The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber

Being a huge fan of "Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber" (HSDS), I waited for this series excitedly. I watched the Hong Kong 1986 version of the series (starring Tony Leung), which made me have high expectations for this version as well. Basically, there wasn't any big miscast in this version.

The first misfit is Alec Su as Zhang Cuishan. With his baby face, it was not very convincing to see him with the other 6 members of the Wudang sect. He did not look good with Phyllis Quek, who acted as Yin Susu. She looked more like an older sister than a wife.

The lady who acted as Dai Qi Si (behind Jin Hua Popo) was not very beautiful at all. Dai Qi Si was supposed to be a very beautiful lady, but they cast an ordinary woman instead. Xiaozhao was also supposed to be the most beautiful girl in the novel, but both Zhou Zhiruo and Zhao Min were way more beautiful than her. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that Florence Tan is not beautiful, but she is not the most beautiful among the 4 girls who loved Zhang Wuji.

The story did not have any suspense at all. Everything was reviewed on the spot. I was shocked to see them reveal Zhou Zhiruo as the evil woman who stole the sword and the sabre, killed Zhu-er and put the blame on Zhao Min. Unlike the 1986 version, all these were not revealed until the very end, making the audience guess who was the culprit. There was also a scene which showed the real face of Jin Hua Popo before the Persian people came and took her back.

An annoying part of the series was during the end of the story, where Zhou Zhiruo kept thinking about her last conversation with her teacher. It kept repeating, which slowed the series a lot. Parts which needed flashbacks were not shown, such as the part where Dai Qi Si first came to China and both Fan Yao and her husband were interested in her.

Actors/Actresses performance

Alec Su as Zhang Cuishan/Zhang Wuji
As I have already mentioned above, Alec Su as Zhang Cuishan is not convincing enough. However, as Zhang Wuji, I would say he was GREAT!!! He had the boyish features that would make girls fall head over heels in love with him. He also had the naive look, which made him fall prey to Zhu Jiuzhen's tricks and to Zhiruo's lies. His chemistry with Alyssa Chia was great, you could really feel that they were like "liang xiao wu cai". He was so much better than Lawrence Ng in the 2000 version, whom I feel is a great actor but too old to act as Zhang Wuji (who is in his twenties).

Performance rating: 3/5 for Zhang Cuishan, 4.5/5 for Wuji.

Alyssa Chia as Zhao Min
The very first impression I had of her was "GOSH! She's so cute!" She looked so good as the spoilt Mongolian princess. Alyssa brought out the liveliness and cuteness of Zhao Min. It was very difficult to hate her even though she did so many bad things, such as killing people from Shaolin and capturing the leaders from the various sects. It's little wonder why Zhang Wuji could not bring himself to hate her too. However, Alyssa needs to improve her expressions. She had too little expressions and used the same ones over and over again.

Performance rating: 4/5

Gao Yuan Yuan as Zhou Zhiruo
Let's say I like her better than Charmaine Sheh (in the 2000 version) but she was not as good as Sheren Tang (in the 1986 version). She looked far too evil to be Zhiruo, even without all the makeup to enhance the evil look. She also over-acted a little. Zhiruo is supposed to be a sweet lovable girl in the beginning, but no matter how I look at her, I just can't picture her like that.

Performance rating: 3/5

Zhu Er

Overall, this actress did a good job in portraying Zhu Er. It was a little strange seeing her change from a chilli padi into a gentle and sweet girl. She was a little too nice to Zhiruo when Jin Hua Popo captured Zhiruo. She's actually a very pretty girl, it's just too bad that she had to act as an ugly girl.

Performance rating: 4/5

Florence Tan as Xiaozhao
As I have already mentioned above, Florence Tan is quite a miscast. She's not beautiful enough to be Xiaozhao, but her acting makes up for it. You can greatly feel the love and admiration she had for Wuji. It's very sad when she had to save him by leaving him forever to be the leader of the Persian Ming Sect. Even though Wuji told Zhiruo in the end that Zhao Min was the one he loved, it did look like Wuji loved Xiaozhao very much too!

Performance rating: 4/5

Phyllis Quek as Yin Susu
I never really had a good impression of Phyllis Quek because I always thought of her acting as stiff. This series changed my opinion of her. She was really cute as Yin Susu. You can feel the love she had for Zhang Cuishan when she died with him. She also portrayed her motherliness very well! You will almost think that she's a mother.

Performance rating: 4.5/5

Overall, the actors and actresses' performances made up for the poor plot and script of this series. The series would have been a lot better if more suspense was created and less crying/flashbacks were shown. It can be very annoying at times watching the crying or non-stop blabbing. The overuse of technology also spoilt the whole series. You don't get to see a lot of the martial arts strokes they use, instead you only see how "great" the technology is. I would say watch if you are a great fan of wuxia novels/Jin Yong/Condor Heroes trilogy/any one of the actors/actresses, but try not to expect too much.