despite the star-studded cast, and the elaborate costumes, special effects, and big budget, this movie sinks like titanic. zhou xun is not beautiful enough to convince me that she is a fox spirit. they should cast someone as beautiful (or at least sexy) like gong Li. furthermore, zhou xun's infamous tough voice is not in the least alluring. Vicki zhao acts as the stupid wife of a stupid man. they dying for each other is so lame. if they truly love each other, he will believe her when she say zhou xun is a demon, won't he? this movie makes no sense whatsoever. besides lamenting the absurdity, i absolutely have no feelings toward any character. Wang sheng is your typical good-looking hormonal guy who fall in love with the pretty girl, idiotic as ever. Donnie yen is ugly, but at least he has sense. qi yu Wu is funny, but i don't see any special effects. can't he use his tongue to kill, like toad from x-men? why must he fight using swords like normal people? he is also redundant, as i don't think the original tale includes him. why would he wanna follow zhou xun, if there are many demons around? Betty sun can't fight. AT ALL. it is a marvel she can even stab anything without taking out her own finger. she is a joke to martial arts. she only managed to kill qi yu Wu by accident. (like he fell on top of her sword). all in all, this shows how Chinese literature has deteriorated today. since Jackie Chan's 'kongfu' and exploits of Chinese 'legends' by Hollywood, this is another hollow, empty, eye bubblegum that will lose flavor in ten seconds.
Review of Painted Skin
