The Rise of Phoenixes (2018)

A gripping story

This is a gripping story told at a good pace. The twists and turns of the plot and the action have a good flow. One can see that great attention was paid to the period costumes and sets, the palaces are beautiful and the houses are genuine rather than computer generated.
It is not just a love story, it's mostly a political story which encompasses vicious struggle for power, misplaced loyalties and fatalistic acceptances, but there it has humour too.
Handsome Ning Yi is an almost neurotic prince with lofty ideals and clever scheming with the collusion of the superb Head of Qingming Academy, Xin Zi Yan. One particular highlight is his return from Minhai to the capital as he rushes to and enters the palace to save the woman he loves, Zhi Wei. She's an interesting character, strong and independent, at times irritating, ugly when impersonating a man and yet beautiful when she is herself. The tormented Gu Yan is a quiet but powerful character and Zhi Wei's bodyguard, Gu Nan Yi, is very huggable. The not so likeable Emperor character is excellently played by Ni Da Hong.
I have not read the book, but I understand this ending is not the same as in the book. In my humble opinion the chosen ending is hurried and it feels like a let down.

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My lowest review ever, unfortunately.

So, where should i begin. I was minding my own business enjoying this 70 episode Cdrama, and then the final episode came, and the last 5 mins of the show, and that ruined everything for me.

This could has easily become one if the great historical drama out there, the acting was phenomenal, i loved the ML and i loved the FL, i loved the story, i loved the chemistry and relationship between the leads as well. i loved the costumes and all the political stuff too, and I don't usually like those, but it was great.

But.... like are you kidding me, after everything that happened, the way it ended was sooo sad and disappointing. I kinda understand that there was too much animosity between the fallen kingdom and the current one, but to end like that, after all the ML did to save and protect her, after so many people died for her, I couldn't think anything else but that I ⁷wasted 70 hours of my life for such a sad and depressing ending. Maybe if it had been done a different way, but the way it was done, it wasnt worth it for me. That last scene with FL it ruined all for me and i felt like i wasted my time. They went through way too much and too many people died for her to end that way.

We all have our own preference, so the ending isn't a happy one, not only that its just tragic so watch on your own accord.

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After 3L3WTMPB, i never expected to watch a drama even better in many ways!

First of all, it was different from any other Chinese drama ive watched so far. It was kind of Hollywood way, great photography, no fake CGIs, great montage, minimal clothing, hair and scenery, but yet impressive!

As for the male lead, Chen Kun he rocked! I mean, he gave the character its full lenght, and even more! Charming, expressive, handsome in every way. He is also very interesting as a person as ive seen in some interviews.

I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who wants to see quality drama and i ll definitely rewatch!

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This drama is the one time you should trust bad reviews. HANG IT UP FLAT SCREEN!

I have been watching dramas for years but this is my first ever review on this site I’m sorry I had to drop at ep 20. The drama was getting a bit too ridiculous for me. I think the cast was really good all the actors you can tell were seasoned and took their jobs seriously. However, in the end the nonsensical ass script made a mockery of that talent. Also for all the ppl swooning and crying over the ML and FL chemistry and connection are delusional. There was nothing there to root for and I’m sorry I think the two were toxic for one another more so the ML to FL. To me she did not grow at all in 20 eps even though she lost ppl and went through trials and tribulations, so what of the remaining 50 I couldn’t put myself through that. They couldn’t decide if they wanted her to be outstanding and badass or an idiot who is brash and always falls into others traps. It made me sad bc I feel like she really wasn’t the focus here and was just a prop as women usually are. They decorated her with some fighting skills and wisdom to bait us and then gave us a huge F U as the series went on. ALSO I didn’t get the deal with the ML maybe I’m slow but he seemed mentally unstable and y’all was shipping her with him ????

Also everyone cries the whole drama about fighting for the ppl saving the innocent but they kill ppl off likes flies in this thing and most time for no reason or as a plot device to push the story and it’s weird. Like if you can’t propel your story w/o killing ppl every damn 5 eps what’s the point?

Music was okay….Maybe bc I didn’t get far enough so there may have been a change in OST but the ones I heard were a bit uninspired. I love Chinese dramas for their OST bc they really show out and are usually stylistically creative but this one lacked character.

I’ve seen spoiler comments and ppl are saying don’t watch last 5 mins otherwise everything else is good. No they are lying bc last 5 is very representative of the shitshow this drama was and to me it made sense. It was just so very boring I was zoning out. I may seem like a hater but I actually was quite excited for this but here’s just another example of an overhyped netflix dramalist pick. Ratings should be much lower. Good day and good luck.

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PSA on the Dangers of Method Acting

The plot of this show seems complex and intriguing. I love dramas with politics, intrigue, and schemes galore. But this drama showed me I have a firm line on crazy. ***SPOILER**** I get acting like you've lost it when playing the long game. hell yeah. do you scheme it up. but my dude - it's too far. THOSE CRAZY EYES HAUNT ME. He didn't just dip his toe in crazy he did a full belly flop in the deep end of lunatic. There's absolutely no subltety or nuance to the performance. Just absolutely insane, creepy eyes. His unhinged acting takes me out of the story. I'm so distracted from the overacting I can't enjoy or focus on anything else than his one-dimensional portrayal. It's painful to watch.
I don't know if this was method acting gone wrong (the actor or the character) but fam this is not it.

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I expected a lot but i'm so disappointed

I finished watching the first 8 episodes. Still I can't really love this drama as much as the previous 5 cdramas i watched before. I cant get excited each episodes unlike other cdramas i have watched. The episodes are full of conversations. Like the fighting is once in a blue moon. I think I may stop watching at episode 8. I downloaded the eps via netflix up to episode 10. It is such a waste to delete the remaining episodes. But i really expected a lot from it, since i have seen lot of good reviews here on mydramalist and comments on youtube but I just don't like the plot. I also read, this drama has lot of restrictions from the government? Such a waste.

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