Dicky Cheung’s “The Learning Curve of a Warlord” Premieres with Rave Reviews
It’s been a long time coming. Dicky Cheung’s (張衛健) last Cantonese-language drama was 2002’s The Monkey King: Quest for the Sutra <齊天大聖孫悟空>, and when TVB announced The Learning Curve of a Warlord <大帥哥> in early 2017, fans rejoiced for the collaboration. There were some delays and postponements for the the series, and after nearly two years in the making, TVB finally released the highly anticipated series this week.
With Dicky Cheung leading a cast comprised of Sisley Choi (蔡思貝), Tony Hung (洪永城), Raymond Cho (曹永廉), Vivien Yeo (楊秀惠), Tsui Wing (徐榮), Oscar Li (李嘉), Jessica Kan (簡淑兒), Jerry Ku (古明華), and Max Cheung (張達倫), The Learning Curve of a Warlord is set in post-Qing China and chronicles the journey of a man who uses his wits and sharp verbal skills to become one of the most powerful warlords of his region.
After holding their breaths for so long, fans of Dicky were finally given room to breathe after the premiere of Warlord earlier this week. With recent TVB dramas experiencing a stark drop in ratings and critical reviews, fans were relieved to find that Warlord was enjoyable and entertaining. The first episode was engaging, with witty dialogue and entertaining characters. Aside from Dicky’s performance, many of his supporting actors also performed well, and had richly developed characterization.
Warlord is produced by Tsui Ching-hong (徐正康), who also produced many of Dayo Wong’s (黃子華) iconic works including War of the Genders <男親女愛> and To Catch the Uncatchable <棟篤神探>, all characterized by a storytelling style that is carried by one to two lead characters and many strong supporting characters.
Viewers found Warlord to be action-packed, worthy to chase, and highly entertaining. Many fans feared that the show would be sprinkled with outdated jokes due to Dicky’s long absence from the Hong Kong TV scene, but viewers were pleasantly surprised to know that many of the jokes still worked.
Netizens rushed to discussion boards to leave behind good comments for the show. One said, “It’s better than I expected.” Another said, “This is just right for Dicky. If it was another person leading the show, then it’ll go down to ruin.” Another netizen said, “If this show was aired earlier, Dicky would definitely be TV King!”
The two-year wait is well worth it.
Source: HK01.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
it’s unexpectedly good. i thought it was too ott when i watched the trailer. i am on ep3 now, it’s binge watching worthy.
this series aint bad at all happy to see Dicky back in one of the tvb dramas
It is a breath of fresh air. Also a reminiscent of childhood. Love the jokes related to monkey king lol… in fact, dicky’s portrayal is very similar to the monkey king character
@sugadough I wonder who decided to add the lines related to monkey king and duke of mount deer lines – Dicky or screenwriter?
@peachyogurt
If this is Dicky’s last ever TVB drama then this is the perfect send off and tribute for him by being able to use his most famous lines. A pity he is working with a bunch of clowns around him. If he had the likes of Raymond Cho, Raymond Wong around him like Wayne does in most of his series. instead of Tony Hung then everything will be a lot more solid. Nevertheless, Dicky is one of the rare few who can hold a series alone off a crap cast and script….
@jimmyszeto Cool! Yeah, agreed.
I’m loving this drama. Dicky is hilarious. Glad he came back to film this drama.
Should have gotten a competent leading actress, but D-icky can carry the drama.
I couldn’t get past the first 10 minutes…
@anon I guess I wasn’t the only one.
@anon me too!
@anon
I tried to watch and cringed. I love D as an actor but this series is BS to me. I thought that I was the only one. TVB is really going downhill.
@anon
the first half hour was not the best part. but it does get better.
@m0m0 Therein lies the problem…the “golden rule” of scriptwriting is that the opening must be strong, since that is what gives audiences their “first impression” of the series and also sets the tone for whether they want to continue watching. If the first half hour of the first episode “is not the best part,” then unfortunately, the scriptwriter doesn’t know what they are doing. And to be honest, this series more than others needed to get everything right in terms of script because from the getgo, it already had very little going for it other than D-icky.
As much as I like D-icky and have no doubt he will do a fantastic job acting-wise, I unfortunately can’t stand the rest of the main cast (with the exception of like 1 or 2 people), so I don’t plan on wasting my time watching. With that said though, I still feel it’s a shame that TVB kept delaying the broadcast date for the series, as now we will be going into the Anniversary Awards with the series only half-finished….I’m all for D-icky getting TV King (if TVB decides to give it to him that is), as no doubt he deserves it, but it will be super awkward. As I keep saying over and over again — TVB definitely needs to get their act together when it comes to scheduling their programs for broadcast…
Only caught a glimpse of episode 3 but Dicky is so natural in his scenes that I actually have an urge to watch this series for him. Unfortunately, everyone else’s acting is really terrible.
Dicky basically holds this drama alone.
Tvb brings out the best in dicky. Watching EP 2, story is chaotic but if not for dicky entire story falls flat. I wished it was more reunion of jttw gang. Not feeling the wives, especially Sisley who obviously out of her league in catching up with dicky. The 3 bffs are also out of their league. Dicky should have been supported by 3 supporting actors with comedic timing. I find the supporting poor. It is dicky alone holding my interest.
Dicky is great in this type of drama so hopefully it will have a good rating by the end of the series. He is also a very good singer too, especially the song he sang with Andy lau, Gao Gao Zai Xia.. here is the link on youtube of the song. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw7wpgqpXLo