Review | Double World movie review: new on Netflix, Teddy Chan’s video-game adaptation is big on CGI, but not on emotion
- An adaptation of online video game Zhengtu, Double World features so many characters that their biggest battle is for adequate screen time
- The technical craftsmanship throughout the film is hard to fault, but character development is practically non-existent
2.5/5 stars
Now streaming on iQiyi in mainland China and Netflix in the rest of the world, this effects-laden adaptation of online video game Zhengtu features so many characters, each on their own quest for power, revenge or enlightenment, that their on-screen skirmishes often come second to their battles for adequate screen time.
Chen, probably most acclaimed for 2009’s Bodyguards and Assassins , reduces this tangled web of intersecting stories to a series of slickly executed, but narratively mechanical, clichés. After all, why include an emotional character moment when we could be watching our heroes battle a dragon or fight to the death inside a burning colosseum?
A fantastical, reimagined version of ancient China is divided into the warring regions of Northern Yan and Southern Zhao. Following an assassination attempt on the young Southern King (Wang Ziyi), the scheming Grand Tutor Guan (Hu Ming) proposes a contest to elect a new grand field martial, who will help restore order to the region. Each of the eight clans will send three contenders to compete in a series of deadly gladiatorial contests in Phoenix City.