To be completely honest, I've never been a big subscriber to the Chinese brand on VFX-heavy fantasy films. Not only do they, for the most part, miss their mark in the story-telling department, the VFX often feels excessively used and frankly, unpleasant to the eye at times. It is, thus, with increased trepidation that I approached Teddy Chen's new feature “Double World”, which is based on the popular online Chinese video game Zhengtu.
A reimagined ancient China is the setting of the story, where the otherwise warring regions Northern Yan and Southern Zhao have known peace for a number of years, which now seems to be coming to an end. When a plot to assassinate the young king of Southern Zhao is foiled, the kingdom's Grand Tutor Guan proposes to hold a tournament to choose the Kingdom army's Grand Field Martial, a tradition that's been dead since the peace. For that purpose, three champions from every clan in the Southern Zhao kingdom are summoned to compete in a tournament that would select the best clan, of which one participant would be crowned the Grand Field Martial. Dong Yilong, a bastard orphan boy and Chu Hun, a warrior with a mysterious past and a broken spear, volunteer to represent their clan Qingyuan and when their third partner dies on the way, they recruit streetwise thief Jinggang into their team. Their journey, as it becomes evident, is beset with troubles and Grand Tutor Guan turns out to be a man with rather shady motives.
Off the bat, Teddy Chen's newest has a problematic narrative. The story isn't particularly new and is cliche-ridden. As with several game adaptations, characters are rather shoddily written and badly developed. The female characters, in particular, are the worst to suffer, with their individual character development lacking severely and, in the grand scheme of things, amounting to nought, serving merely to further our two heroes' journeys towards their respective destinies. The story is also somewhat overcrowded and key characters, like the woman in blue for example, are forgotten or left unexplained along the way.
In all fairness though, “Double World” is a feature that doesn't take itself too seriously and it benefits from this approach. It doesn't pretend to be a densely told story with any underlying messages. Its key selling points are its world building and action sequences and on both counts, the film succeeds massively. The action sequences are everything you'd expect from the director of “Bodyguards and Assassins” and “Kung Fu Jungle”. The choreography is inventive and executed to perfection. The wire work is also of a higher grade and appears seamless. Except for the one literal flight of fancy near the climax, it is also rather grounded within the realms of believability, which is surprising for a fantasy action adventure. While the film doesn't leave much scope for challenging acting sequences, Canadian pop star Henry Lau as Dong Yilong, Peter Ho as Chu Hun and Lin Chenhan as Jinggang are very effective in the action sequences, while Hu Ming is a great menacing presence as Grand Tutor Guan.
For his world-building efforts, Chen makes use of CGI to create stunning locations, including but not limited to the capital of the Kingdom, the Qingyuan clan village and the Beast's cave, even if it feels slightly excessive at times. The story incorporates monsters like giant desert scorpions, a massive lion-bear-dog crossover and a huge armoured snake-like beasts which are impressively realised. It doesn't always hit the mark though, as is evident in the scene where our trio of heroes is surrounded by the attacking creepers. For the most part, however, it makes for a satisfactory viewing experience and, coupled with the strong score, ends up being an almost blockbuster-like cinematic experience.
Teddy Chen's latest is nowhere near a perfect blockbuster film. It lacks in the storytelling department and when it isn't slashing swords, its 110 minutes runtime becomes a bit of a chore to sit through. But as soon as the action starts, its faults are forgotten and nearly forgiven. There's hints to a sequel in the final scenes but if the powers that be wish to double down on this world and want the audiences to return, a much stronger storyline would undoubtedly be the call of the hour.
