Legend of the Naga Pearls is another film that I happened to catch my eye in the store. The synopsis reminded me of the film, League of Gods a little bit but I didn't buy the film the first time I saw it on the shelf. Instead I went to watch the trailer that then reminded me even more of League of Gods so I went back to the store to buy a copy. The film was directed by Yang Lei, and the script was written by Tan Cheung. Darren Wang, Zhang Tian'ai, Simon Yam, Sheng Guansen, and Wang Xun make up the cast of the film.
A thief gets caught up in a battle over magical pearls that can shift the tides in a war between humans and winged people who ruled the land long ago.
There's not much coming from my thoughts in this post. Online many movie review sites are quick to give films like these three stars or a low rating. League of Gods to me, was a solid film that kept me engaged. This is why I don't consider my posts film 'reviews". I accepted Naga Pearls in the same regards as League of Gods. Both are fantasy inspired pieces of work respectfully. The only difference is that League of Gods was a bit more invested in trying to woo it's viewers with special effects than Naga Pearls. What really fails the film is its methods getting to the peak conflict of the plot then coming down off that conflict in a rushed sort of way. Building up to the main conflict is a fun watching experience. The plot was set up solid enough for the film to stay stable. However, The film stays too meek and careful in showing all that the full product could be(AKA didn't have the funds). Some of the events that happened where a bit on the cheesy side to me. Especially if we count the final battle with the scene that happened after that. It just didn't feel like enough to send the film over into the territory of being a film that I could write home to mom about. The film's conclusion had me feeling a bit cheated as well. A big opening was created in the film's ending to leave room for a second film. Who knows if a second film will actually happen but let's hope that the second installment comes a bit harder with flashy battles. Delete some of those mediocre scenes also while your at it producers. That ending to the final battle had me saying, "THAT'S IT?!…. WELL DAMN.".
Naga Pearl's special effects alone cause the film to be very attractive looking. Producers of the film made sure to focus on the little fine details of everything. Problem was that there needed to be a bit more detailed special effects in the action parts of the film. The effects actually look better than League of Gods to the point that I would go as far as to put them on the same playing field as some of the special effects created in Hollywood. I was saying to myself all throughout the film that Taiwan is really stepping up their game with film production. League of Gods was a step in a good direction appearance wise but Naga Pearls took things a step father in my opinion.
All the actors and actresses took on their roles in a good fashion. I had no problems with any of the acting. The main character(two characters) got on my nerves a bit though. The character set up reminded me of a party of characters in an Japanese RPG game. Some of the character's are the jokesters while other are serious or full of positive vibes. Our leading guy looks like that donkey that was on Shrek when he smiles. On top that, his cocky personality grated on my nerves all through the film. I learned to love/hate him in the end since he was kind of funny. We get two jokester characters along with a serious character. They all have deep seeded issues that stem from their pasts. It's funny that all the issues they have come to meet them at their door step because their problems were caused by the same villain.
The Legend of the Naga Pearls almost made it into being called good film. If it wasn't for the plot tip toeing around the film's development to be much greater. It's not a half bad film if you're watching it without having high standards.
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