Heroes (2022)

Ai, ai....China e seus finais abomináveis.

Começo dizendo que tentei dropar esse drama algumas vezes. Primeiro quando percebi que não se trata de um BL ou bromance (minha preferência absoluta), segundo pela quantidade de episódios, pois uma obra desse tamanho deve ter um enredo muito bom para conseguir prender o público.

Minha dúvida principal sempre foi: quem é o protagonista dessa série? Principalmente pelo fato de que muitos oscilam entre mocinhos e vilões por diversas vezes, como Bai Chou Fei (a imagem da bipolaridade e do egocentrismo), Lei Chun, que mesmo sabendo que sei pai queria matar seu amado preferiu dar todo aquele ataque de pelancas, Zhu Xiao Yao, que fez com que minha opinião sobre ela oscilasse diversas vezes, entre vários outros, que ora demonstravam um tipo de caráter, ora modificavam totalmente seu jeito de ser e agir. O protagonismo da série realmente fica dividido entre os dois casais principais e Bai Chou Fei, que revezaram os holofotes até o último episódio.

Em se falando do mundo das artes marciais, do qual meu pouco entendimento provém apenas das séries assistidas, posso dizer que me surpreendi como foi colocada a vulnerabilidade das vidas humanas (era muito fácil morrer, e em algumas séries os personagens parecem imortais), tanto sobre saúde como vida no sentido literal da palavra. O elemento "fantasia" também não foi tão explorado como normalmente, o que traz como benefício o fato de não sermos obrigados a ver efeitos especiais vergonhosos. Elementos comuns a esse tipo de drama, como as traições, dramas, o ar de aventura e a imprevisibilidade são muito presentes nessa obra.

O ponto principal do drama é a análise profunda do caráter humano, de como as situações podem fazer-nos mudar o ponto de vista e opiniões, como nos comportamos quando são os nossos interesses pessoais em cheque.

Em se tratando do roteiro, é muito bem construído, com fotografia e estética fenomenais, desde às locações até a caracterização dos atores.

Sobre os atores, gostei da atuação de todos, todos combinaram perfeitamente em seus papéis e convenceram em seus personagens.

A cena final, dos três irmãos encontrando seu destino final após tantas aventuras e desventuras, é realmente de cortar o coração. Não achei justo o final de Su Meng Zhen, já que ele foi o único que se manteve incorruptível até o fim, esperei do fundo do coração que ele ficasse curado, tive esperança até o último episódio, e que Lei Chun revelasse que tinha sido apenas um plano deles para que ela desmascarasse o representante do governo, afinal eu assisto séries para me alienar, de sofrida já basta a vida real hehehe.

No mais, gostei do drama, recomendo apesar de ser muito longo, aliás, eu não pretendo rever por esse motivo.

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This show took my heart and SMAHED IT

I have this show a perfect 10/10 because it was everything I loved. Now I have no forte writing strong critiques; I just watch what peaks my interests, dive in and set out for the journey.

It’s light hearted, comical, and spins you into a languid twirl of darkness. It’s paced well in my opinion and stays consistent.

!! ❗️WARNING ❗️There’s indeed a sexual assault scene!! If you’re watching this show on YouTube like I did (I also mention in the comment section in response to another persons inquiry), it’s episode 21 part 1, time stamp 7:15-7:45 for my one who wants to skip it. No dialogue takes place and you won’t miss anything crucial 🤲

❗️SPOILER for ending❗️Anyways, towards the end of the show I totally bawled my eyes out when Su Mengzhen kept asking if Bai Chou Fei was dead 💔💔 I felt my heart just pop :’) he really cared for Bai Chou Fei if ONLY he could see it through his eyes.

I’m blown away by this entire show and I will definitely rewatch it again and again. I’ll be thinking of if forever tbh. I LOVE THE OST!!

The lump in my throat HURTS and my stomach is in complete knots. This story beat me up and dunked me into the trash and I LOVED IT. The acting in PHENOMENAL. I absolutely loved this show and I am saddened to finish it! I want more episodes 🥹 I wish it could’ve ended differently between the brothers, all the what ifs… Citeste mai mult

One of the best costume dramas

I have no idea why this drama has rating score lower than 8. IMO this is a very good drama. It has unpredictable story line (i didn't try to read or watch spoilers), it has mix feelings and is full of kung fu action (i do love kungfu). the friendship and brotherhood story is really touching (once i even expected it would turn just to be like the untamed). It does not have too much unnecessary (silly) scene. From the first episode it had hooked me. Couldn't even miss for a word! Then, From episode 36 to 38, i had to keep my tissue handy :'(
The main leads are very goodddd (not big fan of wen ruo though!)
Wang xiaoshi, bai choufei, su mengzhen are beyond expectations ! I also love di feijing character. As a bonus, all of them are good loking actors!
I do love and put high rate for The Untamed, Ten miles peach blossoms, Nirvana on Fire, Romance of three kingdoms, and this one "Heroes" for sure!

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Right, wrong? They're different for everyone, especially heroes.

If only they haven't met, if and more if, this is an if only drama.
I knew how it was going to end, but It still hit me hard.
The drama started out slow, I was thinking of ditching it until I reached episode 6 and from then on, well...I wouldn't want to say 'the good times began' but the story really started showing up to the job.
This drama reminded me that in real life, right and wrong are different for everyone and no you can't use your moral compass to judge other people's action, because everyone of us have their own difficulties.
I used the weekend to binge it, I'll definitely rewatch it again when I have a chance.

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Hero

Overall I liked it and watched all of it. However, there were too many mistakes. The script wasn't particularly good. I didn't like the script based on the story. I didn't like the way it worked. Otherwise, there is no mistake in terms of managerial and acting. There is no dislike. On the contrary, I really liked it. For example, let me tell you from the last chapters. Our hero is getting married to Wen Rou. After a while, nothing happens and the girl leaves the boy. He says we will not meet again. They are not looking for each other. The next is even worse. So there are things that will not be like this. For example, the murder of the Chancellor. This man, who was inaccessible from the beginning, suddenly becomes a partridge in the bag, is killed and destroyed in two minutes. Why did you bother so much? If you killed it. If it was that simple. It didn't happen. Otherwise the story is good. There was friendship, heroism, courage, self-sacrifice, love, respect, love, intrigue, revenge, fight, whatever you were looking for. It was beautiful too. I got very emotional in some places. That's why I looked at the show positively. I especially liked the actors. I really liked the characters loaded on the players and the features loaded on these characters. These are worked one by one, almost like a loop. I can say that I love these. Of course, the actors who played the characters were also well-chosen in this regard and successfully portrayed the characters. I watched it with a taste. By ignoring those mistakes, not counting them. The trio of Josef Zeng, Liu Yu Ning, Baron Chen was amazing. The bad guys Sun Zu Jun, Yang Tong, Gallen Lo were also my favorites. I'm telling you, I liked the character thing. They were successful in female actors, I will not eat their rights. But some of them have now happened in places where I say this is what it does here. Our young director has done a successful job and I congratulate him. I got the feeling, I read the characters of the heroes, I liked the fight scenes. I got emotional. I also felt a little bit of romance. His revenge too. In friendship. It's a nice drama that can be watched for those who don't mind minor mistakes. I advise.

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Come for a darker wuxia story, stay for Bai Choufei.

Small mid-plot spoilers sprinkled here, nothing too major. Nothing you wouldn't find out from watching the trailers.

This was a bit of a gotcha, for me. Which might be why it left such a profound impact. I absolutely believed I was tucking in for a fairly ordinary but entertaining wuxia drama, with a light feel and colorful costumes and a bit of intrigue, for flavor. I was deeply, woefully, violently unprepared for what this drama had in store for me.

There were multiple overarching stories present here and to be honest they weren't all as interesting as these characters deserved.

That said, these characters were so exceptional that despite the story's shortcomings, Heroes will forever remain among my all-time favorite dramas.

Very few people will ever speak positively about this drama without mentioning Bai Choufei. And, by extension, Liu Yuning. The impressiveness of Bai Choufei, frankly, cannot be overstated. This was a dangerous, uncomfortable character to watch. Liu Yuning condensed an entire personality into a needle-fine point of unrelenting tension. If Bai Choufei was on screen, the viewer was nervous. This character's persistent internal battle was conveyed in every sentence he spoke, every sigh, every cringe, every difficult smile. From the moment we meet him we want him to be good, we can't help but root for him even though there's a thread of something there that makes us anxious. Liu Yuning made sure we were always aware that Bai Choufei was holding some part of himself in check through great and constant effort. Curiously, this feeling of tension and held breath is lessened when he pulls out his blades, which was telling... In his portrayal of Bai Choufei, Liu Yuning showed us a type of hero that could exist only by tightly gripping the leash of his own hostile sense of justice. This self-control was worsened by a bloody awareness of his own abilities; a kind of might-makes-right mentality. He wanted to be good but knew deep down that even if he wasn't good, he likely couldn't be challenged. His unwillingness to ruthlessly use his talents for his own ambitious desires could arguably have been the influence of his sworn brothers or it could have been an innate sense of morality he was never actually willing to compromise. When his character developed into a darkness from which there seemed no escape, he could have easily portrayed a Bai Choufei who was plainly and flatly villainous. You could say that he could have portrayed him as having given up, or given in.  But he chose a different interpretation. It was like he wanted to make sure we could still see the leash around his wrist as he was being dragged across jagged stone by the sheer relentless momentum of his own broken mind. We could still hope that he or someone else would arrest that momentum... Don't misunderstand, Bai Choufei went down a horrific path. He did many, many things that were hard to watch, that horrified me, even. What made him exceptional, however, was that he was also horrified. What could have been a simple shift into villainy was instead a heartbreaking descent for a would-be hero, and there's such a fine line between these two depictions. The character depth of Bai Choufei reminded me in some ways of Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus in Gladiator. Except there was arguably more of an arc, more evolution for Bai Choufei, but the layers upon layers of nuance were definitely similar.

Depending on the reasons you watch dramas it's possible Bai Choufei could wholly overshadow a stellar cast of wonderful characters. And it needs to be said that there was a host of really wonderful characters present here. Baron Chen's Su Mengzhen, for instance, was the original reason I decided to watch this drama. His character, the grimly elegant and vividly impressive young master of a powerful martial sect, was more or less fully realized from the moment we met him. He is noble, cold and untouchable, like a statue of marble behind a wall of glass. He is also deathly ill. The distance he keeps even from his sworn brothers is a fascinating bit of character that could be interpreted as a fatal flaw. His own awareness of his impending doom acted as a kind of imposed fatalism that he accidentally projected outward, forgetting that not everyone else in his world would see death as a kind of freedom.

Wang Xiaoshi was portrayed with a sense of innocence that managed to sidestep naivete somehow. Instead we see a boy who is walking the path to manhood along a road of broken glass. He was in no way prepared for the tribulations of his lot, nor for the pain he was doomed to endure and it could have made him intolerably self-righteous or bitter or indignant. But that innocence of his seemed very hard to kill, despite everyone's insistence that it was a weakness. Maybe it was weakness. Maybe it was his chief strength. At times it even seemed like impenetrable armor.  Whatever victories he experienced were pyrrhic. And it's hard to determine how he truly fared, even for those of us who've seen the end.

There are several other characters of note. Di Fei Jing was wonderfully unique. I could watch a hundred episodes about him alone.

The female characters left a little to be desired in this drama. The unfortunate reality of romance-heavy writing is that the presence of any woman seems to necessitate a coupling with one or more of the men. (A Jane Austen quote comes to mind...) And in your typical romance such a plot works well alongside the romantic coupling arc. But when a romance is shoehorned into a story like this it will feel forced and out of place if it isn't done with background restraint.  Either of the two main women would have had a more interesting storyline if it hadn't been so hinged on a romance. Particularly Lei Chun, who had a more than capable actress and a wonderfully tragic arc with a lot of available space for fascinating exploration. I feel they lost track of her character threads and ended up with a knot of motivations and traumas any one of which would have been better on its own. Too, I believe her character, Bai Choufei's, and Su Mengzhen's would have all benefitted from avoiding the very forced love triangle. Although, admittedly, it was done in a way that had less to do with love and more to do with madness and hate. But that, too, muddled otherwise crisply-drawn characters. Which is what I mean when I say that the story for this drama was not the best. It could have been; they had all the pieces. But things got a bit too jostled. They stuck the landing, though, in my opinion.

The bottom line here is that if you crave expertly wrought characters with bold, risky developments deftly handled by skilled actors then even with the disappointing story this drama will satisfy you. If, however, you're looking for romance-centric plots with a lighter, sweeter feel and generally happy endings, this one is decidedly not for you. Too, if a good strong story is more important to you than the characters, then this one will probably be a bit disappointing.

I enjoyed Heroes, if "enjoy" is even the right word. Given that I was so unprepared for the devastation that was to come, it left a deeper mark in me than something with a poster like that has any right to do. But I really, really enjoyed the characters, and characters are, to me, by far the most important part of any story of any medium.

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I highly anticipated this drama for 1) Liu Yu Ning after his Hao Du character in The Long Ballad and 2) I love Wuxia. It started off with the same vibe I get with adventure animes that are heavy on friendship and camaraderie. Little Rock has that anime lead personality: strong, carefree, and gets down and dirty when he needs to. Su Meng and Di Fei Jing were very intriguing. Bai Chou Fei was going to walk the dark path, I just knew it. He was going to be Sasuke to Wang Xiao Shi's Naruto. Wen Rou was a hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes she was annoying, other times refreshing. Lei Chun felt like a forcedly put-together complex character. Her relationships to the other characters already made her out to be a complex character but her progression seemed contrived. The action sequences also had some hit and miss moments. The cut scenes worked nicely after longer elaborate fight sequences but sometimes it just appeared lazy. The longer I watched the drama the more frequent I skipped. I held on for the aesthetic and the fight scenes but I didn't enjoy its final trajectory. I found it overly dramatic without being cathartic.

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Light Wuxia and happy ending

This series is mixed between idol romance drama and adventure-friendship Wuxia. I think the director team want to get more viewers by this formulation.

But this kind of half-hearted Wuxia makes some the real Wuxia fans upset. The fans expected beautiful fighting between the characters but we only get several fight and a lot of chat.

The story is light, there are no difficult mystery or plot twist to follow. It makes easier people who don't have much brain to watch this. But sadly people who have light brain usually crafts for chemistry or romance story between the main lead, I don't know if this series can full fill it because the director must share the episode with other character story.

The good things is the cinematography is good, the light, the colors, It is very pleasant to be watched by my eyes.

The main character is Wang Xiao Shi, this is the first time he leaves the mountain and have a journey. He meets his lover, Wen Rou and his sworn brothers, Bai Choufei and Su Meng Zhen.

The personality of Wang Xiao Shi is like other Wuxia main lead: bright and keen. He supposed to inspire people around him. Bai Choufei is cold and straightforward. He want to rule the martial art world. Su Meng Zhen is the older brother. He has power and he is really inspire people around him. So basically Bai Choufei doesn't like what Su Meng Zhen had, but Bai Choufei is really care with Wang Xiao Shi and it's become the main conflict. Many audiences didn't like Wen Rou lack of acting and childishly characters but she is not important in the story, so don't worry.

The side character actually have more interesting story. Six Half hall is the Su Meng Zhen's house competitor. It has Lei Sun as the leader, Lei chun as his heir daughter and Di Feijing as his foster son. Lei Chun is Su Meng Zhen's lover.

For the mature audience, the acting and story of Lei Chun, Su Meng Zhen and Di Feijing are better than the main leads. The love story between Lei Chun and Su Meng Zhen have better written and they have a good chemistry. Di Feijing also have strong story as family and the house protector. You should get a friend and big brother like Di Feijing. Many viewers really appreciate their acting.

Many fans is satisfy a happy ending the for the main conflict. But I skipped a lot scenes of the 2 last episodes because it is flat and predictable. The beginning episodes actually is more interesting than the last episode.

I don't think I will rewatch this series.

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Stay true to You and You will become your own Hero

A Quick Summary
Heroes is a story told from the perspective of a young, bright-spirited orphan called Wang Xiaoshi (played by Zeng Shunxi), who grows up in the outskirts of the city, under the tutelage of his Shifu. After being endowed with a special Retainment sword by his Shifu, Wang Xiaoshi (WXS) aka "Little Rock" is instructed to venture onto the mainland and personally hand over a locked Jade box to a person named Su Mengzhen (SMZ). WXS has no idea what the locked Jade box contains but he dutifully sets about to accomplish this mission. When Little Rock steps onto the mainland fresh off the boat, the action and adventures begin. He tries to drop codenames to find the whereabouts of Su Mengzhen, but finds himself landing right in the storm of a power conflict between 2 pugilistic sects that dominated the scene - House of Sunset Drizzle (HSD) and Six Half Hall (SHH). Both sects run by their own ideologies and are constant competition with one another for fame, money and power. The defected members of HSD (the sect whom which Su belongs to) tries to steal the Jade box off Wang Xiaoshi, while members from the opposing sect, SHH, are also chasing him for the Jade box. On the run, Wang Xiaoshi meets 2 other characters; a feisty, hot-headed aristocrat called Wen Rou ~WR (played by Yang Chao Yue) and an ambitious and lone fighter called Bai Chou Fei ~ BCF (played by Liu Yu Ning).
With the assistance of Wen Rou's connections, Wang Xiaoshi and Bai Choufei eventually meet the famed Su Mengzhen in the middle of a HSD sect civil war and pass him the Jade box. The Jade Box isn't the centrepiece of the entire drama story, it simply contains a slip of paper naming Su to be the next sect leader of HSD. Su Mengzhen, the shrewd leader, is taken by the courage, chivalry and talents of the two young voluntary messengers and quickly offers them an opportunity to join the HSD sect as and become his sworn brothers. They form the new trio musketeers of the story, and this is where the drama gets a little messy and confusing. Instead of viewing the drama through the lens of the eternal optimist Wang Xiaoshi (as the opening episodes suggested), the viewers get introduced to many characters, each with their own agendas, backstory and transformation arc.

The Overarching Plot
The title of the drama suggests that the Scriptwriter wants the viewers to rethink how they would define someone as a hero as no character in the drama is morally perfect without flaws or blemish. Through the various situations each character experiences through the drama, we can see how each one of them end up wrestling with their ideologies and values of what it means to be true to themselves. Some characters end up in a tragic down spiral (Bai Chou Fei), some reach an endpoint of their game and giving up striving (Su Mengzhen, Lei Sun), some wisen up and mature for the better (Wang Xiaoshi, Wen Rou, Lei Chun) while some make silent sacrifices that remain unknown to many (Di Fei Sheng, Zhu Xiaoyao).

Some Weaknesses in the Storyline of the Plot
There are several subplots mostly in the script which should not have been omitted so that the audience isn't left feeling underwhelmed and short-changed enough to fill the gaps with their own imagination. Examples include the final takedown of evildoer Fan Yingkan by silent hero Di Feijing, the backstory of how Wang Xiao shi's famous father actually died, the much needed maturity for Wen Rou to grow into in order to become a worthy life partner for the main protagonist Wang Xiaoshi other than just being a socially convenient connection to Su Mengzhen etc
Also, I felt that the filmmakers should have focused more scenes either on the spontaneous light-hearted friendship of WXS, BCF and WR or sworn brotherhood between the 3 young leaders of HSD- SMZ, WXS and BCF. The friendship and brotherhood felt too shallow as it was formed too quickly over too few scenes for my liking.

My 2 Cents
Overall, I did enjoy watching this drama for its action sequences, cinematography and good looking acting talents. But I do feel that despite the heavy investment in the exquisite costumes, scenic locations, set design and martial arts choreography, this drama could have been done much better. I do hope that the producers can consider making a sequel to this Wuxia drama as there is potential for some of the characters to develop their own unique story arcs.

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Storyline could be better but the martial wuxia is pretty good

If story was as good as Sword Snow Stride this would be a 9.5 or 10.

I like all the characters and the seriousness of the story. People actually die and the main leads are not constantly crying about having to kill someone.

The fighting is much better than Sword Snow Stride. And I love the lore of the swords.

But one thing that's missing is nobody seems to level up. Everyone starts about the same and although the main lead learns one sword skill, there's not much leveling up at all. I miss the HK 80s shows where the main leads or even the evil leads learn new skills along the way. One of my favorites is 天蠶變

So far, a lot of the characters are kind of forgettable. I like the main lead but not sure what the main female lead is about. She's sort of in the background. She's quite beautiful and gorgeous. Male lead is good. But I am on episode 21 and still trying to figure out what the heck they are doing. I am kind of worried it'll end up like Luoyang where nothing is resolved at the end and it's a stupid ending. That was one of the most disappointing shows for me last year. Luoyang started out great and just ended up crap last several episodes.

So far after 21 episodes, I think it's 8/10. I hope it gets better. It's still good but a bit incoherent.

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