version.

Jade Dynasty is an ambitious work, in the sense that it's trying to pack so much story into such a short time frame. Oftentimes, the plot was almost too fast-paced for me. The story was progressing, but I felt like I understood little about the world and the intricacies of the character's relationships-- their past, their motivations-- so it was much harder to connect with them on an emotional level.

After reading reviews on this site, I was prepared for the worst when it came to the ending. However, to me, the ending is not bad-- fitting for the story, albeit not super exciting or satisfying. As a viewer, you're left with a lot of questions about the world and characters that are never really explained (again, probably because there was no time).

As other users have mentioned, I also found the movie a little too CGI-heavy. Some of the fight scenes were gorgeous though, especially the ones based on martial arts! The clothing choices (compared to other xianxia dramas) also really caught my eye-- I really liked the more ragtag look to them (it really fits the tone of the movie).

Despite the shortcomings of the story, the one thing I loved about this movie was the actors! Xiao Zhan really captured the essence of Zhang Xiao Fan: a clumsy, scatterbrained but genuine boy. Li Qin and Tang Yixin were standouts as well, super stunning!

If you're after this movie because you like the actors, I'd definitely recommend it! But if you're in it because you want a good story, I'd probably pass on this one. :)

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To be completely honest, I haven't got the slightest idea why everyone gives that movie a rating of 8 or higher. Pretty much 2/3 of the things that happened were filler and almost all the "important stuff" happened within the last 10 minutes. Yes, it was interesting to see how the main character got to where he was at the end of the movie but the amount of filler was just too much. And let's not even talk about the ending. Was that even an ending? Not only did we not get a conclusion to EITHER of the interesting storylines, we not even got rid of the most annoying of characters with the least of (known) background story.

I would have giving the drama a clear 2/10 rating but I had to add the 1.5 Star bias-bonus for Sean Xiao, so 3.5/10 it is.

It's nice that I watched it, just because now I can say I watched it, but I probably won't recommend it now or probably ever.

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Forgettable Waste of Time

+ Meng Mei Qi's character almost intrigued me and was fun to watch interact with the protagonist
+ a few shots (mostly those with less CGI) were pretty
+ evil demon cult fighters are the most interesting part of the movie, and they're on screen for like 5 minutes. Pigman ftw!
+ a cute monkey rides a dog

- main actor is overacting to the point of cringe
- story is barebones and ends up with sequel bait after almost nothing happens
- the fights are uninteresting (like the whole movie) and feel cheaper than in many tv dramas
- overused CG of people flying on swords instead of, you know, building up characters and making me care about things

TL;DR: It feels like a pilot of a wuxia tv show, not a big movie. Completely forgettable in all aspects.

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Another tl; dr review

Oh boy. How to say this kindly....

Coming almost straight from The Untamed, you go into this with high expectations and come out not knowing what happened because 20 min into this you started playing with your phone instead.

This production seemed....rocky at best. It had a very cheap feel to it and i was mainly watching for Xiao Zhan who either really deserved the Golden Broom if this is his standard acting or he just had a bad director, a bad script and a bad bad fricken month. It was lacking, in everything.
It's a far cry from his portrayal of WWX or even the dude in Oh my emperor (which i dropped)

The other cast seemed less cringey to watch and the plot was thiiiiiiiin. I couldnt get into it. Only in the very end, i got a little interested in the MC and I might watch the sequel because of that....

Anyway, the tl;dr:
questionable performance from XZ, passable from the rest.
music... - uh, there was music?
plot: easy to follow, bit boring, predictable
Costume and set: standard
Fimlography/camera: mid to low qual imho.
Rewatch: nah, I'm good thx

Cheers!

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As you may know this movie is movie version of Noble Aspiration which came out a while ago. It isn't a copy of the drama series but has some similar between the two because of both of them being strictly based of the novel. Well you maybe wondering if it worth you time or if I already watch the drama is there any point of watching the movie. I'll definitely say YES because even if you watch the drama it has a different take on the story of the characters and how the story progresses within the the 1 hour and 40 minutes. Even though they only have less than 2 hours to tell the story, I think they did a great job even if it a little rush compare to the drama version. Hopefully they make a sequel of the movie because it kind of ends on a cliff hanger.

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101 minutes of sad regret

Jade Dynasty had been on my to-watch list for months. Considering the story, movie promotion, the stills, the apparently stunning visual effects and the fantastic reviews, unbeknownst to me most likely due to Sean Xiao's work in the hit series 'The Untamed' which transformed him into a top rising star, I had to watch it.

You know the famous overly-used cliché 'appearances can be deceiving'? Well here it proved to be exactly the case masked by the migration of Sean Xiao's 'The Untamed' fandom towards his recent work. Genius!

After 101 minutes, which is the duration of the film, I fail to understand what is 'Jade Dynasty'? Why has the movie been inaptly named that when there are no references to it at all in the film. Jade??? The only stone in the movie looks more like a ruby, not jade unless of course it's red Jade but Jade is mostly green. Dynasty? Where? I failed and still fail to grasp this amongst other things i.e. the reason for the male lead Xiao Fan being so dumb and simple minded when he apparently had been practicing cultivation since he was a child following his adoption into the Qing Yun Sect. A cultivation level that is not visible at all.

Xiao Fan looks more that the fool in a renaissance-esque wuxia court rather than a highly cultivated human being. He's dumb from the beginning to the end. He's weak, clownish, childish, immature and not particularly smart but he's kind and generous and he practices goodness which are high virtues. Nonewithstanding his stupidity stands out. The question is why? To pay a comic tribute to Mark Chao's brilliant performance in Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms by ridicule mimic Ye Hua's fight against evil or to go all the way Ron Weasley copy-cat scenes from Harry Potter's Quidditch matches which he didn't participate in? I didn't get it, sorry. There are better ways to pay homage to outstanding entertainment visual and literary works than trying to sell moments of pure utter idiocy to the audiences and expect them to rave about it online/offline through word of mouth, which they did about Jade Dynasty both positively and negatively.

The female leads which are three by the way seem to suffer from various degrees of general apathy and emotional attachment and detachment to the male lead. It's hard to understand which one is more logical than the other in their actions, however my credit goes to Tian Ling Er who acts like a protective older sister to Xiao Fan and whom he dearly emulates. Lu Xue Qi is always on Duracell batteries girl-power fighting mode defend/attack and Bi Yao is simply a pain like many dull characters in a movie/drama which are there simply for the purpose of not advancing the action and looking pretty in pastel colours.

The sects are nothing new or original for that matter, having been recycled over and over and over again over the years like new exquisitely crafted glass artifacts, here without the new or the exquisite, rather, a regression to the boring old and banal plain utility relics best suited for a museum.

Overall Jade Dynasty had 86 minutes of a pure delusional infliction of mental pain, one that is best avoided, resulting in a total score of 3.5 out of 10 points. The last 15 minutes of the movie were entertaining enough however as they reminded me of other works not because they produced scenes of quality story or performance wise.

Don't bother watching the film unless you have a fondness for Zhan Xiao aka Sean Xiao, or you want to experience an entertainment hell for a bit. Even then it's not worth it.

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These actors- why!? The director has a handful of China's best actors at his disposal. Why does he just absolutely waste them like this? His shot choices were absolutely tragic; his involvement in the CGI clearly got them no where. There's a dragon in the first 20 minutes of the movie that they spent over a year on in CGI, but I'm so horribly sorry to say this but it looks cartoonish and tragic. The important places for CGI they absolutely jumped over and they clearly did not do a very good job with it. If you watch it and you're used to America's god-tier CGI like in the Avengers, then you're going to cringe incredibly hard.
Also, the script writers! What caffeinated beverage were they on? It's not cohesive, it's trying to tell too much of a story too quickly, and they're not doing a very good job of telling the already-simplified story they are supposed to tell. I'm sorely disappointed, especially with all the hype around it.
The actors in this are phenomenal with their acting. Xiao Zhan is absolutely amazing- he was good in the Untamed and he is absolutely phenomenal in this. His character is natural and flawless- I have nothing to pick about it.
Is it worth the hour and thirty minutes? Depends on how much you love Xiao Zhan, I suppose. If you're not a fan of his or how he looks in this movie, definitely don't because it's 100% not worth the watch. Even though for some reason there was so much hype around it, I'm sorely disappointed.

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