Review | Netflix movie review – The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity is a derivative Chinese sword-and-sorcery fantasy

Not much actually happens in this story about four guardians, led by Mark Chao’s Qingming, who are summoned to protect an empress against a demonic serpent

Directed by Guo Jingming, recently in trouble for plagiarism, it is clearly influenced by Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee films and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

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Mark Chao and Olivia Wang in a still from The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity.

Published: 10:53am, 5 Feb 2021Updated: 10:58am, 5 Feb 2021

2/5 stars

After fashioning a mini phenomenon with the garishly chic Tiny Times movies, Guo Jingming turns his hand to the sword-and-sorcery fantasy genre with The Yin Yang Master: Dream of Eternity. The movie was pulled from Chinese cinemas last month amid a plagiarism scandal involving the author-turned filmmaker.

Now streaming on Netflix, the film, written and directed by Guo, stars Taiwanese heartthrob Mark Chao Yu-ting in the title role as Qingming, a practitioner of the supernatural arts, who is summoned to the Imperial City as one of four masters tasked with guarding the Empress (Olivia Wang Ziwen) from a giant demonic serpent.

A fearsome supernatural demon that feeds on humanity’s obsession and greed, the serpent was previously responsible for killing Qingming’s master. Should it materialise again, the fate of the entire kingdom would hang in the balance.

One of the empress’ other protectors, Boya (Allen Deng Lun), is immediately suspicious of Qingming’s known associations with demons and, when a murderous spirit is detected within the palace, is quick to point the finger at Qingming.