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cdrama: Twin of Brothers eps 1-10
Nov. 8th, 2007 02:03 amToB is my shiny new wuxia. While not as amazing as the last few wuxia I've seen, it does the trick. It's about two orphans, Kau Chung(Raymond Lam) and Chi Ling(Ron Ng) who are travelling to meet a kung fu expert they're told can fix Chi Ling's eyesight when they meet, in rapid fire succesion, two very important heroines. The first, Sau Ling(Tavia Yeung) is beautiful, clever, and elegant and very involved in the political affairs of kung fu. Kau Chung falls for her, but anyone remotely used to shipping and/or wuxia can tell he's destined to end up with Sau Ling's cute friend, Yuk Chi(Li Qian) who he's always arguing with. The second is Fu Guan Chek(Christine Ng) a Korean swordswoman, who they kinda-accidentally-but maybe-not-really steal a magic kung fu vest from(I knew I was in for a treat 10 minutes in, when they said the vest had kung fu abilities) and then try to escape, only to end up her disciples/foster sons when she realizes they're the only ones who can activate the vest.
They also meet Wan Wan(Nancy Wu) a young martial artist whose music hypnotizes people and gives them visions. She's a bad girl with a good heart who wants the kung fu vest and inexplicably wants Chi Ling. They also meet Fei Huan(Leila Tong) a rather sanctimonious woman from a sect rival to Wan Wan's. Chi Ling inexplicably prefers her to Wan Wan. it should be noted that every review I've read basically said Chi Ling and Fei Huan were boring and he should have chosen Wan Wan. There's also Derek Kwok. I don't know his character's name, but he plays this gloriously ambiguous(on all possible levels, I suspect) guy who challenges everyone who comes into his territory to a duel. I'd try to go into more detail about him, but I'll put it in the most succinct manner I can: He's a wuxia hero who kicks butt with a fan as his weapon of choice. If you've seen wuxia, you know they are the best. I'm sure he'll be evil or something at the end, but I don't care.
The only major drawback is this: Ron Ng cannot act. I don't mean he's a bad actor. I mean the doesn't act. He stands there, recites lines, and occasionally makes facial expressions. I have to force myself to focus in any scene where he's more than another body. Fortunately, Raymond and Nancy can take up the slack for him, but Leila? Nuh uh. I think Leila Tong is an actress who mostly complements her costars instead of really standing on her own legs. I loved her with Tae in Strange Tales of Liao Zhai, but Tae is also an extremely active, engaging(if sometimes annoying due to his natural dorkishness and uncontrollable eyebrows) actor and I have a hard time seeing anyone playing off him being bland. But Ron? Ron and Leila put me to sleep in War and Destiny, and I'm already FF-ingtheir scenes here(seriously...why the two bland goody-two-shoes? Chi Ling actually has some life and pertsonality when he's around Wan Wan...it would be so much better.) But hey, it just makes the show go by faster so I can watch the fun stuff.
( bit more )
They also meet Wan Wan(Nancy Wu) a young martial artist whose music hypnotizes people and gives them visions. She's a bad girl with a good heart who wants the kung fu vest and inexplicably wants Chi Ling. They also meet Fei Huan(Leila Tong) a rather sanctimonious woman from a sect rival to Wan Wan's. Chi Ling inexplicably prefers her to Wan Wan. it should be noted that every review I've read basically said Chi Ling and Fei Huan were boring and he should have chosen Wan Wan. There's also Derek Kwok. I don't know his character's name, but he plays this gloriously ambiguous(on all possible levels, I suspect) guy who challenges everyone who comes into his territory to a duel. I'd try to go into more detail about him, but I'll put it in the most succinct manner I can: He's a wuxia hero who kicks butt with a fan as his weapon of choice. If you've seen wuxia, you know they are the best. I'm sure he'll be evil or something at the end, but I don't care.
The only major drawback is this: Ron Ng cannot act. I don't mean he's a bad actor. I mean the doesn't act. He stands there, recites lines, and occasionally makes facial expressions. I have to force myself to focus in any scene where he's more than another body. Fortunately, Raymond and Nancy can take up the slack for him, but Leila? Nuh uh. I think Leila Tong is an actress who mostly complements her costars instead of really standing on her own legs. I loved her with Tae in Strange Tales of Liao Zhai, but Tae is also an extremely active, engaging(if sometimes annoying due to his natural dorkishness and uncontrollable eyebrows) actor and I have a hard time seeing anyone playing off him being bland. But Ron? Ron and Leila put me to sleep in War and Destiny, and I'm already FF-ingtheir scenes here(seriously...why the two bland goody-two-shoes? Chi Ling actually has some life and pertsonality when he's around Wan Wan...it would be so much better.) But hey, it just makes the show go by faster so I can watch the fun stuff.
( bit more )
