Originally Posted by
auroragb
You gotta be kidding me!
I got the series on your recommendation and it's a stinking POS!
The characters are paper thin. The dialogue is riddled with cliche. The writer of this series should be taken out and shot as full of plot holes as the story.
There is NO establishment of WHY we should care about Dong Jie's character. Great actors in Liu Xue Hua, Li Li Qun, and Sun Xin are sleepwalking thru their paper thin characters. Li Zong Han is a great actor because he looks like Ma Jin Tao but actually knows how to act. But, instead of him being the main character, they have an overactor like Huang Shao Qi shouting every line from Shatners school of Overacting.
There should have been much more character establishment sub-arcs. Instead, it's one deus ex machina after another. As for Dong Jie vs Su Ming Ming. What made Su shine was the power of the story and Su's reserved tears. Dong is the only of the current gen actresses that can really pull that off. But the contrived plot makes her tears just not moving at all. So, the ineffectiveness of Dong Jie is due more to the incompetent writer rather than the actress
I have to disagree. Even though HJMZ isn't in the calibre of Liang Zhu, it doesn't deserve to be called a "POS". With regard to the plot, I heard that it follows quite closely to the original. So if you liked the old one, I don't understand how there could be much despise for the new one.
There WAS establishment for Ming Zhu's character. She was shown as a filial daughter, a person with dignity who would rather busk for money than enter a brothel to support her mother (reflected buy Brother Ma stumbling out of a brothel to find Ming Zhu sitting outside playing the Er Hu), selfless/charitable when she donated Brother Ma's money to the orphanage, courageous in the face of injustice when she was wrongly accused for murder, somewhat wise in needing to believe that people who treat her well owe her while people who treat her poorly means that she owes them. I think there was more than enough establishment for Ming Zhu.
Now, I quite like that line. I don't think it was cliche. At least I haven't heard it in that form before. And there is nothing wrong with cliches. It's a matter if it is used well or not. Chinese "Cheng Yu" in the show may come across as "cliche-ish" at times, but that's the whole point of them...to use the appropriate ones to identify/encapsulate a concept.
I loved Sun Xin's performance. He had that violent energy hanging around him that was almost tangible. I have to admit Liu Xue Hua's performance was limited, she didn't have much depth of character to work with. Li Li Qun was in no way "paper thin". He has a fabulous ability to fluctuate his tones to express a wide range of emotions. I couldn't decide if he wanted to butcher his enemies at one point or cry in sorrow.
I do agree that Huang Xiao Qi was poorly chosen as a main. HXQ looked great (filled out his suits quite nicely) but lacked a convincing performance. He didn't have a suave/smooth air of a rich boy, didn't look real when he was trying for cheeky/funny, over-acted when he was angry, and spoke strange (I suppose because he's from Taiwan) Mandarin. It was especially evident compared to Dong Jie, who speaks very proper mandarin (very near level one I'd say). I suspect that were 'favouring' HXQ too being from Taiwan, because as soon as he entered the picture, it seemed at times, that he had more screen play than Dong Jie did!
I've seen Su Ming Ming...I don't find her acting very remarkable. She actually seemed quite old to me and lacked an expression of that inner strength that Ming Zhu is supposed to have. She reminds me of BBC's old actress who played Anne in Jane Austen's 'Persuasion'.
Not that I think Jin Ming Zhu is perfect. Why...
click to show/hide spoilersThe part where she mistakes Tian Bao for all those crimes, you'd think she would've given him the benefit of the doubt at some point. Yes, while she was pregnant, her hormones would've made her an emotional hotpot. She had no excuse after she had the baby though. Yes, it would've been awkward to support your husband when feeling guilty and responsible for Jin Lian, but, I had a feeling she was so ready to believe because she based it on his 'playboy' past. If that had of been Lin Zhi Wen, I bet Ming Zhu wouldn't have persisted in disbelieving her husband. Remember, Ming Zhu had been influenced by her friends judgement of Tian Bao before they got married.
Plus, there were too many 'holes' in the crime to comfortably accept...Yang Hong was also playing a bit of "protest too much". For such serious accusations as rape and murder, I think the suspect deserves the benefit of the doubt unless proven otherwise. Because, the damage of the accusations themselves can be permanantly damaging.
It all comes down to Ming Zhu obviously not loving Tian Bao enough (if she did at all). There may've been some initial sweetness to the start of their marriage, but when tough times came, she wasn't there for Tian Biao. I still can't believe how she didn't suspect even a thing when the whole household (including herself) stood there accusing her husband...hello...'ganging up'. There is such a thing as 'reading between the lines'. Which of course the mother did...bless her wisdom and insight. And then came Lin Zhi Wen again...Ming Zhu looked oh so ready to feel for him. In many ways, I think Ming Zhu doesn't deserve Tian Bao. No matter what happened in the end.