Details

  • Last Online: 49 minutes ago
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: USA
  • Contribution Points: 4,533 LV13
  • Birthday: September 22
  • Roles: VIP
  • Join Date: March 27, 2020
  • Awards Received: Finger Heart Award5 Flower Award16 Coin Gift Award1
Burning Flames chinese drama review
Completed
Burning Flames
8 people found this review helpful
by Enigma05
Apr 6, 2024
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 6
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Chinese Justice League for the WIN!

I don't remember why I had originally put this in my watchlist probably because the concept seemed interesting and I've seen a good chunk of the cast previously in other dramas. The fantasy element was always fascinating and so it was the Chinese Justice League for the serious WIN!

Pros: Favorite character was definitely the demon grand marshal NTEX. I had only seen the actor in one modern before and I was blown out of the water by his performance here; he's improved by leaps and bounds and is totally suitable for costume dramas. He literally delivered every ounce of his character until his dying breath and then in spirit. Not a perfect character; made a big mistake, had flaws but absolutely won the hearts of everyone. WG was in close second as it was his storyline of becoming essentially the mortal God of War but through trials and tribulations and even death but returned to triumph at the end. For him it was from power to slave to slowly developing into a very formidable force of freedom. Everyone he met along the way, became his friends and allies. He grew his anti-immortal army slowly but once they joined hands, they were awesome. WG and NTEX's friendship/brotherhood was my absolute favorite. Them two shared a brain cell when it came to strategies; that was so cool!

Other favorite characters were Ah Lan, Uncle Ziyu, grandpa, SX, Bei'er (though her appearance was very short, it was meaningful), precious dragonfly and even ZQ plus the last real Sage who took over governing that realm afterwards, SX managed to flip him to the good side lol (their funniest portion was as they were both just hanging in that space above everything until the undying bird left SX's body to join WG and took them two riding its tail; made me laugh as I thought they were both dead but nah they were just chilling in the immortal lounge lol). All the leaders of their respective clans were great. As for villains, hands down favorite was GM aka Hannibal Lecter. Dude was the comic relief for the show; the actor nailed his character so much, the other actors would try to make impressions of him during their BTS and he would do like standup comedy for them in character. He was a trip and I personally wished he stuck around longer than say the cackle queen, I'll speak about her below. It was my first time seeing Jeremy as an antagonist and he delivered though he was only around in a few episodes. I think that could be a great niche for him if he ever returns to acting (which given the recent interview he did, isn't out of the realm of possibility, though he wants to also try directing after spending time with his family). His character HL was a tunnel visioned obsessed with love King of the Immortals who finally got his comeuppance via WG.

The battles were pretty great for the most part. The Justice League was very cool while the band of thugs were extremely cocky for their own good. Which most of the time was their undoing. The rock music during the big bad fights was the best and all costumes, sets, and even CGI I won't complain about because it was good. That last fight when WG merged with NTEX's spirit as well as that of the demons and the undying bird to finally kill HL was the best part of the entire series.

Cons: Unfortunately, though the FL (BC) started out as a strong and independent woman, she soon devolved into a whining mess whimpering "A Gou" so many times per episode it started to hurt my head. Like there were times she just needed to zip it. It seemed that was her only line for a long time. There was no chemistry between her and WG no matter how much they wanted to force it upon us. They were fantastic as brother and sister though; that's what they should have kept it as. I hoped that her possession would invigorate her character but in that one she was very robotic and when she was returned she was still a blubbering mess. Like where was the awesome, resourceful woman we met? We wanted her back! The writing was off there.

That ending was so jacked up; ok lackluster wedding whatever but then BC just up and dies in the middle in front of everyone? What even? Why? You knew she went through a lot during the final battle especially being used to build that iced transformer (that part of the battle made me roll my eyes and laugh. The cyclops and his friend vs HL in giant iced transformers was very ridiculous and thankfully short lived. Seemed like an episode filler not something important) obviously used up her life span. So why not tell WG about it sooner? Nah, it's better to tell him just before you dissipate on your wedding day in front of everyone. Just seemed heartless and out of character for her. So that entire end portion of the episode was beyond unnecessary. There were other ways for WG to walk around to the different clans and say goodbye or check up on them. They could have done it together and it would have made so much more sense as they just wanted to live in peace. And that snowman cabin last 1.5 minutes scene where the door automatically opens but there's no one there though he smiles? The open ending was a crock of BS, at least show her face smiling back at him. Was that so hard? It ended in Xianxia style though this was not that genre at all.

The cackle queen, lord help me. The actress plays a great antagonist don't get me wrong, but that voice and that cackle was horrifying. It made her sound like a Halloween store plastic wicked witch. Anytime an antagonist cackles, it completely takes away from their evilness. They need to stop writing that into series. The best villains are those like HL who can look through you and you'd get a chill up your spine. Her death was anticlimactic as I wish WG had finished it instead of HL otherwise it looked like she had a self-redemption thought process before she finally croaked.

A bit too much talking; I agree with several people. The battles needed to continue not pause for a boatload of speechifying. It would take away from the fierceness of the fight or battle. Same went for several deaths, we didn't need long speeches right beforehand from some. Also it reminded me of Snow Eagle Lord and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers when they chucked the moves on screen with giant letters; extremely unnecessary. The characters were yelling them out as is.

Would I recommend it? Despite the many cons and the unsatisfactory ending, it was still a good watch. Besides these thoughts are mine, you may feel it was great. So decide for yourselves.
Was this review helpful to you?