The eighth drama is called Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre 倚天屠龍記. This drama becomes the second Chinese drama I've watched. Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre is based on the popular wuxia novel written by Jin Yong in 1963. This drama has been reproduced several times over the decades. The version I watched was from the year 2003. Knowing the year of the drama becomes very important to due to type of technology available for use, particularly for a wuxia drama like Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre which has a martial arts scene nearly every episode.
Legend states that "The wielder of Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre rules the world." The drama revolves around the life of a man named Zhang Wu Ji (Alec Su) and many Martial Art Sects in China. The drama begins with the story of Zhang Cui Shan of the Wudang Sect and Yin Su Su of the Heavenly Eagle Sect. Through some events involving the search for the Dragon Sabre, both Cui Shan and Su Su land on Icy Fire Island. They fall in love and give birth to a son whom they named Zhang Wu Ji. Wu Ji is also named godson to another man, Golden Lion Hair King, Xie Xun who followed Cui Shan and Su Su to Icy Fire Island during his pursuit of the Dragon Sabre. A couple years later, Wu Ji and his parents return to the mainland. However, a secret is revealed and it ends up leaving Wu Ji without both of his parents. From that moment on, Wu Ji is dragged into the affairs of the Martial Arts community. The drama continues to tell Wu Ji's story as he goes through his adolescence and adulthood.
Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre is one of my favorite dramas in terms of it's plot. Admittedly, it's very difficult to explain anymore of the plot without eventually spoiling everything about the drama. The reason is that Jin Yong wrote the story of Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre with a lot of complex plots. This drama contains 40 episodes with each episode being approximately 50 minutes long. Without a doubt, the drama is a pretty long television series. The story is not rushed and that each episode is detailed enough for viewers to not be confused. Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre's time line in the story spans about thirty years. One of the things I loved most about this drama was that many people that Wu Ji met in his younger years returns in another part of the story. Also, when I say many people, there really is a lot of characters in the story. The experiences that happen to each character shape their personalities very drastically. The drama successfully portrays the various themes that exist both in the ancient times, specifically nobility and honor. Righteousness is one of the biggest themes throughout the drama. In quite a number of scenes, the martial artists refuse to engage in a fight that is clearly unfair (such as if an opponent was injured from a previous fight or if one party was outnumbered). Their perception of righteousness was something I found extremely interesting. Over the span of time, honor in war was thrown out the window for guerrilla warfare. Although guerilla warfare is honestly more effective, it's no wonder a lot of people have respect for archaic soldiers such as knights, samurai and Spartan warriors whom all share the ideology of dying proudly in war. However, I had one problem with this drama. Some of you will instantly found out that the same actor (Alec Su) portrayed the adult Zhang Wu Ji as well as his father Zhang Cui Shan. It left a very awkward impression on me as a viewer. I had no choice but to reluctantly assume that Wu Ji would grow up to look exactly like his father. It's hard to say if their personalities were the same whether the reason was because it was part of the story or because the actor subconsciously acted as such since Cui Shan was not featured in a lot of episodes. Still, I would have appreciated it if they could hire another actor to play Zhang Cui Shan.
The soundtrack is not one of the most impressive soundtrack I've heard. For a wuxia drama, it is absolutely critical that traditional Chinese music is played. Fortunately, my complaint isn't regarding the misuse of rock or hiphop in this drama since only traditional Chinese music was used. In fact, my discontent lies in the fact that the traditional music was too ordinary. The opening and ending songs weren't bad, but they weren't songs that made me want to listen to them repeatedly. The main reason is that with a lot of Chinese dramas, the opening song is very similar to a music video. Paying too much attention to the opening song and even more to the ending song, will give the viewer too many spoilers. The intention is that it could attract people to want to watch the drama after seeing the scenes featured in the opening and ending songs. However, I'm the type of viewer who absolutely cannot stand spoilers because I wish to be surprised or otherwise emotionally respond to dramas scenes at the appropriate times. Nevertheless, if you are interested, the opening song is "心愛" and the ending song is "愛上張無忌".
Of course, no drama is without the love stories. Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre is the most unique drama I've ever seen regarding the love stories. Firstly, nearly all the side characters are involved in a love story which significantly affects their actions. To my surprise, a lot of the characters have a 'I would die for my lover' attitude. Wuxia dramas are typically set in ancient China, so there are many social issues such as arranged marriages and the need for permission from either parents or respective martial art teachers. As with many wuxia dramas, the writer has absolutely no problem with killing off characters because as I previously mentioned, there are a lot of characters. Finally, the main character Wu Ji meets four different girls as a child and meets them again as an adult. Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre is still the only drama I've watched where the main character is potentially ending up with one of four girls. This alone wins Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre an award as the drama where I could not predict the final pair between the main male and female leads. It certainly affects the outcome of the drama's ending. Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre is one of my most favorite dramas because the plot is absolutely amazing for it's level of intricacy. The martial art scenes are funny for the level of CGI used but unlike more modern dramas, the actors actually have some martial art experience so the scenes are not entirely fake. The characters are well chosen to portray their respective characters and the actors are top class. Besides, I can't put down a drama where the female leads look absolutely beautiful in traditional Chinese clothing. Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre will not disappoint and will make you want to read the actual book it was based on.
