Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants Review (Spoiler Alert)

I watched two Condor Heroes TV series during my childhood, one with Richie Ren as the male lead, the Taiwanese series, and the other, a mainland China series. I was entertained as a kid, and they remained my beloved series to this date.

Check them out here:
Taiwanese series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Condor_Heroes_(1998_Taiwanese_TV_series)

Mainland China series:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Condor_Heroes_(1994_TV_series)

The OG series:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Condor_Heroes_(1983_TV_series)

This 2025 version by Tsui Hark, is an INSULT to the classics.

The plot looked familiar, and upon realisation, it reminded me of Lion King 2’s plot. Except Lion King 2’s plot was well-executed. This isn’t. The unnecessary in-your-face love story was all over the place. It is fine to have romance, but the love plot overwhelms other plot build-ups (or lack thereof).

The video editing was horrendous too, everything felt sped up and chopped to the point that it left the audience disconnected. I watched this in a cinema and most of the audience had lost interest—some left the cinema, others played with their phones, and the kid behind us started getting restless and disruptive.

The cheesy and fake-looking CGI effects put me off what was supposedly an intense battle. There were plenty of prolonged battles where I felt it could be sped up instead of speeding up different, crucial areas that would’ve explained the main plot better.

The timeline wasn’t any better nor was it in chronological order. Were the video editors rushing to finish this? Because the entire movie felt rushed, yet it felt DAMN LONG.

At least they have actual Mongolians playing the part, and not some woke shit that you see rampant in Hollywood nowadays. If the character is written to be SNOW white, you would expect someone of fair skin to play that role. If Son Goku is Eastern, then cast an Eastern actor! Not a random white guy who can’t even speak Japanese: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1098327/

And Juliet, Juliet, Juliet, where have you disappeared?!

*The images in this post belong to their respective owners, and I do not claim ownership.

I can see they have a big budget for this film. Pity it wasn’t utilised correctly.

Verdict: 2/5 (2 stars for the budget)