2020 / 70m - China
Fantasy, Action
3.5*/5.0*
Forbidden Martial Arts: The Nine Mysterious Candle Dragons poster

Watches

April 20, 2021

3.5*/5.0*

A fine mix of fantasy and martial arts. The more I see of these recent Chinese genre films, the more I feel lost in the endless maze of releases. They all feel like they're part of bigger franchises (and I guess many are based on fantasy novels), but for an outsider like me there's just no way to tie everything together without guidance.

Luckily, most of them are pretty basic fantasy tales. Take a dragon that threatens the neighborhood, a haunted general who protects the people from the dragon and an inn where most of the action takes place, and you have all the ingredients for a solid action film with strong fantasy elements.

The cinematography is beautiful, sets and costumes are lush and the action choreography is pretty impressive. The dragon lair is a bit of a bummer though, relying quite heavily on subpar CG to create a high fantasy setting. Performances are pretty decent and the short runtime is a definite plus. All in all this is great genre fare, the kind I can keep watching. It's a good thing then the market is being flooded with these films.