A martial arts fantasy returns to the small screen with the newest adaptation of The Legend of Zu 蜀山降魔传 which premiered on iQiYi on August 5. Fans of the Zu Mountain stories may be most familiar with the Tsui Hark movies in 1983 and 2001. Zhao Liying and William Chan led the Legend of Zu drama adaptation in 2015 which sparked a sequel led by newcomers Chen Zheyuan and Yu Ting Er in 2018.
The new adaptation sounds like cookie cutter xianxia, and I find it amusing to see the characters literally go poof mid-fight (that’s CGI for you). It’s the first time that the Zu Mountain franchise has been adapted into a web movie, and it honestly seems like a made for the internet kind of movie in that I wouldn’t expect anything groundbreaking. Nonetheless, if magic and sword fights are your thing, then this may be something you could check out.
You really can’t go wrong with Hong Kong stars to drum up the nostalgia. I’d watch this for Ron Ng and even veteran actor Power Chan Kwok-pong. It looks like the main story will be between newcomers Li Xizi and Zhao Shanshan.
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