Sword Stained With Royal Blood

Story
The story is about Yuan Chengzhi, whose father was a commander in the Ming dynasty. After his father was unjustly executed by the emperor Chongzhen, Chengzhi is forced to flee. He ends up in Huashan where he learns martial arts under the tutelage of Mu Ren Qing. When Chengzhi is grown up, he leaves Huashan. Shortly afterwards he becomes involved in factions that rebel against Chongzhen. In his adventures he finds the grave of the Golden Snake Swordsman, which eventually leads to him meeting his daughter Xia Qing Qing. After dealing with the tragedies of her family, Qing Qing follows Chengzhi. The two of them embark on different adventures and become increasingly involved in the rebellion and fighting the corrupt government. In an encounter with bandits, Chengzhi also meets Ah Jiu. Unknown to him Ah Jiu is the princess and daughter of Chongzhen, the very emperor Chengzhi seeks revenge on for his father's death.

Although I have not read the novel, I understand that this adaptation cuts off some parts in the beginning. As someone who has watched another adaptation of SSWRB (but didn't remember much except for the characters), that did not matter much because I managed to understand the story anyway. Aside from that I do not believe that the story deviates from the novel in any significant way. The plot in this series moves at a steady pace and due to the fact that it is only 30 episodes it doesn't drag. It is not rushed either and after watching all the 30 episodes I thought that it was of perfect length. The story is mostly light-hearted although it does have it's depressing moments. One of the unique things is that despite that most characters are well and alive by the end of the series, it does not give a feeling of a happy ending. Instead, it feels more bittersweet but it is a fitting ending to the story.

Cast

Bobby Dou as Yuan Chengzhi
Bobby did a good job as the young but heroic Yuan Chengzhi. He plays the role with humor and vulnerability. Yuan Chengzhi isn't one of Jin Yong's most developed heroes and what defines him in SSWRB is his sense of right and kindness. Still, when Bobby plays him Chengzhi becomes a good-natured guy who isn't serious and heroic all the time. Some of his scenes where he plays dumb to fool his enemies or attackers are plain funny. He is also good at showing Chengzhi as vulnerable, particularly in the last episode when Chengzhi realizes that deep down he might not be as heroic as his father. One thing I didn't like about his character was how he justified his relationships with other girls to Qing Qing. A lot of times when he was explaining himself to her it was more like making her feel awful for being jealous when (most of the time) she had a good reason to be. His character is supposed to love Qing Qing most even though he has feelings for Ah Jiu. However, perhaps it's due to lack of chemistry between Bobby and Eva (who plays Qing Qing) but it did not come out like Chengzhi really loved Qing Qing. In the beginning Bobby and Eva acted well together, showing a strong friendship that could develop into something more. It was cute how Chengzhi called her Qingdi because he had gotten used to it. But in the later half of the series it appeared as if emotionally Chengzhi put her on the sidelines, only caring about her when she needed to be rescued.

Eva Huang Sheng Yi as Xia Qing Qing
Qing Qing is a difficult character to play without making the audience hate her. Her characteristics include jealousy and pettiness but Eva managed to play Qing Qing as a likable character. Her jealousy could even be seen as justified, as she was never jealous of a girl if she didn't see that something was going on with the girl and Chengzhi. What I like about Qing Qing is whenever she got jealous, she could snap at the girl she was jealous of but her main anger was directed at Chengzhi for not being faithful to her. Qing Qing really cares for Chengzhi, which shows in Eva's acting.

Sun Fei Fei as Ah Jiu / Princess Changping
After seeing TVB's 2000 version of "Sword Stained With Royal Blood" ("Crimson Sabre") and Charmaine Sheh in the role of Ah Jiu... I can honestly say that I hated Ah Jiu and felt no pity whatsoever. This version with Sun Fei Fei has completely reversed my feelings for the character. Sun Fei Fei plays different sides of Ah Jiu very well. Ah Jiu in this version could be sweet, kind, playful, angry, sad and crushed and Sun Fei Fei played all those sides wonderfully. The scenes with Ah Jiu in the palace can be heartbreaking at times, a trapped princess who loves her father dearly but can't save him from his (and the dynasty's) ultimate demise.

Gao Hu as Emperor Chongzhen
Though he did not have as much screentime as the other main stars in this series, Gao Hu was undoubtedly one of the best. Though he physically looked the age of the character, the way Gao Hu played Chongzhen was of a tired old man who had far too much to deal with. At the same time Chongzhen was narrow-minded and paranoid. At one point in the series Ah Jiu says that her father might not be a good emperor but he is a good man. Though Chongzhen in this series is easily misled by his ministers and is grasping at every end to save his empire the few moments where he is good does come through. In his scenes with Ah Jiu he comes out as a father who would be more loving if he had lived in better times. Gao Hu amazed me in a scene near the end of the series, where Chongzhen realises that everything is lost and instructs his son how to behave after he has fled the palace.

Xiao Shu Shen as He Tieshou/Tishou
Xiao Shu Shen is also a well-casted actress, perhaps the best casted one. He Tieshou doesn't show up until late in the series but from the first scene Xiao Shu Shen made a good impression. She plays Tieshou as someone who can be sweet and vicious to her enemies at the same time. Most of the time when she fights she doesn't look stressed or rushed like other characters. Instead she looks rather pleased or as if she is enjoying the fight. That is not to say that Xiao Shu Shen plays Tieshou as one-dimensional either, she can quickly go from a sweet expression to a more serious one. While she is the leader of the Five Poison Sect she also comes across as an authoritative leader despite her young age. Though I did not remember Tieshou's character from the previous adaptation of "Sword Stained With Royal Blood" I've watched, she quickly became my favorite character in this edition.

Other characters
It should be noted that the good casting is not limited to the main characters but to the supporting ones as well. The characters of An Jianqing and his wife were great in this series. The actor who played An Jianqing made me hate him in the beginning for being a vicious killing machine but as the story progressed and more was revealed about his character, I ended up sympathising with him. His death was heartbreaking and I ended up crying more for him than anyone else. Vincent Jiao was good as the Golden Snake Swordsman, but his role was limited to flashbacks and thus there isn't much to comment on.

Music
The music in this series is very fitting. The opening theme Hao Nan Er ("Good Men") inspires heroism and the lyrics fit the philosophy which Yuan Chengzhi and his fellow soldiers live after. The only complaint about the opening theme is not the music itself, but the clips that were shown. Unfortunately most of the clips are action-based rather than character-based. It's mostly Yuan Chengzhi in the clips, which is a shame since the opening theme would have been very good if there had been more diversity in the clips. The ending theme "He Ni Zai Yi Qi" ("To Be With You") is more of a love song and shows all the dramatic scenes of the series. It's a good song which again fits the series well. The lyrics are good too, about loving someone and being with them no matter what. If only Chengzhi had expressed the kind of feeling towards Qing Qing that you get from the song, it would have been perfect. Then there's a sub song, "Shi Fei" sung by Bobby Dou. It's played in the end when Chengzhi meets Ah Jiu for the last time. The song is sad and poignant and the lyrics are a perfect fit for the feelings Chengzhi and Ah Jiu have for each other.

Choreography
The choreography is one of the highlights of this series. It's fast- paced and creative without going over the top. While the fighting scenes aren't what I usually value most in a series, the fighting scenes in here were good and kept me interested no matter how long or short they were. A lot of praise also goes to Sun Fei Fei who performed excellent stunts as Ah Jiu, especially in the beginning when she uses a staff to fight.

Costumes and make up
Everyone had distinguishing costumes in this series, without going over the top to accentuate differences. The only complaint I have about the costumes is that in the beginning Qing Qing and Ah Jiu had similiar colors on the clothes and I felt that the two of them should at least have clothes very different from each other. Qing Qing's hair is another complaint. Her hairstyles did not really fit her face shape and made her face look a lot thinner than it was. Chengzhi had the opposite problem with too much hair flying around in the beginning but in the middle of the series he gets a hair change which suits him and the character a lot more.

Overall impression
I have previously watched "Crimson Sabre", TVB's version of "Sword Stained With Royal Blood", so I was familiar with the story in the beginning. However, perhaps due to the fact that I did not like "Crimson Sabre" much, I did not think much of the story of "Sword Stained With Royal Blood". This adaptation however, had me convinced that it was 10 times better after only watching the first episode. Better cast, better story, better sets, better music, better... everything really (though "Crimson Sabre" had the awesome Kong Wah as Golden Snake Swordsman). Due to the fact that SSWRB is not Jin Yong's most famous novel, there were little expectations for this series. It's not due to that fact that this series exceeded all the expectations, but it's a generally good adaptation. All the actors were well-casted and if it weren't for a little lack of chemistry between the two leads the acting would have been perfect. Though SSWRB on the whole lacks the gritty realism of his previous Jin Yong adaptations (namely "Xiao Ao Jiang Hu" and "Legend of the Condor Heroes") it is not nearly as over the top as "Return of the Condor Heroes". But like the latter series it suffers from the "hair blowing in the wind" syndrome, namely hair blowing in the wind even if the scene takes place inside a room with no doors or windows open. It's a small detail that bugged me a little, much like it did in "Return of the Condor Heroes".

This series gets 4 out of 5 from me. The only thing that kept me from giving it a 5 is the fact that the story and the characters aren't as engaging as in other wuxia adaptations that I've seen. However, the fault lies with the novel rather than the adaptation and overall this adaptation of "Sword Stained With Royal Blood" is one of the better wuxia novel adaptations that I've seen.