The Challenge

Vietnamese Title: Thien Dia An Tinh
Length: about 1-15 chapters

Viet title: Thieu Lam Quien Cuoc

Starring:
Vincent Ng as Tieu Long
Terence Cao as Thien Tinh
Li-Lin- Trang Vu
???- Tieu Khiet
Robin Leong as Ky Anh
Carol Tham as Na Ya
??? as Nam Thuan

Well, many people in the forums were talking about this series so I decided to write a review for those pondering minds. This series featured Chinese Kung Fu and Muy Thai Kick Boxing.

Warning! Spoilers!
Tieu Long, a hotheaded and well-natured man, and Thien Tinh, a proper gentleman, are two students in a Chinese Do Jo. They are the best of friends and treat each other as brothers. Tieu Long has a mother while Thien Tinh was raised by the kung fu master. These two have one dream. Their dream is to win the Shaolin Fist Award, a very rare honor. Later on they meet Ky Anh, an American who came to Singapore to train and do business. At first, Tieu Long and Thien Tinh treat him as an outcast because of his western beliefs. However, they all become best friends and train with each other.

Later, Trang Vu comes into the picture. This becomes a problem because both Thien Tinh and Tieu Long love her. Yet, the man that she really loves is Thien Tinh. Trying to hide Tieu Long from the truth, Thien Tinh and Chan Vu secretly date. On the other hand, a girl name Tieu Khiet has a crush on Tieu Long. However, Tieu Long only looks at her as a sister. He begins to court Trang Vu without knowing that she is unavailable. When Tieu Long finds out the truth, he is angry and hurt. However, he realizes that he is being unreasonable so he forgives them and their friendship is saved. Meanwhile, Tieu Khiet starts to act really loving toward Tieu Long. Since he only likes her as a sister, he tells her to move on because he doesn't like her that way. When he finally tells her this, she is crushed but she continues to love him.

Meanwhile, the guys' sifu (teacher) is in gambling debts. In order to repay his master for raising him, Thien Tinh sells his car and gets some jobs. However, the sifu still remains in debt from another gambling problem. A Muy Thai kick boxer suggested Thien Tinh to fight in illegal street cage fights. Thien Tinh has no choice but to agree. Na Ya, a member of the kick boxers, fell in love with him. Therefore, she is extremely jealous at Trang Vu and decides to break Thien Tinh and Trang Vu up. She invites Trang Vu to one of Thien Tinh's fight. Sad, upset, and disappointed when she sees Thien Tinh fighting, Trang Vu decides to break up with him. She never gives him a chance to explain himself after this. Thien Tinh begs his master to tell her. However, the master wants to protect his name so he refuses to help. Thien Tinh feels betrayed and leaves the Do Jo and joins the Thai Kick boxers. From here, he becomes evil. He even causes Tieu Long to become paralyzed. As a result, Tieu Long gives everything up, even martial arts. He is in debt from the hospital bills. Tieu Khiet comes and saves the day!

She takes her college money to pay his debt. Furthermore, she does many different jobs to help Tieu Long's mother. When she comes to visit him, he shouts at her and tells her that he never wants to say her again. (Author's note: It's not that Tieu Long is being a jerk, but he wants to act like he hates her so Tieu Khiet can move on. He doesn't want her to be stuck with a useless person like him). After his mom tells him what Tieu Khiet has done, he is touched. He finds Tieu Khiet and tells her to stay with him. At the end, Tieu Long is healed by some Shaolin monks. He learns a more powerful kung fu and enters the Shaolin Tournament along with Thien Tinh. During the fight, Thien Tinh seems very overpowering, but Tieu Long uses his Shaolin Kung fu and defeats him. Truly, this is one of the best fight in here. Angered, Thien Tinh kidnaps Trang Vu and Tieu Khiet. Trang Vu tells him that she is willing to run away with him as long if he stops everything. He decides to go with her. At the end, Thien Tinh dies trying to save Trang Vu. In his last breath, he says to everyone, "I'm sorry. Please forgive me..."

To be honest, I really enjoyed this series because of the exciting scenes of Kung Fu and Thai Kick boxing. The downfall of this series had to be the story and acting.

Vincent Ng - He wasn't too bad in this series. I think that he improved a bit. He still needed more facial expressions instead of this funny angry face.

Terrence Cao - I think that this actor needs to improve a tad more. I hated his exaggeration in acting. If you watch other series from him, you'll find that he exaggerates a lot. If you watch closely, he cracks his neck every time he said a word while he's angry. (Ugghhh)

Li-Lin - She looks very cute in here. I have nothing to say about this actress except that she is pretty average.

Robin Leong - Sorry! I never mention much about his character or about Nam Thuan's character. They were again average. In the series, they get married at the end.

Tieu Khiet - She was adorable with Tieu Long. The thing that bothers me is her eyes. They look the other way when she talks. Also, her chemistry with Tieu Long seemed very unconvincing.

Final saying: The series was entertaining. Again, the plot was dull, but the fighting scenes were really fun to watch. It's very relaxing not to see any "chi fighting" or computer generated scenes. I recommend this to all people who loves kung fu series.