LEGEND OF THE CONDOR HEROES: THE GALLANTS (�雕英雄传：侠之大者)

Genre: Action/ Fantasy
Director: Tsui Hark
Cast: Xiao Zhan, Zhuang Dafei, Leung Ka Fai Tony, Zhang Wenxin, Bayaertu, Alan, Ada Choi
Runtime: 2 hr 26 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Sony Pictures 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 20 February 2025

Synopsis: The film is adapted from Mr. Jin Yong's classic martial arts work "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". It tells the story of the world of grievances and hatred in the war-torn era of power struggle. Guo Jing (played by Xiao Zhan) left his hometown and acquired huge power of martial arts to change destiny. Although he was valued by Kung Fu Masters and who passed down the world's peerless martial arts "Nine Yin Manual" and "Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms", jealousy towards him was formed from all parties where he became the target of public criticism. Guo Jing and Huang Rong (played by Zhuang Dafei) turned the tide and protected the Southern Song Dynasty border amidst the rain of arrows with the spirit of gallants.

Movie Review:

The condors soar; the blades fly; and the music swells – but unfortunately, Tsui Hark’s adaptation of the classic Louis Cha novel never really takes flight.

It was always a tall order to fashion a movie out of a story that spanned over a thousand pages and that has been the subject of 40-episode TV series, but Hark’s scattershot treatment of the events, characters and emotions within just reinforces why the auteur should have thought twice about this well-intentioned but ultimately ill-advised endeavour.

Right from the start, you get the sense that Hark is struggling with where to start, and how much of what happened before to include. Over a lengthy prologue, as well as several flashbacks in the first act, Hark tells of the war between the Song and the Jin dynasty that led to the Mongols unifying the warring tribes over the grasslands, how a certain Han boy named Guo Jing was raised by the Mongols and subsequently fell in love with the free-spirited Huang Rong, and how Jing’s elders were murdered by Rong’s villainous father (not shown here) that tore their relationship asunder.

Only after 15 minutes into the movie do you realise that Hark has chosen to tell his story from the point when Jing (Xiao Zhan) and Rong (Zhuang Dafei) have been separated, although their deep love for each other is driving their respective quests to be reunited. Both however have to contend with the deranged Venom West (Tony Leung Kar-fai), who is bent on finding the Novem Scripture to be the world’s most powerful martial artist, and while Rong is pursued directly by Venom West and his henchmen, Jing ends up rescuing the Great Khan’s fourth son (Alan Aruna) from the poisonous spells of Venom West’s wizard Mystic One (Li Xinyang).

Much (if not, too much) of the second act is spent in the Great Khan’s camp, which Jing returns to find his mother (Ada Choi) and Rong is brought to by Princess Huajun (Zhang Wenxin) after being rescued from a close shave with Venom West. Hark has never excelled at romance, so it is not surprising that the scenes with Princess Huajun flying into a fit after being rejected by Jing (who tells her he has fallen in love with someone else) and then finding out that girl was Rong all along are somewhat clumsy and laughable. We don’t want to belabour the point, but as noble as being faithful to the source material is, Hark’s inclusion of such iconic elements as the Beggar Clan only makes his storytelling even more unwieldy.

It is only in the last act that Hark settles into something more compelling. Those familiar with the story will know that Jing will fall out with the Great Khan (Bayaertu) after the latter decides to mount an invasion of the Jin capital through the Song-controlled Middle Land; and it is on the brink of war that Jing and Rong will come to stand for more than themselves, becoming emissaries of peace to avoid further bloodshed, suffering and death. Of course, it is also the setup for a showdown between Jing and Venom West, the former with his Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms and the latter after having his ‘Toad Miasma’ powers enhanced by some form of the Novem Scripture – and we are thankful that Hark ends on a high with a fantastically thrilling battle that is reminiscent of his best ‘wuxia’ movies.

Despite a strong third act, you cannot help feeling that Hark’s adaptation is both a wasted opportunity and an unnecessary addition – wasted, because Hark’s return to the ‘wuxia’ genre on which he had built a storied reputation in the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema had been eagerly anticipated; and unnecessary, because it has nothing more to offer over and above what previous adaptations have brought to the classic Louis Cha tale. And because it never quite finds its footing, it also wastes the commitment that both Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Dafei bring to their respective roles as Guo Jing and Huang Rong, who to their credit do try valiantly to define their characters for a new generation.

So like we said, even though it was never going to be easy adapting Louis Cha’s tome into a feature-length movie, ‘Legend of the Condor Heroes’ does itself no favours by taking an episodic, slapdash and even ‘kitchen-sink’ approach to telling its story of two fated lovers amidst a time of upheaval and war. Hark has always been less of a storyteller than a visual artist, and as much as the latter is clearly on breathtaking display here, he is undone by his own shortcomings in a story that tries to be too much about everything and ends up being about nothing.

Movie Rating:

(Unfocused, hasty and shallow, this ill-fated adaptation of Louis Cha's classic novel is neither a love story nor a statement about war and peace)

Review by Gabriel Chong