Wong Jing’s New Kung Fu Cult Master is one of the movies for Spring Festival 2022 except not in theaters but as a two-part movie released online. Part 1 (倚天屠龙记之九阳神功) is essentially a reboot that follows Zhang Wuji as a child until his climactic confrontation with Zhao Min as an adult. Part 2 (倚天屠龙记之圣火雄风) which continues the story of Zhang Wuji finally going to Da Du made its premiere on Feb 3.
Criticisms about casting such as Raymond Lam being too old has led to Wong Jing repeatedly defending his choices even before the movies premiered. On actresses Yun Qianqian (云千千) as Xiao Zhao and Sabrina Qiu Yinong (邱意浓) who plays Zhou Zhiruo, Wong Jing is pretty adamant about his choice of casting both ladies. This is what he had to say in response to some Netizens criticising them for being “too plastic”.
Wong Jing’s Response Regarding the “Typical Influencer Plastic Face”
Wong Jing likened the situation to how people used to bash actresses Shu Qi and Chingmy Yau (the original Xiao Zhao in Kung Fu Cult Master) when they first debuted years ago. “Now regarded as a goddesses today, do you know what people said when they debuted?” he asked. “Chingmy broke her jaw when she fell on the stairs as a child and had to undergo surgery. When she joined the Miss Hong Kong pageant, her opponent accused her of getting plastic surgery, forcing her to forfeit the title and getting labeled “plastic face”. Even after becoming more popular, people still took cheap shots and called her “fake chin”. Today she has become a goddess. Her beautiful daughter only proves that she is anything but plastic. When Shu Qi debuted, she was criticised for being ‘too dark’. She is completely different from the likes of Nina Li Chi, Rosamund Kwan and Carina Lau. Some even labelled her as ET (the aliens in the Spielberg film.) ”
Wong Jing challenged the bashers calling out Yun Qianqian and Sabrina as having the “typical internet celebrity face” and looking alike to post their own photos. With all the talk surrounding the ladies, the showbiz veteran said he is relieved. “This guarantees (Sabrina) Qiu and Yun (Qianqian) will follow the footsteps of the goddess. Meanwhile trash talkers, there’s only one fat and ugly future for you.”
Yun Qianqian Says No One is Perfect
Meanwhile, Yun Qianqian also took to social media to give her two cents. “Internet celebrity face? I’ll take that as saying I will become the most celebrated face on the internet. Some people say I have an influencer face which just shows that I conform to the current aesthetic. At the very least this made everyone pay attention to the first two works of a newcomer. I urge everyone to witness the growth of a new generation of Xiao Zhao by Yun Qianqian. You don’t accept me now, but what if you were moved by Xiao Zhao after watching the film? They say no one is perfect, I am also just an ordinary person that cannot be perfect.”
Now that both movies have been released, it seems the criticisms have grown louder as many feel it fails to live up to its predecessor. Douban ratings as of press time for New Kung Fu Cult Master 1 and 2 is at 3.5/10 and 3.9/10 respectively.
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Mei
Ah who cares so what is plastic or not, stupid people arguing over nothing. Watch the film, that’s all that matters.
Anon
Well, maybe they have already watched it and the film has failed to impress. And the only words they can find to criticise relate to superficial things like looks, instead of doing a critique of specific things like the acting, the direction, the production etc. If the audience love the film, they would similarly gushed excessively over it regardless of any obvious shortcomings.
Anon
We want good movies, we want good acting but we limit the creativity of our screenwriters with
hypocritical censorship and still prioritize insignificant things like looks and styling and after we have forced every aspiring actress to undergo surgery to meet our ludicrous requirements we call them plastic beauties. But we are still puzzled about the fact that we can’t beat the quality of our Korean opponents🤔
Una
Don’t think the Chinese give a hoot about South Korean actors or actresses. As a watcher of both, I can tell you that overall, the acting quality of the C-dramas is much higher and more versatile than K-dramas.
The Koreans embraces plastic surgery as normal as putting on make-up. Even teenagers are frequently undergoing surgical procedures. One of the biggest money churning industries in S. Korea.
And in case you have not noticed, suicides within the Korean entertainment industry is the highest in the world. The cyber-bullying against celebrities is horrendous because of the “freedom to do so”. And every time a celebrity suicided, a host of fans do copy-cat suicides to accompany him/her across the Styx river.
S. Korea is a nation of depressed, repressed, emotionally insecure people trying desperately to feel good by looking good. Its suicide rate is among the highest in the world and it doesn’t even have poverty as an excuse. Obviously lack of censorship and oversight doesn’t help at all to create a mentally healthy nation.
Anon
First of all Korean actors are better than Chinese actors period. Secondly I’m aware of the cyber bullying and suicide rate, heartbreaking but it doesn’t have anything to do with restricting creativity. Cyber bullying and Quality tv output are two different problems with different solutions. People who have undergone plastic surgery shouldn’t be made to feel uncomfortable, it’s nobody’s business. If you want to reduce the rate of plastic surgery then all you have to do is shut your mouth and face your own mirror. Look at western counterparts opting more for the girl next door actress which really ups overall performance, In comparison Chinese tv is still obsessed with superficiality, models are stealing work from actors. If a girl can act put a script in her hand and allow her to deliver.
Jia
These girls are pretty in their own right. It’s unfortunate that they’ve inherited roles of actresses that many to this day still consider legendary natural beauties. However, I don’t appreciate this double standard where the girls get the heat for looking plastic, when Raymond Lam himself has obviously gone under the knife. I know Jet Li is not famous for being handsome and neither does the role itself require it, but still seems unfair to me.
Zhao Min
i dont have any comment for plastic surgery thing, i don’t care about it.
but the beauty of the women in this new kung fu cult master are just average.
zhou zhiruo isnt pretty enough, zhao min is just so so, the only beauty is xiaozhao.
overall i like the change of story, repetation easily makes boring, so kudo to the producer, Wong Jing.
Shi
I have only watched the trailer and saw photos but the actresses don’t bother me, it’s the male lead that bothers me. He looks way too old. Like there’s no other actor to play ZWJ or something. If they are wanting to get an older actor because the events are after the Jet Li movie, they should have gotten older actresses as well. Makes no sense to get an older actor for ZWJ but young actresses for female leads. Oh well.
HL
I watched the movie… I am still struggling to fathom Wong Jing’s casting choice… I bet his sponsors had a few influence in casting process… Wong Jing’s production can be a Hit or Miss… and this is a Miss for me.
Confused
Casting of Zhou zhirou I really don’t get…. Really don’t …..
Bee
The film is so bad it makes the 2019 version which wasn’t that excellent to begin with look like a gem.. Zhang wuji is too old.. Zhao min is soo weak.. Zhou zhiruo looks like a mannequin.. Xiao zhao isn’t like xiao zhao.. ZCS and ZSF are off too despite Louis Koo and Donnie appearance.. They deleted YBH or more like merged her into ZZR.. Other supporting actors are nonexistent except Lion King who looks cool among the weirdos. . yang xiao looks like Dr Strange.. The storyline was totally revamped and dunno what happened to WJ.. his martial arts style sucked.. The china netz are laughing at Raymond lam 6 arm kungfu and windmill style spinning
Cherry
You have started . It’s people like you that makes people get depressed and commit sucude and you would laugh and mock them for doing so. You have a wicked soul. . Your comments reeks of jealousy. Go and act or direct your own movie Mr perfect. Can’t you be positive for once? Must you critize the movie from A to Z? Am sure you can’t even do half of what the directors and actors/actresses did in this movie.. you are so bitter. Go and take a chill pill.