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Plot: After being falsely framed for murder, Qiao Feng (Donnie Yen), an elite member of a martial arts sect, becomes a fugitive seeking retribution. In Wong Jing’s film adaptation of the legendary novel “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils”, Qiao Feng fights to reclaim his dignity while unravelling the deceitful faction and their plans to overthrow him.
Review: It’s Donnie Yen again, now additionally serving as a director and I can feel the utmost excitement already it’s time to praise more work from him as he continues to do wonders in the industry. Chu Feng’s plot heavily revolves around the scheming and the framing that other Wu Xia movies fail to make use of.
For people who are unfamiliar with the novel, the movie becomes easier to digest due to the imagery used. Other developers miss preserving the essence of the stories they adapt.
Disappointingly, there was something about Sakra that did not sit well with me. The story never truly engrossed me, and I started to feel like I had been watching for over two hours when, in fact, the movie was only 2 hours and 10 minutes long. 90 minutes into the film, I felt like it was time for the movie to end, but it kept going.
Sakra reminds me of the Lord of The Rings movie series, in that both seem to have an issue with knowing when to finish. Just when I thought it was over, there was a really long mid-credits segment. To make things worse, I had no clue what was happening!
If you are a fan of the wuxia genre or have read the books, I think you would appreciate this movie more than I did because personally, I am not a fan of wirework and fighting that is zany and outrageously fast. That is certainly a mainstay of this genre, so I should have remembered that going in.
It’s beautifully shot, and Yen looks his most charming, but I found the middle dragged a bit in between the fighting scenes. There is certainly some impressive action amid the wirework, and one scene with Yen fighting a whole gang while sipping wine is definitely the best action sequence of the film. The interactions between Qiao Feng (Yen) and Ahzhu (Chen Yuqi) also have some really sweet moments, and the acting was spot on.
As for me, the music score was the best part of the film. It resonates with some Morricone-esque styles which added not only more action but also made it feel more epic.
All in all, I think that those who are more familiar with the source material will surely appreciate Sakra more than I did After all, there is an abundance of fighting, although it is all done with wires and very fast so the actual fighting was hardly visible. Personally, I think it was overly extended and in the end, I had completely lost track of the story which I think is more of a comment on my intelligence.
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