Candle in the Tomb (2016)

Candle in the Tomb is the best out of the Winter batch of 2016/2017 Cdramas by a long mile, and that's largely because of the refreshing subject matter and its production quality. There are some green screens which were not processed properly in post-production, but in general the CGI is pretty good.

The drama is adapted from the uber popular same-name novel and hence the story is rich. A lot of it is just pure imagination on the author's part, but the good thing is that there is no cliches (like all the love stories you've been seeing), and it's a pretty "loyal" adaptation (yes, this is a dig at General and I). The directing is great, the jump scares are terrifying (the two kids in the first tomb and the professor in the penultimate episode - brilliant, brilliant acting on his part), the acting is decent, there's a little humour here and there, just bits of everything. But it's really well-executed, and that's what sets it apart from the awful The Lost Tomb*.

The main complaint I have about the drama is its pacing. The first episode is quite dull since it was mainly used to introduce the main and side characters, one which won't appear much in the rest of the drama at all. I think they have every intention to make a sequel (I heard that Da Jin Ya will have a larger role in the next books) and that's why they expended this much time in setting up everything. The first tomb exploration was quite eventful, and that's where things start to get interesting. However, the pacing problems began again. I mean, they took half an episode to bury Professor Hao!

Also, the whole archaeological team just seems like a huge burden to our three main characters. You're really just watching to see how they die out one by one, and it's difficult to feel sorry for them because of how useless they are. There's a huge reversal at the end but I won't spoil it here.

Other minor flaws include two dubbers for Shirley Yang because the original actor is Taiwanese, and the main dubber is not fluent in English, bad syncing for the English dubbed lines, Shirley Yang's exceptional picture interpretation skills, the archaeological team member who's obsessed with aliens (a horrible attempt at comedy) and so on.

It's difficult to elaborate on the highlights of Candle in the Tomb, because it is a very consistent drama, and thus the flaws stand out more. But trust me, despite what I have to say about the negatives, the drama is definitely worth a watch. In any case, I'm really looking forward to a second season, preferably with the same cast.

*There's bound to be recommendations for The Lost Tomb because the two dramas are of the same genre and are based on the same topic. Nevertheless, there's no need to spend time watching TLT. It's so bad that you should flush it out from your memory if you ever tried watching.

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A breath of fresh air among Chinese dramas.

Though there are some other dramas that also relate to tomb raiding, Candle in the Tomb is executed best. A solid main cast, good sense of suspense, and an interesting storyline all made this my most enjoyable drama of the recent batch.

Jin Dong and Zhao Da are great as Hu Ba Yi and Fatty. Their acting and interactions made this a great watch, especially with Fatty being a greedy idiot. They also voiced their own characters, which added to their great acting. Joe Chen also does well as Shirley, being a strong and independent female lead, similar to some of her other roles. An Li Man was one of my favorite characters. I love the way he speaks.

The plot always kept me intrigued. A short drama, but it included multiple arcs. The mysteries of each place kept me hooked, and the cinematography, especially in dark places, was superb. I wasn't ever sure if our band of characters were safe. Romance was not prevalent but I do see a budding hint. No cheesy over-the-top romantic scenes like you see in other dramas here.

There are still so many plot points to explore and expand upon. I'm looking forward to seeing the sequels if there will be any.

Only con I think there is would be some of the side characters. Most of them were quite useless and just a liability for our main leads. How on earth were they chosen to go on a treacherous trek through the desert? And the drama just glossed over what exactly happened to them at the end (though I heard this was different from the novel).

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Story: The plot is pretty interesting. I think the beginning is unnecessary. They introduce us to characters who they portray as very important but they never appear later on. The plot development was pretty slow, but once they met Shirley Yang, things really took off. The last couple of episodes had me on the edge of my seat. They were extremely suspenseful. The artifacts and history mentioned in the drama are pretty easy to understand. I do not like the ending because I was left with lots of questions. The explanation that they did give us was very sudden and a bit unrealistic, like Shirley's background.

Acting/Cast: The acting was pretty good, but I think Shirley Yang could have been portrayed better. The male leads and the supporting characters did an amazing job acting. For many of the supporting characters, they were really unnecessary. They honestly did not add much to the drama and often I forgot they even existed. I think they could have developed the students better because their acting is very strong. You will recognize a few of them from dramas like Battle Of Changsha and Nirvana In Fire. Qiao En's acting is a bit stiff but understandable considering her character's cold personality and mysteriousness. What does bug me is her dubbing. It's bad enough that she was dubbed because she is Taiwanese, but even worse, in order to have English with no accent, they added what sounds like a recording for the English parts. If they could have great CGI effects, the baffles me how horrible the dubbing is.

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Tread with caution. Slight spoilers ahead XD



Wow I really did not expect this drama to be this good. I've got to say I went expecting an average story but finished it feeling pleasantly surprised. Considering I've only seen Jin Dong in Nirvana in Fire and the Ode to Joy series I couldn't actually know about his acting skills but now I see why he's in the top tiers.

Other than that Tomb Raiding stories are one of my fav but they rarely manage to please me considering I'm very particular about them being more realistic. Not that this story was fully realistic XD but something in the story line kept me engaged. The whole plot moved pretty fast and except for the first few 5 episodes where it was a bit boring others were completely fast tracked. Also that CLIFF HANGER!!! WTF! was she good or evil? (you know whom I'm referring to). Also there's a very very very subtle almost non existent hint of a romance which more or less was dashed to the ground the last 2 minutes of the story, lol XD
Still all in all it was pleasant story to watch which I thoroughly enjoyed :)

Also are these actors in the same agency or something? Cuz I keep seeing familiar faces over and over again in the supporting cast.

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Heavily padded and takes a while to get going. Tomb raiding and scenery are great.

This is the main Candle In The Tomb series. It's an adventure. They've been to grasslands, the Himalayas and the desert. We get to experience various tombs AND Locations so action, cinematography and scenery wise this series has it all.

The Good: Shirley Yang (Joe Chen) the main lead girl is the rich daughter of a hobby archaeologist who has gone missing searching for some Lost City filled with treasures. She mountaineers and can handle a gun real well. She's the best part of the series. Hu Ba Yi (Jin Dong) is great. They keep changing Fatty around but the acting is believable. Fan favorite here is An Li Man. He has a different accent so you could tell. He was the best guide ever and #1 camel lover. There's minimal politics so this has been quite enjoyable. They have even introduced these things called "Fire" bugs, that are aflame and can set you or your equipment on fire. Whoom!

So-So Average: Characters. Some are great, others are horrible. I hated Fatty's greed and stupidity. Seriously how can you make the same mistake 4 times??? #facepalm. All the archaeologists were written as if they were idiots that can't follow basic instructions or make hard decisions. Breaking news: if you're weak, sick or old, maybe stick to desk archaeology since if you go out on the field you will be the first to fall and cause hardship and long winded difficult decision making full of angst amongst your compatriots. While they're hand wringing other disasters happen and people die that should not have died. I swear one third of this show felt like "let's take bets on who dies next". Not good.

The bad : story is probably better than this adaptation as it is slow as all hell, takes WAY too much time to do some things (1 episode for a burial is probably excessive) and they padded it to an extent this show could have finished 4-5 episodes sooner making it more enjoyable if only the editing had been tighter.

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A redemption after watching TWG (Chronological Order)

I've got low expectation when I started this and almost drop it after the first 2 episodes cause I find it boring but I eventually went through it cause the reviews are decent and i'm not the type who would drop anything after my 1st impression; and thank god I did cause it started to gradually pick up it's own pace after awhile.

This sequel is much more interesting compared to the messy and disastrous TWG so for anyone who are wondering whether to watch it or not, I wanna assure you that it's gonna worth your time.

This actually has its own flaws as well but it's more bearable compared to it's prequel and adventure wise it is far superior as well. Just be careful not to get irritated with Wang Pang Zi (Fatty Wang) cause I hella got irritated on how immature, greedy and useless he is.

Story - 8.0, I wanna give it a higher rating but the ending just kinda felt disappointing. + Although it has more to offer, the story itself got a lot of flaws in it and it felt lacking in the plot and story department.

Acting/Cast - 9, I just love Joe chen and she did great in this drama. The other actors were able to execute their roles properly as well. I just felt like there's a lot of useless side characters.

Music - 8.5, BGMs are properly placed and used. Nothing special about it so I felt like they could've done better.

Rewatch Value - 8, I wouldn't re-watch it unless there's an information I need to confirm or something but this whole production is good enough so here it is.

Overall - 8.5, The fair-est point I can give. Honestly speaking, it didn't standout that much and is a bit lacking but can be considered decent.

Please let me know IF you find my reviews helpful.

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Exactly what I was hoping for!

I'm a huge Tomb Raider fan. Yes, the Lara Croft one. I've been looking for a show that can capture the sense of awe and creepy atmosphere of the early games for quite some time, and this series actually fits the bill.

This review comes with a bit of a warning though, and that's that the first 4 episodes aren't very good. Something really cheesy happens at the beginning that just doesn't sit right, and it will likely turn a lot of "would be" viewers away. And that's a shame, because the series gets GREAT after this. The fantastical elements become a little more subtle, and the special effects are surprisingly good, so they accompany it very well.

I want to make special mention of the set pieces, which are all fantastic. A good tomb raiding adventure is only as good as its atmosphere, and the sets do not disappoint in accomplishing what is needed. I also appreciated that we get some major variety as well, from frozen caves to underground lost cities.

The plot moves along nicely throughout, we have interesting leads to follow, and as far as I can tell, the acting was at the very least serviceable. At only 21 episodes, as opposed to the much higher count Chinese dramas are known for, I felt this was a perfectly bingeable show and I ended up going through it fairly quickly. I was also left hungry for more, so I'm glad they're still making more of these.

Aside from the already mentioned major complaint, I only have a few small ones I ran into otherwise. The side characters were much less interesting overall, for one thing. And another, I did feel that Fatty's antics become a little too predictable and ridiculous as the story progresses. I can't think of anything else that really bothered me, aside from the animal cruelty issue (you'll see it talked about in other comments and reviews here). The CGI was good enough that they didn't have to resort to that, in my opinion, and it was disturbing to see.

All in all, I'm hooked and ready for more very soon!

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PRC television is quickly reaching the high-standard for cinematography set by Korea. The advent of affordable & small high-definition cameras RED ($7,000) and BlackMagic ($2,000) plus HD television creates a home cinema experience. Viewers do not seem to want a standalone episode. With on-demand viewing, characters can be developed over a season. Last year Netflix’s focus on international expansion soared membership. K-dramas leads the industry with shows like “Descendants of the Sun”. Nonetheless, PRC is quickly adapting with “The Snail Who Fell in Love”. If you like Indiana Jones, TWD, “Night at the Museum” plus female action hero “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” then you will enjoy “Candle in the Tomb”.

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