Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

clarkmick33 An epic alike Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon this movie is not.,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Unless you know a bit about Chinese history you are not going to know much about what is happening as the scenes and characters seem to go from one place to the next without much explanation and everything becomes a blur of narrative. There is obviously an overriding love theme in the movie but this is a major distraction from the flow - the story seems to go really fast until slow, "un-natural" and rather boring scenes of romance between the two leads. The Good - Some of the fighting scenes are done well but there are not too many of those. The Bad - The romance between the leads is quite mechanical and not very believable. The Ugly - Someone got the scissors out too many times especially at the start of the movie-making you wonder what is ultimately happening. Then suddenly someone is giving someone red pills......wait am I watching "The Matrix"The CGI is particularly awful at the last scene - which at a supposedly emotional moment I laughed my heart out. Those who watch will no doubt do the same.

tiffanyyongwt I should be around 5 or 6 years old when I first watch the 1993 version "The Bride with White Hair" (白发魔女传) starring Brigitte Lin (林青霞) and Leslie Cheung (张国荣). I tried to find this film to re-watch when I got to know about this remake, however, I couldn't find them any where. (Someone tell me if you can find it!)The box office for the film was very good in China, but so-so in other countries. Besides the fact that the female lead's hair will turn white (duh), otherwise, it is very different from the 1993 version in terms of content. Here, it took place near the end of Ming Dynasty (perhaps the start of Qing Dynasty), something that Ronny Yu's 1993 adaptation had left out. If you don't know much about China history, reading this might help you appreciate the film a little bit more.With the historical and political context now reintroduced into the film, The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom is now more about choosing sides during one of the most tumultuous times in Chinese history. It included the infamous "Case of the Red Pills" (红丸案), the famous eunuch Wei Zhongxian (魏忠贤), bringing out the patriotism amongst the citizens back in those days.Instead of misunderstanding leading to hatred, "trust" is an element heavily played between the two lovers. Sadly, this element was good in a bad way. It's a element most audience will hope the character will have (ya know, screaming "Why don't you believe her, idiot!" during the show) especially for the 1993 version.However, that "trust" also lessen down the pain of the betrayal, making the "White Hair Turning Moment" a bit forced. Why so? The "trust" between Zhuo Yihang and Nie Nishang felt like "You-Are-My-New-Girl-Friend-so-I-Give-You-Benefit-of-Doubt" rather than the true love kind of trust. Perhaps with the R-rated kind of love scenes in the 1993 adaptation, the artistic and beautiful version in the new one paled in comparison, making the relationship between the main leads unimportant and thinly-sketched.The seniors from Wudang was disappointing too. There were many loopholes and it seemed that many scenes were cut off, making their sudden re-entrance to say ...Read on: http://goo.gl/wCWNKX

MartinHafer "The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom" is based on "Baifa Monü Zhuan", a novel by Liang Yusheng. The story resulted in several previous films, but I have not seen any of them, so I cannot compare this new version with the old. However, I assume that these earlier films are more watchable, as they wouldn't have relied so heavily on CGI and wire stunt work--something which actually seemed to detract from my enjoying the movie. In other words, there were so many crazy stunts and magical happenings that the story itself seemed secondary--especially the crucial romance between the two main characters.The story begins in the late Ming Dynasty in China. The country is beset by foreign invaders as well as disloyal schemers within the government. However, to hide their scheming, the plotters have implicated Jade in the assassination of a governor. This is complicated because the witch, Jade, has fallen in love with Zhuo Yihang--the man who is the governor's grandson! So, Zhuo is torn between his love for her and his loyalty to the emperor-- and, for a while, he pretends to believe that Jade is responsible for the killing and no longer loves her. What is to become of the pair? See the film...though I wouldn't rush to do so. There's MUCH more to the story than this...but frankly I had a hard time following the film. Much of this is because I found my attention span drifting often through the course of the movie. Why did I find myself so uninvolved with the film? Well, it all goes back to the CGI. Too often, the director focused on stunts instead of the story. The important romance seemed to take a back seat to cool slow-motion arrows, 'wire fu' stunts (where the various characters fly about as if by magic--much like you saw in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) and an overly complicated story. The bottom line is that I have seen many Chinese epics that were satisfying and enjoyable from start to finish. This one, in contrast, left me feeling a bit disappointed and confused.

moviexclusive Hong Kong movie director, producer and screenwriter Jacob Cheung probably does not believe in churning out productions like a factory line, considering his sparse filmography. However, whenever the 54 year old filmmaker directs a movie, it is something we'd enjoy. His credits include A Battle of Wits (2006), which was nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Golden Bauhinia Awards and Beyond the Sunset (1989), which was a nominee at the 9th Hong Kong Film Awards. Of course, there is the much loved Cageman (1992), which showcased the director's ability to translate human relationships and emotions on the big screen. Cheung's last work was Ticket in 2007, and seven years later, we were very much looking forward to his latest work.But alas, what a letdown and regrettably, a laughable piece of CGIladen movie it is. Maybe this comes with the fact that it is yet another remake of adaptation of Liang Yusheng's classic fantasy novel The Story Of The White Haired Demoness (1957), about a star-crossed love story between a witch-like woman and martial arts expert Zhuo Yihang.The version we are all familiar with is Ronny Yu's 1993 movie The Bride With White Hair, starring Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia and the late Leslie Cheung, which is widely considered a classic of the genre. Here, it is an ironically too messy and overstuffed piece of work that lost our interest 30 minutes or so into the movie.For the uninitiated, the 104 minute movie tells the story of a witch- like woman known as the Jade Raksha (Fan Bingbing) who becomes a wanted criminal after getting framed for the murder of a prominent government official. At the same time, a young man known as Zhuo Yihang (Huang Xiaoming) is framed for the murder of the emperor. The two fugitives meet by chance and fall in love, but when Jade Raksha becomes a prime suspect who is responsible for the murder of Yihang's beloved grandfather, can there still be a happy ending?There are countless scenes boasting expensive CGIeffects, but they are not excuses for the evident lack of chemistry between leads, who despite putting in lots of effort to emote individually, just do not manage to stir any emotions with their supposedly tragic romantic relationship. This is an obvious case of how the industry hopes to bank in on the stars' commanding power in Mainland Chinato earn some quick bucks.It doesn't help that there are several complex palace intrigue and politicking side plots which serve nothing but confuse and dilute the interest levels of viewers. Nope, thefootnotes of character names and relationships superimposed on the side of the screendo not help.The uninspiring screenplay includes the intriguing sub-plot of apolitical marriage of convenience between the male protagonist and the beautiful daughter of a scheming eunuch, amidst other uninteresting story lines. They are jam packed into one movie here, and bythe time the moviereturns to the romantic couple, we can't be bothered to find out about their fate. Even playing Leslie Cheung's heartfelt end credit song doesn't help anymore.