The Living Dead (2019)

Story - I must give two thumbs up for the screenwriter for not ruining the original storyline.. it's only about Wen Ning and Lan Sizhui's adventure and they didn't change anything major.. the story is pretty enjoyable as I love to watch mystery and adventure ^^ They made many references to The Untamed so we won't be lost and take it as a whole new movie..

Acting / Cast - As always, Yu Bin did a really good job! He is such a wonderful actor.. his acting never failed to amaze me.. I understand the need to change the character.. they can't make a naive and foolish boy as a main character of a mystery movie, right? XDD but I see their effort not to make Wen Ning too out of character.. it's still our Wen Ning who depends and trusts his Young Master Wei the most :""") the other actors aren't bad.. but idk because they changed the director or what, the acting isn't as good as The Untamed (even Zheng Fanxing).. I mean they aren't bad, but if you make The Untamed as comparasion, The Living Dead is a bit of lacking.. so I decided to take away the 0.5 star XD

Music - Since I'm already familiar with Yu Bin's Chi Zi, I enjoy the music very much.. I watched the ending credit until the song ended lol.. and I almost cry when I heard Wu Ji in the scene where Wei Wuxian appeared.. It really give the feeling of nostalgic~ I don't have any problem with the other music.. they are pretty good too..

Rewatch Value - Sure. This is a pretty good movie to kill time.. I will rewatch it when I have free time.. ^^

Overall - I highly recommend this for all The Untamed fans.. but I must take the 0.5 star because it stands behind The Untamed's shadow (and I decided not to give any drama 10 except The Untamed to appreciate the masterpiece X"D)

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Maybe it’s set a while after Untamed, but Wen Ning acts more mature in the movie than in Untamed. Watching him in the movie was almost like watching a different character. The fight scenes aren’t bad, but reminded me of a superhero action scene in the final. Plot is predictable, and a few things makes it feel as if the producers were just trying to fit everything into the movie. I loved Untamed and Wen Ning in the drama so this was a big disappointment. There was also a cameo that pulled me out of the story since it was obviously not the actual actor, on top of Wen Ning’s character feeling foreign already.

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I really loved "The Untamed," so when I found out that they were making a movie exclusively for Wen Ning and Lan Yuan, I was so hyped. I immediately subscribed to iQIYI when I heard this was released.

Given how great the story and production the drama was, I expected this movie to be the same. I was wrong. Honestly, I have no beef on the actors/actresses or their acting, I just don't like what the producers are doing. Why they decided to diverge from the main story and make Wen Ning a clone of Wei Ying in terms of personality (minus the mischievousness) will always stump me. You could tell that the production budget is extremely low, obviously not in proportion with the drama. The dialogues feel extremely rushed, which I understand because it's a 1:20:00 movie, but I feel like they could have not rushed it and make a tiny bit of a longer movie. Don't even get me started on the editing. The editing is HORRENDOUS. Even my dead great grandparents could do better. I'm convinced they paid some random 10 year old across the street $5 to edit the whole movie, it's THAT bad. Not to mention the obvious green screening. They didn't even try to match the lights and shadows on people with the background, they literally just slapped a GIF as the background and went on with their life. Like come on???? And the music too. Who knew there were rockin' electric guitar solos ~4000 years ago? The movie would have been great if it weren't for these crucial yet overlooked details. Smh.

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I guess you can call it a movie for those who can't move on, but honestly, I think you'd like it more if you did not watch The Untamed first. Even if you wouldn't understand a lot of references.

*Story* 7
*Sigh* ... I liked the idea though. The growth of Wen Ning after he left Wei Wuxian's side. There are a lot of things that the movie mentioned about how Wen Ning must have been struggling with that I thought "That's actually a pretty fun topic to make a movie about" Unfortunately, the pace was too fast, the order was messed up, the editing was weird and the plot also too predictable. The whole time I was like "Just like the Yi City Arc". They took so many elements of the Yi City Arc that made face palm so hard. They took so many elements to the point that they could have just refilmed the Yi City Arc. I'm sure a lot if not everyone who had watched The Untamed would have watched it. One thing is sure, this movie was not written by MXTX. You could say that they took all elements of the Yi City Arc... except the parts that made the Yi City Arc good. But even with all the flaws, I still enjoyed it. If you could ignore all the OOC parts and forget the Yi City Arc for a moment, it was actually a pretty okay story. The CG was quite cool and the fight were definitely much better than The Untamed. Wei Wuxian's cameo was also a surprise. Although it was pretty OOC as well, in some ways it also made sense. At least, I think that's how Wen Ning sees Wei Wuxian, but does not fit the message of MDZS of everyone are just humans. But I still liked it. Was it OOC? Yes. Will it make you cringe? Most likely. But did it feel good to see Wei Wuxian again? 100%. But even so, I wish they didn't mention Wei Wuxian's name every 5 sentences. If you're gonna make a separate story, you should focus on yourself. Wei Wuxian might be the lead of MDZS/The Untamed, but the world is not surrounded by Wei Wuxian.

*Acting/Cast* 6.5
*Sigh* ... It was okay. Sizhui was adorable as always, the other new actors was not amazing, but also not bad (At least better than some of the bad actors of The Untamed). Although there were a lot of parts that was not really natural, it wasn't to the point of making me cringe. There were also some parts that they did pretty well. My problem is, it was too OOC. I guess I can understand that they wanted to make Wen Ning more charismatic since he's the protagonist of the movie, but that's not the right reason to change his personality. I honestly would have liked the movie much more if Wen Ning was still the shy, stuttering and kind uncle. His jokes, behavior and personality was all changed. Although the inner struggles I mentioned earlier did fit his character, it was very unnatural to see Wen Ning totally different. And by changing his voice actor did not make it any better. And just like how many people online has mentioned, this movie is more to promote the new actors than a sequel of the drama. It was pretty obvious, but to me, as long as the plot was great, I wouldn't have cared. And in this case, it was definitely a great way to gain experience for them. However, it is still better to see it as a separate work, or else I think you would be annoyed as F as MDZS fan.

*Music/production* 8.5
Like The Untamed, the music was really good. There were songs of the Untamed and there were new songs. It all fitted the movie so, no complains. I do think they invested the money on the wrong parts though. *Cough* The cloud recesses CG *Cough*

*Rewatch value* 6
Did I enjoy the movie? Yes. Will I watch it again? Most likely not. Maybe I will go back to watch Wei Wuxian's cut, purely for the nostalgic feeling and my love for Lu Zhixing, but I rather go back and read/watch the Yi City arc again.

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As many people who loved The Untamed will want to watch this, know that this is a Wen Ning centric movie. There is however a 10 sec clip with Wei Wuxian's back supporting Wen Ning to get out of the illusion he was put into! Regarding the story, I actually liked it! It wasn't awesome and something that I would re-watch though. I felt that the character of Wen Ning was very much changed from the prequel: where he was shy before, now he is confident. A huge change for me, at least. Story wise, the plot was ok, the characters were likable and the actress for a-Qing was stunning. I do have an issue with the chains of Wen Ning as there is no mention how he got them on!(yes, they make him powerful, but when The Untamed left, he was chain-free). Music wasn't very The Untamed though..It could have been much better!The CG action was ok, the same level as in the prequel. All in all, to be honest, the movie was better than some other high-budget movies that China makes!( but that might be because The Untamed presented already the characters and their background). I recommend fans of MDZS/The Untamed to watch it, but not to have much expectations as the movie it's only a "night hunt" of Wen Ning and Sizhui, unrelated to the other characters of The Untamed. (just a rant of mine: I did hope for some bonding between cousin and nephew, but yeah...got nothing!:))

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Honestly not bad but not great!

I was so excited when I finally found out that there is a movie with just our cinnamon buns Wen Ning and Sizhui and dropped everything then and there and rushed in order to watch the movie and honestly it's not bad though not as great as I hoped it would be.

My only problem with this is Wen Ning feels OOC and asking Sizhui to not call him Shushu broke my heart. Come one it's cute when A Yuan calls him Shushu and I get that Wen Ning needs be strong here and he is strong and knowledgeable and he needs to look after Sizhui too and being a main character means he can't be the adorable side character he was but I just wish they didn't change him so much that he doesn't feel like Wen Ning anymore.

The Best Part of the movie for me is "everytime Sizhui used his Guqin". I just had a huge smile on my face, proud to see him so much stronger than he was in Untamed, bet his dads are proud of him especially Lan Zhan being all like "That's my boy!"

The Story is predictable and the acting is fine, the fights look good. All in all a fun watch and would recommend fans to at least watch it once, won't watch it again though.
Also the last lines of banter between the Sizhui and his Ning shushu were cute.

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What I enjoyed:

Lan Sizhui: He has grown more capable and stronger since The Untamed, but remained true to his character.
WWX: I enjoyed the WWX references and cameo
Wen Ning's song: nice to hear his song at the end credit

What I didn't enjoy:
Subtitle: the text was white which made it difficult to read
Wen Ning: He didn't seem like the same character from The Untamed. He's definitely more mature, intelligent, and serious in the Living Dead, but there wasn't much of an explanation about how his development.
Lan Wangji: There were many WWX references, but only 1 for Lan Wangji. I was expecting Lan Sizhui to mention him at least once.

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Pity

I was very excited about this movie and I actually thought that it would focus more on the reason Wen Ning and Lan Shizui separated from Wei Wuxian at the end of The Untamed. It would've been amazing to see them battling idk, Wen Ruohan's spirit or something once they went to Nightless City and found out something about their legacy. Instead, we've got a Wallmart-quality movie that was obviously meant to promote Yubin and maybe some of the other actors.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against the actors or a Wen Ning-centric movie. I would've been glad to see Wen Ning become the protagonist of his own (un)life for once, just... not like this. It isn't worth much if it doesn't feel like Wen Ning at all. The Untamed followed the novel's timeline as close as possible, so we know that it couldn't have been too far from the end of the series. I agree that Wen Ning would've matured a bit now that he's not Wei Wuxian's attack dog (and isn't that ironic) anymore, but there's no way he would've ended up being a less sarcastic knock-off version of his old master and lose the stutter he's had all of his life just like that. I feel like whoever wrote the script only watched that one Core Reveal episode and actually thought Wen Ning was just naturally like that, and not that he had been pushed way beyond his limit in order to have the fucking guts to raise his voice at anyone, let alone Jiang Wanyin. The OOC was horrible and I do not appreciate how they masaacred his perfectly good character. Wen Ning screaming at some random dude that he talks too much and that he should die already? Turning him into a living corpse (by the way, when the fuck did Wen Ning get all of those new shiny powers? Ridiculous!) and chaining him up to rot in some shady basement? In what universe would he even think about something like that?! And Sizhui, perfect little Lan disciple who was raised by Lan Wangji out of all people, letting him do that? No way.

Thankfully, Sizhui didn't get much screentime or lines, so at least he wasn't tragically butchered by the scriptwriters and was more of a cute mascot in the background than an actual secondary character.

As for the acting... It was bad. Maybe kinda decent in some parts, but generally bad. Especially the parts where Wen Ning was "talking to himself" or whatever. I'm sorry, but Yubin clearly cannot play evil characters. His "evil laugh" was the worst and I cringed horribly everytime.

That Wei Wuxian cameo could've been great if they actually took the time to find an actor with a similar build to Xiao Zhan, but it was very obvious that it wasn't our loved trash boi the Yiling Patriarch, so I couldn't even be happy for seeing him on screen again.

The CGI during the fights was mostly okay, though there are some scenes in which you can actually see the green screen and that's really not acceptable in any form of movie, so no favors there. I did enjoy seeing Wen Ning using the chains, I'll admit that much. For being the one thing they took from canon, at least they picked it right.

The music... well. It was... there. I finished watching the movie just before writing this review and I've already forgotten it, so nothing impactful.

As for the plot. I would've probably been fine with it if it wasn't so damn predictable and full of holes. I knew what was up as soon as the first flashback ended. It's sad that the most interesting part of the plot were actually the first five minutes, before any of the main characters even apeared. A good example is how they just let that poor woman burn instead of saving her. You were both supposed to be madly in love with her, but after she's pushed into a fire none of you actually try to jump in and take her out? It's like "well, I guess she's campfire now, nothing we can do". Not even the guy who had a fucking piece of the Yin Iron in his hand could use some resentful energy to put the fire off or whatever, and she just stood there in the middle of the fire and waited for the flames to consume her, remembering from time to time that she's burning up and she should probably scream a little.

Also, about that. There were five pieces of Yin Iron: three were in Wen Ruohan's clutches (destroyed by the remaining clans), one was with our favorite sociopath (burried with dage), and the center piece was used by Wei Wuxian to create the Tiger Seal (destroyed when he died). Knowing those facts, can anyone explain to me where the fuck did this one sixth piece come from?! Because if Jin Guangshan couldn't snatch a piece for himself from the three that were destroyed and had to fucking hire Xue Yang's services just in case he would use it like he wanted, this Rando servant guy definetly wouldn't have had the power or resources to even get close to looking at them.

Rewatch value is "are you kidding?" No way I'll rewatch this crap.

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Was good, I liked it ^^. Kind of like a double length episode of The Untamed in the vein of the Xue Fang character/story in Yi city, with an added dash of some Wen Ning personal growth (more than just a cinnamon roll ????).

The story setting is a night hunt in a town where they're afraid of lighting their houses at night for fear of attracting killer ghosts, so, while the film producers have still shot it very well for that kind of low lighting story background, people might need to adjust their monitor's brightness level up a bit.

My only strongly felt criticism of it would be that the music score wasn't really in keeping with The Untamed series. I would've appreciated the connection to the series background within the movie's soundtrack. Our memories of our experiences are founded on our senses, and like smell and taste, hearing/sound also matters in that respect. The electric guitar soundtrack in the big fight scene kinda grated on me. Hopefully my pointing this out doesn't ruin that scene for you. It's not that the electric guitar ruins the scene, it does kind of fit in it's own way. I just didn't think it thematically aligned to the series.

Fangirls (and boys) of the source material 'Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation' will likely whine a lot about the lack of their favorite fantasy love/p?rn match, but I'm good with it. I appreciate the delving into the side characters as main characters in their own right. If anything I would've like to know the story about Wen Ning reverting back to wearing the chains. Also, too short, I want MOARRRRRRR!!!! I guess I'll have to hang around waiting for the next spin off ????. Hopefully the next one is released before that 1st month free of VIP iqiyi subscription runs out or else I might actually have to keep the subscription! (Meh, not too much of a pain, I tend to watch mainly c-drama/fantasy these days anyway, which is saying something on the state of television in english speaking countries since that is the only language I speak).

The same people might also whine a bit about how Wen Ning suddenly seems to be a capable adult when compared to the series. I would argue that it wasn't that Wen Ning wasn't a capable adult in the series, so much that he is conformable to Wei Wu Xian in Wei Ying's presence ... and in the series he is generally seen in Wei Ying's presence.

In keeping with 2 of the 4 ratings areas of music and rewatch value, I took half a mark off because that electric guitar in the big fight scene and general lack of consistency of score in line with the series (there were moments that aligned but otherwise...), and half a mark off for rewatch value. It isn't a heavy impact or ground breaking piece of drama that makes you want to commit yourself to rewatching it annually, but it is something to revisit on a rainy day if you feel like it.

Edit: After thinking about it a bit more had a bit further to add. (I've always been long-winded. Duìbùqǐ) The series is heavy on the feelings of the despair due to the inevitabilty of human failings and the comfort of comradery amidst that despair. This movie is light on those emotions. This might also lead to some viewers feeling underwhelmed.
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A side note: in the lead up I was kind of hoping this movie was going to be the exploration of the Wen medicine family's death story since (1) that's what SuiZhui and Wen Ning have in common and (2) their sacrifice scene in saving everyone from the horde of attacking corpses in the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation novel didn't get in to The Untamed series. I thought the exploration of that story aspect might have also been able to lead to some good character growth for both Wen Ning and SuiZhui. That hope is obviously unfulfilled ... but I'll cling on to it. Maybe it's something they'll think of doing in future... ????????

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This movie was quite enjoyable and definitely is a must watch for all The Untamed fans. Paul Yu (Wen Ning / Ghost General) acting is really surprising. I have never seen anyone that is still considered a new comer in the acting industry be able to pull off such fierce expressions and overall be able to throw out emotions that seamlessly. Zheng Fan Xing (Lan Si Zhui / Lan Yuan) got the chance to have a big role in this movie and he was also able to act quite well in it. I wish their company would do more promotion for these new actors, they have proven themselves very well already, I'm waiting on their new pieces.

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The Living Dead is one of the side stories of The Untamed. In this movie, we get to see one of the adventures of Wen Ning and Lan Sizhui. The story in this movie is not heavily based on The Untamed but the events in this movie take place after The Untamed. Hence, it is best to watch The Untamed first and then The Living Dead. You can still watch this movie straightaway, but you may not understand some parts of the movie.

Since this is just a side story, the content of the movie is not as heavy and complex as the story in The Untamed. To some fans, the movie may seemed a bit rushed. In my opinion, the pace of the story is appropriate since this is like a sneak peek of what happens after The Untamed. At some parts, there would be jumpscares. If you are faint hearted, you might want to watch this in daylight.

The acting was a bit weird and funny at one part. Wen Ning and Lan Sizhui were as per normal like in The Untamed. To me, the weird acting comes from Xiao Qing. When she was in the fire, she was only flailing her arms up and down. I do not know much about acting, but that part seemed comedic. I get that she was desperate to escape the fire, but flailing your arms does not work if the fire is too strong.

There was one rock music that was played repeatedly throughout the movie. It felt out of place. The rock music was played at every battle or intense part in the movie. I do not think that rock music was invented in the historical days. Even if rock music was invented at that period, the rock music played sounded too modern for a historical movie like The Living Dead.

Would I rewatch again? Not as often if I am rewatching The Living Dead by itself (as a standalone). But if I was rewatching The Untamed and Fatal Journey (another side story of The Untamed), I would rewatch The Living Dead as well since all of them are related together.

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