'Double World' - Movie Review

Netflix has a large variety of Chinese movies and TV shows (also - that I've noticed - Spanish and Korean). I have a slight preference for English language materials as it's my native - and only - language, but if a movie is entertaining I'm happy to watch it regardless of language.

"Double World" is a Chinese movie, but the main lead (although it's an ensemble cast) is Henry Lau - who was born and raised in Toronto, speaking English. Bizarre - I watch a Chinese fantasy movie on Netflix and the star turns out to be from my hometown. Probably not important to anyone else, but a co-incidence I enjoyed.

The movie is full of your favourite tropes and clichés: noble thief, disgraced-but-noble warrior, traitorous counselor to the king, quests, mechanical marvels centuries before they could be built, bad physics, life-long feuds, vengeance, warring clans, grand tragedy, magic beasts, impossible scenery, etc. Short of putting a banner at the beginning of the film that said "This Is Not Art, It's Entertainment!," they couldn't have been much clearer about their intentions.

Dong YiLong (Lau) is a skilled and acrobatic thief with a conscience. When his village and clan is called upon to provide warriors for their kingdom's defense - through a competition - he volunteers along with a taciturn outcast warrior (Peter Ho ... I think, I'm not doing too well with the cast listing). They have adventures travelling to the capital, they meet people, they fight, etc., etc.

It's not a good movie, but if you're in the right frame of mind it can be entertaining.