Originally Posted by
AndyChrono
Just finished this yesterday.
My initial feeling on this particular adaptation is that it was largely carried by the supporting cast. Nearly all of the supporting characters are great in this. IMO it has the best version of Priestess MieJue, best Ji XiaoFu by far, best Yang Xiao (tied with 1994), best Yin Susu, and best Yang Buhui. It also had the best child actor versions of young ZWJ, teen ZWJ, and young ZZR. I couldn't find their names, but the kids were outstanding in this. Those were the top standouts for me, but again I stress that the rest of the supporting cast is also fantastic from top to bottom
Where this version really falls flat is the leads, in particular ZWJ and ZZR. These might be the absolute worst versions of them ever. Joseph Zeng's version of ZWJ is every bit as whiny as Steve Ma's 1994 version and cries more than Niagara Falls. Worse though, he doesn't convincingly sell the love triangle. Steve Ma's version was whiny, but when it come to the core romantic elements he had it down perfectly. Deng Chao's 2009 version wasn't great at the romantic elements, but he presented a stronger heroic presence. This 2019 version unfortunately accomplishes neither.
Zhu Xudan's Zhou Ziruo is also the worst version of the character ever. She has a constant furrowed brow look like 90% of the time regardless of the emotional situation that just makes her look constipated instead of sympathetic. It also does not help that ZZR is supposed to be a great beauty - I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but IMO she is seriously outclassed by literally every other woman in the show. Such a poor showing from ZZR is exacerbated because Kathy Chow is in the same show and her 1994 version of ZZR is arguably the best ever.
Chen Yuqi's Zhao Min is the strongest of the 3 main leads. They went with the willing to die an honorable death angle similar to the 1994 version, and I really liked that they went with a very modern take in which ZM was willing to walk away in the end. It preserves the agency of her character, whereas in past adaptations she became more of a ZWJ sidekick at the end.
Fighting scenes were generally disappointing. There was an abusive overuse of slow motion which really ruined the pacing of virtually every fight in the series. The big conflicts at Brightness Peak, Wudang, and Shaolin were ruined by the aforementioned slow motion and some random interruptions for talking.
Thinking back now, the most memorable episodes for me were actually the early episodes with ZCS+YSS, the kids, JXF+YX, Butterfly gorge, etc. Once it got to second act where the main trio become the focus, the series starts to take a big turn downhill.