Remember last year when people were wondering whether Xiao Zhan can pull off his showbiz return anytime soon? At the time, there were leaked photos of Xiao Zhan all kitted out in an army uniform with Johnny Huang Jingyu filming their new project. Today’s big iQIYI 2021 World Conference finally confirms the two as the stars of the military drama Ace Troops 王牌部队.
Trading in their historical costumes and modern CEO lewks for some camo (what is it they say again about men in uniform?) Johnny Huang and Xiao Zhan play good friends Gao Liang and Gu Yiye. Both men have a friendly competition going on between them and both even fall in love with the same girl portrayed by actress Zhong Chuxi. However, for the sake of their friendship, Gu Yiye bows out and marries someone else. Several years later, all three join forces once again to bring about much needed reform to the military.
Ace Troops will be the first time Xiao Zhan dips his feet into the military genre such that the first look at the actor playing soldier Gu Yiye got him trending on the Weibo hot search. On the other hand, Johnny Huang is already a dab hand at playing the tough soldier since he already has several productions like Operation Red Sea, The Thunder and Dear Military Uniform under his belt. Admittedly, military dramas might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but with double the star power shining from these two actors, dare we predict Ace Troops is going to be another hit amongst viewers and in the ratings? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see when it finally airs.
Merita
Too bad. Shady operations of the production team has made this drama the least priority for me who likes Xiao Zhan. I will respect the drama as much as the drama respect him. I am a consumer before a fans. I will think twice to spend any time and money for this drama. At the moment, I only respect it because it is one of Xiao Zhan’s works.