Grace Under Fire (TVB 2011)
Number of episodes: 20
Cast
Mok Gwai Lan – Liu Xuan
Lui Ching Long- Bosco Wong
Yau Sam Sui- Kenneth Ma
Kwai Fa- Fala Chen
Wong Fei Hung- John Chiang
Wong Hon Yik- Raymond Wong
If Grace Under Fire has taught us anything about not taking revenge, it ends with one. And it was the most satisfying endings to watch.
Synopsis:
This is a Kung-Fu drama taking place in the 1920s /1930s before the start of WWII in Guangzhou, China. The story centers around Mok Gwai Lan (Liu Xuan) who follows her pursuit in learning Kung Fu and marrying a legendary Kung Fu master, Wong Fei Hong (John Chiang Ma) despite a 30 to 40 year age gap. Gwai Lan’s older foster brother, Yao Sam Sui (Kenneth Ma) was always in the pursuit of get- rich-quick schemes. In all twists and turns, he became the story’s antagonist, a monster created by society and he paid dearly for it as karma prevails.
Opening Theme:
Elisa Chan did a great job on the vocals and delivered a powerful voice.
The History and the Villan:
I always love a great tale of a fallen hero and a strong heroine. This was not only a Kung Fu film, it examined the dynamics of family and society itself. Kung Fu was a mark of power back in the 1920’s that incorporated society’s pride and had close ties with the political industry as Kung Fu masters themselves were highly regarded public figures. People would rule with their fist. This drama captures a time when Kung Fu and society traditions began to undergo a huge change in the history of China.
Kenneth Ma, who portrayed the fallen hero as Yao Sam Shui, yearned to make something out of himself someday. With opportunistic ideals, he was often misunderstood that he was insincere and would abuse his capabilities. So how did a good person become bad? When your family restricted you of your potential and society turned its back on you, what should you to do? It was so easy to blame the perpetrator for his actions but we have to remember he was also a victim. Yao Sam Shui struggled to define himself apart from his family and was punished for having capitalistic thoughts in Communist China before the many unfortunate events that follow. I’m not justifying the criminal acts he committed; I’m merely peeling off the layers of hate and resentment his family and society placed upon him and realized he was just a victim of his time. I interpreted his story as a social disease that significantly contributed to the fall of China during WWII.
The Heroine:
Gwai Lan, played by Liu Xuan, showed great discipline in her performance of martial arts. Before researching Liu Xuan’s biographical data, I have no idea who she was. She was a former Olympian who had once performed the most difficult and dangerous one hand flip on uneven bars received a low grade for it because it was encouraged for females to not perform it. After learning this, I felt no one can play this role but her. Her acting was lacking a little and the voice over hindered her emotions but I thought nonetheless she did a great job. Her character was tough but in a gentle way. She stood strongly for what she believed in with reason, not anger. She did not put herself over anyone else when it came to what she wanted. It may be hard to see that and we may easily blame her for the death of her neighbor when the actual criminal was the policemen. I thought her role as Wong Fei Hong’s wife was a bit rushed and staged by the writer. There was absolutely no explanation leading up to how she fell for him romantically. It happened out of nowhere and there was nothing short of a respectful relationship but that was it. Honestly, it was like watching a father and daughter together. I’m sure scriptwriter, Lau Chi-Wah, did this to symbolize her as sort of a Virgin Mary to give her all to Kung Fu and brought it to victory to save the Chinese from the invasion of the Japanese.
The Jokesters:
The actors did a superb job, notably the actor who kidnapped children and sold them, as well as Wong Fei Hong’s eldest son. I thought they deserve a much appreciated effort in their roles compared to ones who have the limelight and I feel they have great potential. Their chemistry brought on ease when the drama became very intense and almost unbearing to watch because of its violent content.
Notable Scenes:
I was never a fan of Bosco Wong’s work. He portrayed Lui Ching Long, the son of a former number-one Guangzhou Kung Fu master who lived to take revenge upon Wong Fei Hong due to a misunderstanding. It was that one scene where Master Liu had just killed Gwai Fa’s guardian in a Kung Fu Battle. Ching Long snapped and became enraged at how ignorant his father had become and pounded on the table of the family shrine. I could feel a tremendous mix hurt and frustration that he could not communicate with him.
Another scene graphically engraved in my memory was the murder of Yao Sam Shui. Justice was never more clear than those stabs for all the pain that he caused. Justice could not have been more satisfying if delivered in a court house with paper procedures, it cannot be possible. The audience knows this. Right before Yao Sam Shui met his death, you can tell he resorted back to his old self again. He became good again. He wanted to move on and believe in the good and trust again. It was karma coming back around full force.
Aesthetics:
Grace Under Fire had great fighting choreography and the filming angles were clear cut. There were some interesting fight sequences that had a lot of details and intricate movements as well as some that felt staged. There were also those fight sequences where the character did not fight back at all, such as Master Liu’s death. You know how when you get hit in the knee and it naturally kicks back? I know it was staged but I could not help but notice how real it looked when his body convulses when four men were beating him to death yet his face expression still holds integrity.
Overall:
I thought Grace Under Fire was an underrated film particularly because of all the filler episodes, mindless events and loopholes that has made this script fall through. To be honest, I think this script did not really deserve such a great ensemble cast. I did like the concept and the overall plot, but when it comes to how those plot markers were executed, it was just basically the story telling you, okay one day Gwai Lan fell in love with Wong Fei Hong. No backstory to that, not much of a relationship development there. But this needs to happen in order for other things to take place. Like all TVB dramas, this is a very narrative one, nonetheless it is a good drama to watch. Great fighting and true acting. It’s rare you get action and raw emotions. It is especially rare when the writer lets the perpetrator get what’s coming to him despite the constant annoyance of saying revenge is wrong but then ending it with revenge. Huge irony on that part but it was a great ending. Too many twists and stupid turns that are predictable but one memorable event made up for it.
Rating: 
Review written by Yina Z. for JayneStars.com. Visit Yina’s website at http://yinareviews.blogspot.com.
The ending wasnt even that great. Must be the script and it really did hurt the overall series in my POV.
I believe TVB did cut some scenes out to fit the in the episode and thats why you see so many illogical moments that doesnt connect the story. TVB needs to break this practice, unfortunately they are so stubborn to change ….
My rating of this series: 2.5 star out of 5.
Dont see it.
I just finished this series and thought it was ok. It had pretty good kung fu fighting scenes and it was nice to see Liu Xuan act for TVB. She was also a former gymnast so it was great seeing her in fighting sequences. THe plot was ok but could have been better. How did she suddenly fall for Wong Fei Hung and then just married him out of the blue?? That didn’t make sense.
Kenneth did pretty well for his first villian role. I actually thought he was more of a tragic villian since he went through a lot from being framed for murder and suffering from unrequited love.
I would recommend this series since it is still a decent TVB series of today in spite of the flaws. But hey, which series doesn’t have flaws??
“How did she suddenly fall for Wong Fei Hung and then just married him out of the blue?? That didn’t make sense.”
Their story was undeveloped, IMO. And I suppose it took a more mature route. I believe Kwai Lan admired Fei Hung’s morals and he had a kind heart where he helped the poor. Honestly, I felt that there was more admiration than romantic love in this couple. This made them quite dry and not a very interesting couple to watch for teenagers.
On a side note, I thought Kwai Lan would marry Fei Hung earlier on in the series. They shared only a few scenes together as a married couple.
LOL, because he fullfilled her criterias i.e. old, have a property and know kung fu haha…
Hmmm ok even though I’m not a fan of the stary system 4/5 stars is pretty good for a BORING-spank-my-bum-to-wake-me-up-cause-watching-this-makes-me-stoned series.
I applaud Yina, the reviewer, for watching many elements into the series (e.g. kungfu’s role, family dynamics, society then).
My review in five words: recycled (story), mediocre (acting), sedative (direction), flatline (entertainment) and skip (overall).
Ok, I might be biased since I came to it with some expectations. Its about martial arts, involves Wong Fei Hung, the billed and titular actress is a former olympian capable of doing her own fighting stunts. End result: another family business revenge type epic. Worst of all its followed in the footsteps of recent HK cinema and put the Japs in another infiltration role with a very detestable ‘jap’ actor.
About halfway into the series I gave up hope. Hence my final five words come from what I think (and hope) are more objective evaluation against series I’ve seen. *shrugs, meh*
Final comment: Its like A Fistful of Stances meets No Regrets meets Links to Temptation which comes full circle to an uneventful predictable finale (2.7 stars / 5).
I have to agree with SDS’ critique that the direction of “Grace Under Fire” was sedative in its early episodes, so sedative that I haven’t gone past episode 3 and I do like Bosco’s mysterious character and eager to see Liu Xuan maximize her athleticism in some stunning kungfu moves.
However, when TVB markets a series such as “Grace Under Fire” as a “real kung-fu” series, how many of its lead stars have a true martial arts history. John Chiang does, but he is a little older and even in his old action star Shaw Bros days, his athleticism was overtaken by other contemporaries such as Gordon Liu, who should have been cast in “Grace Under Fire” if TVB wanted to add to the credibility of this series. Also Pierre Ngo studied in martial arts as well, why not cast him in the series to showcase his skills? Would like to see him as a major villain one day, as he shows promise.
The problem with producing “real kung fu” series is that there is a lack of young stars who are capable of doing the complicated hand-to-hand combat from the old days, when more young people trained in martial arts. I disliked the scenes where TVB editing blurred the hand-to-hand and foot-to-foot contact in “Grace Under Fire” or when the camera filmed only the legs of the actors and chopped them off from the waist up. The trick is to compensate for the inability of the actors to do more complicated action choreography and use stuntmen to fill in those scenes. Even Kenny Wong, who was allegedly a Praying Mantis style expert, hand blurry hand angles. The martial arts was not inspiring in this series and had rather bone-crunching violence in some scenes.
Companies think any artist can film martial arts series. With the use of wires and blurry camera angles, they think they can bill any show as “Grace Under Fire” as a “real kung fu” show. Liu Xuan is not Moon Lee Choi Fung, who was quite stunning in TVB’s 1993 series, Fist of Power (南拳北腿), which had thrilling action sequences thanks to Moon and Terry Fan Siu Wong.
I re-watched RTV classic, Tiger Hill Trail (再向虎山行) 4 years ago after purchasing the VCD. The series stars Michelle Yim, Ng Wai Kok, and Leung Siu Lung. The entire lead cast, young men, old men, young women, old women, all handled their martial arts combat sequences admirably. The hand-to-hand combat is beautiful to watch and had real power similar to the old Shaw Bros “real kung fu” movies which never grow old thanks to the great action choreography. True martial arts is beautiful to watch because the sequence of push, dodge, locking arms, and kicking legs is continuously dynamic. The attack/defense is like a “visual mystery” where the unexpected should come in, where an opponent’s weakness in a fight opens up to a new attack approach. Martial arts involves creativity and intelligence because one the factors in one sparring session will be different than the second one and should yield different approaches to attack and defense. This kind of hand-to-hand combat was present in the ending sequences of “Kung Fu Hustle,” thanks to Leung Siu Lung cast in the film.
If only “Grace Under Fire” could have gathered a more respectable cast with real martial arts training, rather than tricking us with blurred and fancy camera work, loud noises to distract us from the visuals and other tricks.
Besides lacking good kungfu cast, could it be that TVB also lack good martial art choreographer now and that is why they cannot make good use the martial art skill that actors such as Kenny Wong has?
AFOS is also a disappointment when it comes to martial art display. Kevin and Jacky both use stuntmen and even then, the martial arts are nothing to shout about. The best martial art display to me was the part where Wing Tak (Dominic) was practicing his spear.
A few years back, TVB was capable of producing good kungfu series. ‘Real Kungfu’ was an average series story wise but, the martial art in it was very good. So, does ‘The Kungfu Master’.
@Kidd, Yuan Biao is very agile physically; I believe he has impressive martial arts background. When he was younger, he starred in many action films.
I don’t know if find quality action choregraphy is a difficulty in HK. Since martial arts schools are still prevalent, they should be able to find quality choreographers? I suspect the problem may lie in the actors though. Young actors don’t study acting, singing the way they used to. To display the level of Yuen Biao or Terry Fan athlecisim onscreen would likely require ten years of training when they were young teens.
Youths with decent looks seem to want to enter the industry the easy way, by relying on their looks rather than putting in real effort. Although studying martial arts would benefit a lot of young male actors, no one has the consistent time to train the old fashioned hard way like Gordon Liu did anymore. I suspect it’s more due to lack of young actors with martial arts talent in HK, while it is easier to find people in China.
@ Jayne. I know Yuen Biao has impressive background. Between Yuen Biao, Jackie Chan and Samo Hung, I like Yuen Biao the most. When he was younger his martial art was awesome because he was agile and fast and I find him a better kicker/jumper than Jackie Chan.
Yes, maybe the actors contribute to the lack of good fight scenes. An actor with martial art background really did fight more beautifully that those without. But, a good choreographer helps. The choreographer of Kungfu Soccer was able to make Jay Chou look like a convincing martial arts eventhough he didn’t have martial art background. They also use stuntmen for Yuan Biao in ‘Real Kungfu’ for the more acrobatic fights because Yuan Biao is already old. But, the fights still look good. You did say the choreographer didn’t make good use of Kenny Wong’s martial art background. I believe a good choreographer can also make Liu Xuan convincing since she’s a gymast.
So, I guess it’s the combination of both. Actors who has agility and a good choreographer are both important.
I read Jacky Heung’s info earlier. It seems he did have martial art background. He didn’t learn from very young like Jackie Chan and Yuan Biao, but, according to the info I read, he has learn several style of martial art. No wonder he can kick convincingly. But, why still need stuntman for some simple stunts while in wide shot?
@Jayne
You make a very good point which I was thinking about when I watched this – how come the TVB incumbent actors with a martial arts background aren’t in this? Guess we’ll die not knowing.
@Kidd, I meant to say that Kenny Wong portrays a Praying Mantis expert in the series, yet his action shots all had blurry hand shots. From the looks of it, I don’t think Kenny has martial arts background in real life. His matchups with John Chiang look more like “dancing” than fighting.
Can I differentiate between Jackie Chan’s martial arts which is more operatic in training and Jet Li martial arts which is shaolin temple? I would say between Jackie and Jet (J&J!), I would say Jet Li would win hands down. I kept thinking of Fearless and Hero, in fact in Hero for once I thought Donnie Yen can act but it was that scene that was amazing martial arts.
Yuen Biao is very agile probably because he is small and slim. Jackie a bit bulkier. Yuen Qiao also? Yuen Wah is also as slim and small. But I must applaud Sammo Hung who showed everyone in the world a person his size can be agile and quick.
I think it’s because TVB is too cheap to hire skilled martial asrts choreographer and just use their existing stunt choreographer.
John Chiang and Dominic Lam should be great martial arts heroes in this series but they also look weak. John Chiang is the weakest Wong Fei Hung in history.
@Kidd
The martial arts in AFOS are still bad even if they use stunt men. If Jacky is a real martial arts why he doesn’t do his scenes himself?
Maybe too dangerous? But I think he did for most of it. Even Jackie needs stuntmen.
Donnie Yen is amazing. When they made a younger version of Ip Man the younger actor don’t give the role justice and have none of Donnie’s charisma.
The young version Ip Man fights very well but he lacks charisma unlike Donnie.
Given the lack of action in AFOS it should’ve been called ‘A Mouthful of Stances’ since everyone just talked the talk but couldn’t walk the walk.
Similarly this should have been called ‘Grace Under Banter’. *smiles* oh how I’d love to title TVB serials… *cue Kenneth Ma staple evil smile*
When it comes to martial arts on the screen, action choreography is more important than the level of martial arts the actor can perform. If you can’t reproduce it on the screen intelligently, coherently and excitingly then its just a waste – see most of Jet Li’s Hollywood movies.
In terms of martial arts Jackie Chan’s brand appeals to a broader audience and concentrates on entertainment appeal. Jet Li shows a more refined style tied to the spirit of wushu. Donnie Yen is a mixed bag who borrows from a lot of schools but I believe the showmanship is literally all him. This of course is what they show on screen – not what they actually know or practice etc. (I think)
@ Everyone
Sorry for the wrong info. Jacky learn martial art since young.
I am very interested in this one as I watched the trailers. The lead actress look so pretty and has the style that I was kinda attracted to that. Somehow Kenneth Ma as a villain and an unrepentant one doesn’t attract me because I kinda guess how he will approach the role but at least it is different for him.
Will definitely watch this when it is out. At least the colour tone makes this look like an expensive production and not confined to studio.
P/S : Does anyone need any reason to fall for Wong Fei Hung, probably the most famous kung fu master of that time?
You’d need to watch it to realise how unconvincing the ‘relationship development’ was presented.
It didn’t need to be convincing though. I agree with Funn on how WFH is a prominent figure and do not need to overly emphasize how the relationship developed.
My view of the love story was … MKL loved WFH but WFH only appreciated her. The story conveyed that message to me and not the typical “boy/girl chase” in all recycled tvb series. The relationship b/w MKL and WFH was developed fairly well and allowed the viewers room to think instead of having everything drawn to the dot.
@pandamao
Which means the series is just playing on estabished knowledge of the audience then = weak/lazy direction. I wouldn’t mind ‘leaving room for viewers to think’ but the whole series is not presented in that format which means its likely not intended. And all you could think was that there is some mutual affection and MKL liked him more than he liked her.
It was all too pragmatic. The director surely felt he needed to squeeze in a certain number of scenes of WFH staring with puppy eyes at MKL before she can have a spat about her love for him. That is not development. Its lack of it or poor development or no insight into what is going on in the minds of two people who should be in quite riveting situations (e.g. WFH marrying someone so much yonger; MKL a nobody marrying a ‘grandmaster’).
Thus I restate what I meant: yes there was a relationship portrayed, but it was told rather than felt.
Is it lazy storytelling or direction or press for time that many I notice are just told, rather than properly developed. Where did all the time go??
@Funn
I have the answer to your question but you may not like it. Here it goes… Kenneth Ma took up all the time. 😛
By the way would very much appreciate a huge SPOILERS!!! notice for the parts where you will reveal the spoiler. There are those who likes to be surprised.
I just finished the series and I think the veterans did a great job, and for her debut, I think Liu Xuan did a decent job! She could improve on her crying skills and some of the more emotional scenes. I liked Bosco and Fala’s roles the most. I think Fala portrays these roles well more than the goody two shoe roles like Ching Ching in No Regrets.
*SPOILERS ALERT* The beginning of the series was slow, but it got more interesting as it got towards the middle and end. I agree that I can’t help comparing it to Fistful of Stances, however, I think there is more character development in this one as a lot of the protagonists go through a lot of changes in their personalities, of course mainly Dominic Lam and Kenneth Ma’s roles. However, I think some of the changes and some of their actions didn’t seem to make sense. Kenneth Ma’s transformation didn’t seem to be justified enough. I understand he went through a lot of torture and humiliation, and it would make sense if he got revenge over the people who mistreated him, but for him to treat his former boss and boss’ wife the way he did( the restaurant owners who defended him and rehired him after he came out of jail), and for him to treat his “sister” the way he did when she’s always been loyal and supported him, I don’t think he has reasons for that. I guess that’s what pure evil is about.
And, the fact that of all people, it’s his wife that kills him in the end? Where did the knife come from? With all the evil things he did, I felt that he should have died another way. Suet kiu’s actions also does not match her kind-hearted personality at all either. But I guess when you’ve lost everything, you’re capable of doing anything. I think the main theme of the story is not so much about martial arts, but also how revenge and pride can ruin people’s lives. The two characters that I felt went through the most changes, mainly from good-bad-good, were Dominic’s and Kenneth’s roles. If they didn’t let revenge and pride get to them, they wouldn’t have become the people that they did and killed so many people.
Overall, I enjoyed the series, but I didn’t like the ending. Too many people died!
Of all the series I have watched I only wanted 1 character to die and that is Kam Ling in BTROC, so as to put her out of her misery but what she did justified her living, but being crazy was such a lame way.
I do wish to see a series where the guy, bad to the core, at the end turn good and die.
This kind of series to me is lame! How can turn good in a second and then die after being bad to the core?
Not in a second lar! Take some time to develop the story. TVB of course will die in a second. It is a matter whether you believe everyone is born innately good and therefore capable of being good or these people are shaped by society and in the end can’t be redeemed. I like to see a bad character redeemed, either that or die gloriously as in thousand arrows piercing him. This series seems to get that ending right!
Never been in a near death situation, so I don’t know what it feels like. I suspect people can “turn good” in a matter of seconds. Lol.
Ok, why is this series called ‘Female Fist’ and Liu Xuan is at the back of the poster while Bosco and Kenneth smack right in the middle and front?
I thought this series is about Wong Fei Hung’s wife. So, I thought the lead would be Liu Xuan and John Chiang and Bosco is supporting. Only after reading this review I know my assumption is way off. 😀
@Kidd
The series title befits the final 2minutes of the final episode before the closing theme. That is where the series was meant to be at by episode 10-15 I think. But some very smart person decided to expand upon all the crap that happens before so the title (chinese and english) is a misleading beast.
The title should really be: A Fistful of Stances – the Spinoff or A Similar Fistful of Stances or A Less Entertaining Fistful of Stances…
Or rather A Fistful of Stances – the Spinoff or A Similar Fistful of Stances or A Less Entertaining Fistful of Stances which is Midnight Resonance in disguise…
How about Bad version of FOS?
Is it THAT bad? I mean I really want to watch a villain with a glorious death scene which BTROC should have been that. The leading lady is very pretty though. My question is DID KENNETH POUT?
Hmmm actually it should’ve been called ‘Turning Point: A Kenneth Ma Story’. Since this may be a career highlight for Kenneth, unless of course you’ve watched it and thought “meh”.
Haven’t seen it. But I suppose at his angriest Kenneth will pout and I will be tempted to pinch his cute cheeks. He has a tendency of pouting when he is playing angry or in this series evil.
By the way the Chinese title means Female Fist? Why not call it that? Grace Under Fire sounds like a modern cop story.
@SDS – His acting is ‘meh’ because it’s ott and no depth. It could’ve been a career highlight if he don’t learn acting from Tavia okay sarcasm only. I know I might getting bashed from Tavia fans for this. He’s better in A Fistful of Stances or maybe that series has a better writer.
@Funn – The leading lady is pretty and can cry quite well but her facial expressions are stiff as if she did Botox and she only has few expressions through every of her scenes. Her role feels like a supporting role although she’s called the central lead.
@lol
You may be onto something about Tavia.
Maybe that’s why I’m finding her a total bore in the new series Yes Sir, No Sir.
@SDS: I think lol is talking about Liu Xuan
@SDS
Like Fox said I was talking about Lui Xuan
Maybe SDS thinks the description lol used for Liu Xuan is fit TY :P.
I’m agreeing with both cases.
@Fox
Do you know many have said that Liu Xuan looks like Tavia?
I was replying to the latter part of lol’s message that said:
“@SDS – His acting is ‘meh’ because it’s ott and no depth. It could’ve been a career highlight if he don’t learn acting from Tavia okay sarcasm only. I know I might getting bashed from Tavia fans for this. He’s better in A Fistful of Stances or maybe that series has a better writer.”
@lol: First time I hear so, go to see Liu Xuan again. Oh yeah, they 2 look kinda similar.
@Fox
No they don’t look alike! Tavia has not had plastic surgery! And no I am not putting words in your mouth in order to flag the issue to see what other people think and to disguise my thoughts as yours in case people don’t think so and send me death threats.
Peace 🙂
@SDS: LMAO~.
I think: If cover the eyes then they will look alike.
Hey it’s my own thinking, so nvm.
As for the plastic surgery, now we can’t sure about anything :P.
Forget to add: Peace to the world!
Quoted from Miss FBI of Sandra Bullock.
Yes sir, sorry sir is really a joke.
@Kidd
Oh yea, I wouldn’t trust the poster since Kenny Wong is in it but he his only in what 3 episodes or totalling not more than 20minutes of screentime.
@Kidd – I went through all episodes and every second of the series and lol Liu Xuan is a supporting character but still a fantastic written character. Her one note expression failed her acting, read my review below.
I just noticed the poster. So many men. Young man, old man, middle aged man. For girls, only 1 type. Young. I read the cast got Fala Chen. Where??
Why is it that Kenneth Ma consistently in every series is given such bad hairstyle? He should play a monk.
Kenneth pouts. And he pouts quite a lot in the first half of the series. That’s one of the facial expressions I remember of him in this series. The other is his suave-wannabe evil satisfied grin.
@Funn
The villains in this show don’t get a glorious death. They just die. There’s no repentance, no penance, no vengeance, no nothinance.
Actually what you said about glorious deaths and the like reminded me of Sunny Chan’s character in the end of At the Threshold of an Era I. Sorry my memory only currently brings me back to 2001. I’m sure TVB has made others since they’re on the tip of my tongue but I just can’t name them at the moment. Sorry.
But the spoilers said … well to save the suspense, read the review. It sounds dramatic.
@ Funn
Fala Chen on the left side of Liu Xiu, beside Ngok Wah.
Kidd, is that her? Doesn’t even look like her. That’s why I was looking for her, doesn’t even know THAT’s her!
Very few outstanding characters in this series. The storyline was well-written but the series was poorly executed.
I think the story would’ve done better had it not written Kenneth Ma’s character in there at all and made Ngok Wah’s character bigger to allow more character-driven plot for everybody else.
Yeah I didn’t see a purpose in Kenneth’s character myself. The series used great artist like Mak Bao but he didn’t do anything in the series.
I feel bad for saying this because I really like Kenneth but I have to agree, Kenneth’s acting in this series is ott and weaker than his acting in A Fistful of Stances. I liked him a lot in AFOS.
Woops. when i say ‘done’ i mean ‘executed’ or similar.
There are a few characters that were outstanding to me:
1. Eddie Kwan ( I hope I got his name right, fantastic acting as usual)
2. Ngok Wah
3. Dominic Lam
The rest are blehhhhhhhhhhhhhh, and I think I have right to criticize it cos I sat through the whole series.
I also sat through the whole series and my review –
Best Actors: Ngok Wah, Eddie Kwan, Dominic because their characters and their acting are dynamic.
In the middle: John Chiang, Bosco, Fala, Power Chan, Oscar Leung because their acting don’t shine well and their characters don’t really develop well,
Below average: Kenneth, Liu Xuan because both of them have fantastic characters but one is ott and exaggerated while one has one expression face .
Worst of all: Kaki Leung. She’s just a pain in the ass.
I just feel like slapping Kaki Leung in this series. She’s just that bad in her acting. I’m not lying about this.
@lol
Yay we agree on the best actors.
And I also agree that Kaki is annoying. And she supposedly studied Acting! Same batch as Wong Cho Lam.
Yeah I don’t like her either. Very plain girl
Ka Ki Leung really needs to hire a REAL acting coach…. I wont be shock if she’s at Kate Tsui’s acting level by next 2 to 3 years or so….yuck.
@Larry3
It’s so easy to be at Kate Tsui’s level of acting because Kate is a terrible actress. Kaki may join her team soon
It would be more better if she just change her name from Kaki to something else. How can anyone take anyone named Kaki Leung seriously?
@Funn,
Her name is just adapted from her Chinese name. I know there are several of artists who do that because they don’t have a proper English name. I realized, sometimes, they’re not the ones who name themselves, but TVB gave them the English name.
In the past, I’ve heard Lai Lok Yi and Ngo Ka Nin say that Chris and Pierre are not their real English names and that they don’t have one. But TVB just put one in for them.
@ Funn
Not everyone knows Bahasa Melayu.
I am not even talking about BM ver. Just normal, Kaki. As a star please for god’s sake think of a better english name before debuting!
Leung Ka Kei => Kaki Leung, what’s so bad? Her name is like Leila (Lei La is her real name) and Bowie (Bowyee).
I like the name Kaki, sounds happy.
I also don’t find anything wrong with Kaki’s “English” name since really it’s not an English name but her real name. Just the romanised version.
There are worse names out there that TVB stars choose.
Since others add ratings I want to add too. 2 points only. The series is too boring and the storyline sometimes can’t be comprehended.
Bad acting from Kaki Leung also affect me since her role is quite big
This series was so boring I sat through ten episodes just eating for Kenneth to turn evil, and I gave up this series was way to slow and the cast was kinda too big, and unrealistic in the love relationships I think…but they had pretty good characters tho, I rely liked Sam shui in the beginning as well as Fala Chens character but the rest were weird especially Bosco’s character at the beginning his acting wasn’t that good…but it should have focused more on the wife of Wong fei hung since that is what the title mentions. Eventhough he acting was also meh. Over all it had a good general idea but it took to long and wasn’t explained properly to get there…
Bosco perhaps should concentrate more on light hearted dramas rather than serious dramas because I see more negative comments for him in heavy dramas than in light hearted dramas.
Although I don’t like Bosco as a person I have to not agree with this comment. I think his acting in Grace Under Fire is one of his finest.
While I really like Kenneth as a person I think he’s quite over in this series after watching from beginning to end. He reminds me of Tavia in BTROC. At many points I think he tried too hard to make his character. Some of his bulging eyes and ott goofiness are unnecessary.
When will we have edit option? I hope Kenneth don’t follow Tavia to become ott actor once he started receiving bigger roles. Tavia isn’t a good example, Kenneth.
@Funn, no more lame comedies for Bosco please. Bosco’s brand of humor is similar to Moses’ comedy style, cute eyes, exaggerated expressions, etc. However, Moses’ delivers better in comedy than Bosco.
Would rather see Bosco develop his dramatic streak and intensity. His character is “Grace Under Fire” has a certain level of “uncontrolled beast” in him and would like to see more anger, more intensity, more passion in his acting. I would like to see him incorporate more “Alex Man” elements in his acting. 🙂
No more goofiness from Bosco please! No more wide-eyed puppy looks! No more silly comedies with Myolie Wu!
Moses and Bosco both can’t compare to the older generation of Bobby and Dayo Wong in delivering comedies. Moses is always ott and delivers the same formula for every series and Bosco is always being a puppy eyed little boy who is trying to grow up.
I hope TVB can give Myolie less roles in comedy too so that audience will realize that she can also act in heavy dramas instead of cute comedy most of the time. I’m tired of hearing comments that Myolie can only do exaggerated comedy.
The series 7 Days in Life, if TVB keep Bobby and Bowie instead of replacing them with Bosco and Steven whom obviously:
Bobby> Bosco
Bowie> Steven
Bowie> Bosco
Bobby> Steven
will the series get better ratings? I don’t even like the series that much. The story is all over the place and there are too many characters. Bosco didn’t exaggerate much in this but he’s nowehere near excellent. Steven Ma just failed to be the charismatic character that he should be.
No Jayne not lame comedies but quality ones. I don’t really mean slapstick but something like Dayo would do. Somehow in serious drama I can’t take Bosco seriously. He looks like he is acting.
But if comedy has Myolie in it I will switch off the TV. It is time TVB realises Myolie and comedy doesn’t not mix well.
Ahh Jayne, only Alex Man can do Alex Man. Anybody else and it will be OTT acting which will be excruciating to watch.
@Funn
I turn Myolie the other way around. She’s bearable in comedy ie TRB but if it’s a drama genre I’ll turn off the TV.
@Funn, Dayo’s humor is more sophisticated and sarcastic, while Moses and Bosco is more polite, controlled gag humor. Moses and Bosco are too aware of their image as actors to go all out and pursue this style of humor, if they are capable of delivering this style.
Also humor is very personal and comedians need to add their own streak of humor to liven it. It’s like us hearing a joke at a stand up comedy show and trying to tell it ourselves, it just won’t be as funny. What we are seeing from Moses and Bosco is likely a reflective of the styles they are already capable of. Can an actor being poor in comedy from the start and become a better actor in time? I think it’s really difficult because so much of their own charm and personality is injected into the joke. However, TVb thinks anyone can do comedy by writing funny lines, such as Liza Wang.that’s why so many jokes fall flat.
Stephen Chow, Dicky Cheng, and Dayo Wong change a lot of their script lines to deliver more personalized humor.
I like Johnson Lee and find his sarcasm similar to above comedians. Wayne Lai is also quite good in comedy. I like Michael Tse as well; he has a sense of dark humor.
I still think Wong Cho Lam seems to rely too much on his physical appearance for the humor factor.
Would rather see Bosco develop his dramatic streak and intensity. His character is “Grace Under Fire” has a certain level of “uncontrolled beast” in him and would like to see more anger, more intensity, more passion in his acting. I would like to see him incorporate more “Alex Man” elements in his acting.
No please dont..haha. In my opinion there’s no need for Bosco to incorporate “ALex Man” elements. Alex Man is Alex Man and Bosco is Bosco. They have distinct styles as of now.
I think Bosco should just polish what he has right now and overcome his shortcomings(HK lazy speech, pouty lips, immature persona..). I must confess that I started to like Bosco not from his comical serials, but instead from his more serious work(Life Made Simple, Dicey Business, Find the Light).
He may not be fitting for your cup of tea now and many others’ cup of tea, but since it’s his style now that attracts his current fans, I don’t see why he need to change. Just my 2 cents 😉
pouty lips? Why actors these days so many pouty lips?
Truth is Bosco will never be Alex Man. I find Bosco rather lacking in presence. Like many actors that I like off screen, somehow on screen I find them bland. Those who are bland off screen somehow is so dynamic on screen.
On the contrary I like Bosco’s screen presence which got me noticing him in the first part. Funn, I guess it’s up to one’s preference :). Maybe I’m just eccentric in my choices haha. I like his stage presence too in his overseas stage performances(but he’s terrible in Jade Solid Gold..weird).
Bosco has thick lips and it must be a natural habit for him to have the lips “pout”. Kate Tsui has this problem too and I like Kate’s presence too. Omg why do I always like actors with pouty lips problem? Ahaha.
I am not jumping on the Kate Tsui bandwagon. I still find her a terrible actress and also a crazy looking one.
@ Masaharu
You are not eccentric (or maybe we both are :D). I also find Bosco to have a lot of screen presence and he a lot of charisma on stage. When the Olympic 6 perform together, I notice Bosco the most because of his presence.
@ Kidd: Different to me, I noticed Kenneth the most during this performance because of his horrible dance move
Alex Man, Chow Yun Fat and Stephen Chow are a testament to how overacting should be done.
totally agree with Funn Lim. Actors who look average in real life are brilliant on screen, they can so believably transform themselves into the characters they portray that you forget they are actors. Ex Alex Man, Felix H.
While those that are likeble and carry/present themselves well in real life are rather diappointing on screen.
@Yee
I just realized did but did you just criticized John Chiang the veteran in your comment?
No?
capitalist thought punishable in communist china? maybe true, but this series is about the 20s and 30s. China wasn’t even communist at that point even though there was a faction of it… Sorry to nitpicking.
I enjoyed this series and it is underated in hk. The storyline was good but the pace was pretty slow. This series also gives wong fei hung such a bad image. Makes him seem weak and not the great legendary fighter other series portray. However I liked fala and bosco in this series. Kenneth has played many villian type roles in the past so he did a great job and has improved so much. I thougt that lau xeun was very good for her first series.
WFH is not weak, you have just been influenced by Tsui Hak’s WFH.
The series very well depicted the power of the government control over its people and the lack of ability to change that. WFH was just 1 person. To expect a man in his 50s/60s to take over Guangzhou and suppress the government is not realistic.
I just finished the series and must admit I enjoyed it at first although a rather slow start. Being a 32 episode series I did wish there was more character development and more focus on Wong Fei Hung and Mok Kwai Lan.
*POSSIBLE SPOILERS**
Bosco did a great job despite what others have said. This is probably the first time I’ve seen him in a dramatic role where he hasn’t failed at emotion. I love love the Bosco/Fala pairing, so sweet however they never really explained how Bosco fell for Fala. There were so many scenes in which I thought Bosco was still in love with MKL until Fala was kidnapped and dumped in the well with him he expressed his love for her. So random and not developed at all.
Kaki Leung really annoyed the hell out of me, bad acting and her teeth does not do her justice when she makes faces. Especially when she killed Kenneth at the end. I also agree with another commenter about how her good natured personality made it hard to believe she would be the one to kill Kenneth. I actually thought she was going to pull the gun he had in his rucksack to kill him but somehow she had a knife ready…
Liu Xuan did a great job for her first TVB role. As she said so herself, she found it hard to do emotional scenes when her Cantonese was not perfect. Partly TVB’s fault for rushing her into a role and not preparing her for the Cantonese dialogue. I find when someone is dubbed you always lose emotion anyway.
Overall, I watched it to the end and did find it boring but enjoyed the characters and also think that way too many people died at the end too.
@Cinsin, No the love between Ah Long and Ah Fa wasn’t really random. The purpose of the little orphaned 9-year-old girl was to show the more feminine/maternal side of Ah Fa. Ah Long fell in love with that Ah Fa. His love for Ah Fa grew when the girl placed both of their hands together wishing they could be her parents instead.
The audience has repeatedly love the exaggerated OTT acting for antagonist. There are two types of artist in Hong Kong, those who can act and those who can’t. The ones that can act, reads the script and places his/her own vision. Those who can’t act, reads the script and copies other’s vision that are well received.
Kenneth Ma is number 2. He’s a copy cat, one of the more bearable copy-cats but still a copy cat.
I like Kenneth Ma, i just don’t see him excelling in acting. He’s an obedient boy – perfect for TVB. the end.
Copy cat of who?
copying the expression of previously accepted antagonist roles, i.e. tavia yeung, susan kwan, 心姐 。。 it worked for that series but not for this one…
i’m so sick of seeing the same method that worked before and placed on other series and hoping i will work too.
But you can’t be totally different from such expressions if the characters are basically similar, except maybe change the sneer a little? It is an unconscious act perhaps to incorporate what your idol did. Which is why we don’t see breakthrough performance and may I stress I didn’t think Tavia was that great in BTROC for the simple fact is her sneers were too obvious. I want subtlety. Everyone should learn from Roger Kwok in.. what’s that series where Kevin spent 99% shouting his voice hoarse?
I may not finish this series yet Tavia Yeung the Kam Ling overacted. It doesnt worked for you but maybe it worked for others. TVB scoop reported that viewers are pleased with Kenneth’s ending that means his villain role rocked since viewers hate him.
@Funn
This time i agree with your post. @pandamao how can the expression be different if the character basically feel the same rage and same hatred and evilness? You can’t accuse Kenneth of copying.
@Viviene
Every tvb series uses the same evil depiction. It’s like they went to acting school to copy one another on how to portray these characters.
Tavia was a copy-cat. In no way do I feel like she was great in that retarded series.
@pandamao
I’ll comment after I finished this series but you can’t blame the actors alone too. It might be that the script is written the same way
@viv
yeah let me know your reactions… the series wasn’t bad if u pay attention to the supporting stars.
He looks like a creepy perv in the second picture.
Never liked his acting, it’s stiff.
@pandamao
I’m sure Kenneth Ma copied Shek Kin (石堅) with all the villain expressions. Classic.
Shek Kin worked back then, can’t say for now though.
Grace Under Fire is a fantastic show!
Do you work for TVB? 😛 joking.
She is a pure fan
I hope she’s not someone who help Lau Chi Wah or Choy Ting Ting writing the script
Or she might be related to Kenneth Ma in some way. And fan relations don’t count.
How about a sarcasm?
Actually now that I read it again and again, and again, it does sound a lot like sarcasm. Yes it must be sarcasm then. I’m convinced Mimi is on our side. Yes you included Fox.
(I have to stop disguising my thoughts :P)
I support TVB that produces wonderful series that has BBQ party scene at the very end of each series.
Truth is I am looking forward to this, also to that one with Sammul as Cheng Ho until I saw the trailer. But Joe Ma looks good, I haven’t been excited to watch him since forever until this one.
Anyway the truth is AFOS had one of the best trailers and from what little I saw, this series Grace Under Fire has a good trailer, looks like an expensive production in terms of costume and cinematography (something which AFOS excelled in) but I don’t like Bosco in dramatic roles. He always look pissed when in drama. But I am curious how two naturally goofy actors are in a very “drama” drama series.
Side Note: Joe Ma is hot in the current tvb series.
He needs to stay in ancient series!!!
Its the first time I’m seeing screen presence from Joe Ma.
@Funn Lim,
Both Moses and Bosco were in dramatic roles for The Gems of Life. Bosco had too much of the pout lips that @Masaharu described. Moses had his quirky voice.
@Funn
You don’t like Bosco too? I recently watch Every Move You Make and want to punch him for making his face look so arrogant and acting like a smarthead.
I like him except I don’t like him in characters I know he is incapable of giving justice to.
There are 10 characters in the poster, they are like the “main” characters in the series…. and 6 of them died, leaving only 4 of them still alive by the end of the show. I think too much people died in the show. WTF. Reminds me of a Shakespeare play.
Completely agree, but hey with every TVB series that has a villain involved, half the cast is bound to disappear by the end the series.
Watching Wong Fei Hong and learning from book can master a kung fu. I can do that also by watching Ip-Man, Bruce Lee showing their skill’s. Fro the Yau Sam Sui, an idoit in the begining and became a super villian? It dont add up. Please be more realistic
I just think that it was so stupid how much Yau Sam Sui wanted to learn kung fu and even became Kang’s disciple yet he never made a kung fu move in the whole series…
Not to mention he ends up with guns near the end. So much for a kung fu series.
Yea, I think it is strange that Yau Sam Sui never had any kung fu moves in the series. He was instead always being beat up and then just resorted to using guns.
Back in the days, my family and I would only watch ancient series. Whenever we saw a series that was was supposed to be ancient but had guns in them, we would wonder what was wrong?? It just seemed like it was not a true ancient series due to the guns…
Who wrote the script? Someone we know?
Executive Producer:
Lo Wing Yin
(Produced in: Always Ready, Burning Flame, Split Second, To Grow With Love)
Scriptwriters:
Lau Chi Wah and Choy Ting Ting
Lau Chi Wah series:
2001: A Taste Of Love, Law Enforcers
2002: A Herbalist Affair, Doomed to Oblivion (aired in 2007 “was a warehoused series”)
2003: Ups and Downs in the Sea of Love, Aqua Heroes, Greed Mask (aired in 2006 “was a warehoused series”)
2004: To Get Unstuck In Time, The Last Breakthrough
2005: The Gateau Affairs
2006: A Pillow Case of Mystery, Love Guaranteed
2007: The Family Link, Men Don’t Cry
2008: The Money-Maker Recipe, The Four
2010: Sisters Of Pearl, A Pillow Case of Mystery II, Beauty Knows No Pain, Home Troopers
2011: Grace Under Fire
Tessa Choy Ting Ting TVB series:
1999: Happy Ever After, Face to Face, Witness to a Prosecution, Road to Eternity
2000: Ups and Downs, FM701 Broadcast Life
2001: On The Track or Off
2002: Burning Flame II, Slim Chances, The King Of Yesterday And Tomorrow
2003: To Catch The Uncatchable, Seed of Hope
2003-2005: Virtues of Harmony II
2004: Hard Fate
2005: Always Ready, Healing Hearts III
2006: Forensic Heroes
2006-2007: Welcome To The House
2008: Last One Standing, Forensic Heroes II
2009: Beyond The Realm Of Conscience, The Threshold Of A Persona
2010: A Watchdog’s Tale
2011: Only You
Future: Forensic Heroes III
She also wrote ATV series in early 1990s and movies like in 1992 movie “All’s Well Ends Well”
Marco Law or Lo Wing Yin work: most of it are crap to watch.
1999: Dragon Love
2000: The Threat of Love
2003: The Threat of Love II, Life Begins At Forty
2004: Angels of Mission, Split Second
2005: Always Ready
2006: Welcome to the House, At Home With Love
2007: The Building Blocks of Life
2009: The Threshold Of A Persona
2010: Twilight Investigation
2011: A Great Way To Care (2009), Grace Under Fire
Future: “拳王”
Among Marco’s, I like Loving you (1st season) the most.
Burning Flame was such a classic! So each got good and bad.
Who produced Journey To The West?
Journey To The West (1996)
Executive Producer: Liu Shih Yu (劉仕裕)
Director:
1980: 千王之王 [The Shell Game]
1982: 萬水千山總是情 [Love and Passion]; 蘇乞兒 [The Legend of Master So]
1983: 射鵰英雄傳 [The Legend of The Condor Heroes]
1984: 鹿鼎記 [The Duke of Mount Deer]
Producer:
1986: 愛情全盒 [Next Year Next Skin]; 英雄故事 [Turn Around and Die]
1987: 大運河 [The Grand Canal]
1991: 怒海孤鴻 [Drifters],命運快車 [Beyond Trust]
1992: 火玫瑰 [Vengeance]
1994: 新重案傳真 [Crime and Passion]
1995: 情濃大地 [Plain Love]
1996: 西遊記 [Journey To The West], 聊齋 [Dark Tales]
1997: 聊齋（貳） [Dark Tales II]
1998: 西遊記（貳） [Journey To The West II]
1999: 茶是故鄉濃 [Plain Love II]
2000: 酒是故鄉醇 [Country Spirit]
2001: 封神榜 [Gods Of Honour]
2002: 紅衣手記 [The White Flame] (Warehoused series, aired in 2007 TVB Jade channel @ 3 am.)
He did some movie directing in early 80s and 90s and 2000s.
He left TVB in 2002, for good… He’s produced some Chinese series after that….
—————————————–
Scriptwriters… 6
葉廣蔭,鍾 澄, 鍾若詩, 丁 森, 蘇志偉, 梁笑恩
Thanks for the info Larry 3. However, I don’t think that you should stereotype that all works by the same executive producer are bad. There is good and bad from everyone and everything…
Liu Shih Yu seems to have the best resume. All his series are either hits or classics.
Jayne, I add my personal thoughts here..hehe~
SPOILERS ALERT!!!
Grace Under Fire is marketed as a real kungfu drama featuring a legendary female martial artist as the backbone; this alone sparks interest to many women and kungfu lovers. However the screenplay and direction took another turn and was so BAD that it fails to deliver and the end results is just another TVB incongrous soap opera.
Plot, theme direction and screenplay:
The Chinese title for this series is – literally translated as Female Fist. The costume fitting clearly stated that the series focal point will be Mok Kwai Lan; Wong Fei Hung‘s fourth wife. All preceding promotion and marketing stunts are focused on China’s former national gymnast Liu Xuan who played Mok. Yet in truth the main plot is not about Mok, instead the screenwriters just took out cliches from past TVB serials and crushed here. Mok only get to display more action skills between episode 30-32(or episode 30 in HK which lasted 2 hours and 45 min approx.).
The screenplay is incongrous and flowed badly. I reserve some opinion that many scenes have been cut to fit the 32 episodes, but that just means the editing department is doing a lousy job at editing. There was one scene where Mok and Lui Ching Lung is practicing martial arts using some poles, and the scene only lasted 2 seconds(what??)before abruptly cut just when I was trying to pay attention. The series has a bad flow in screenplayand editing.
Choreography and Action:
Since TVB marketed this series as a “martial arts drama” I will put some attention on this part. Some posters have pointed out that even the kungfu masters in this series look weak. I share the same opinion too. True, we can’t expect a lot form TVB John Chiang and Dominic Lam have aged but when Kenny Wong and Sin Ho Ying don’t deliver much too, I began to question whether it’s the weakness of the choreographer.
Characters:
No characters really “wow-ed” me since the screenplay is lousy, not even the main protagonist Mok. Some characters undergo too much development while some others develop “behind the scene” and these elements contribute to the incongruousness of the story. It’s unnecessary to show every bit of Yau Sam Shui‘s idiotic moves and everyday abuse that much. There’s also Lui Gong whose changes are all over the place, although Master Lui is undeniably one of the more entertaining character. What about the other main characters Mok, Ah Lung and Kwai Fa? Mok’s character is allocated much screentime, but in the beginning of the series she doesn’t have much to do and only serves as side character to Sam Shui. Ah Lung is a “soy-sauce” character and has little development and little involvement with the central plot. Kwai Fa is a vase for the most part, until she gets more involved near the end of the series.
Among the supporting characters, the more prominent are Mok Ping(Gordon Liu), Chui Hing Tou(Eddie Kwan), Tong Yik Hang(Ngok Wah) and Wong Hon Bong(Power Chan).
Acting:
The acting are decent for the most part, but appear mediocre because of the weak screenplay.
Liu Xuan did a decent job as Mok Kwai Lan(considering this is her TVB debut) based on her expressions alone since I can’t judge her speech. She has good screen presence although she is small. Her moves are pretty fluid but I wished she was given more kungfu scenes to do. I appreciate that she did most of the fightings by herself. If this is her HK career launcher, I think she needs to thank the promotional and marketing team more than the screenwriter.
Bosco Wong did a decent job too as Lui Ching Lung and I agree with a poster here that this is one of his finest work to date. He acts with nuances and showed better grasp in drama compared to his previous serials, he also is capable of showing emotions in his eyes. The part where Ah Lung pounded the table in exasperation is one of his better scenes. I also appreciate his effort for doing most of the fights by himself and he moves decently for an actor without martial arts background.
Kenneth Ma‘s acting here is not my cup of tea. Yau Sham Shui is pure evil and some of the “evil” deeds he did in this drama are enjoyable to watch, but to me is enjoyable for another reason. I don’t blame Kenneth entirely for not capturing my attention since the screenplay needs to be responsible too for making Sam Shui an “idiotic fool” with low IQ in the beginning and changed into an entire different “scheming smart guy” with high IQ Sam Shui in the later part. I can’t see them as the same person. Kenneth does play around with the classic TVB-villain-expressions but without much nuance and only relying on dramatic actions and expressions, that’s why he’s not my cup of tea here. However if this is a “comedy” I may rate his performance higher in my book because I found him unintentionally ‘amusing’.
Fala Chen did a decent work with what she’s given as the “vase” Kwai Fa. Her beauty is one of her strong points since she looks remarkable in the period clothings and simple make up. Braids suits her too. Fala has gotten better control in her emotional scenes. One of her notable scene is her connection with the little girl. I did like the chemistry between Fala and Bosco although the spark only lasts for a few episodes. They had little of it during the beginning, thanks to the incongruous plot.
John Chiang may seem “mehs” to some but his acting is my cup of tea. This is an actor who understands how to act with nuances and depth without doing too much. I enjoyed his chemistry with his son Raymond Wong, Mok Kwai Lan, and Ah Lung. Dominic Lam is faced by Lui Gong’s absurd changes, but he is a solid performer. I appreciate both of the veterans’ effort in Lui Gong and Fei Hung’s fighting scene in episode 23.
Eddie Kwan and Ngok Wah are solid as the villains. Special mention goes to Power Chan for his acting as a mentally challenged person. He did not shadowing Roger Kwok’s Ah Wong or Pierre Ngo’s over-acting method in The Rippling Blossoms. Oscar Leung is adorable and funny as “Monkey” Siu Hao. Leung Ka Kei‘s weakness is striking among the sea of more experienced actors and she’s burdened with a weak character.
Final Verdict:
All in all, Grace Under Fire has a potential to be a good drama had the theme direction didn’t lose focus and divert from the “marketed” theme. A biography for female fighter Mok Kwai Lan would’ve made the drama more substantial and meaningful than a recycled mess of TVB political dramas.
Can Dominic Lam do kung fu for real?
Just look at it as aerobics. The idea of John Chiang as Wong Fei Hung is already wrong. Don’t get me wrong; he played honourable characters from his amazing career BUT he ain’t Wong Fei Hung.
John Chiang’s acting is okay but he’s the weakest Wong Fei Hung I’ve ever seen!
I suspect it started out as Mok Kwai Lan story but somehow due to some internal wrangling it became a story which is by the way also about Mok Kwai Lan.
Minor comment- Mok Ping is played by Law Lok Lam (羅樂林) not Gordon Liu.
Who is Sin Ho Ying? I assume from this review that he practice martial arts in real life? but what role did he play?
wait is he one of the two contestants in the last episode?
Yes, he’s the guy that played the Japanese guy that was in the final fight with Liu Xuan and lost-the one with the twitching eyes.
I get it. He’s the big Jap guy with the mean face. He’s quite huge but I didn’t know that he’s a real martial artist. His stances are so so. TVB make it so obvious that the 2 competitors are middle age men with mean faces and make Liu Xuan and Bosco look like innocent little boy and girl in comparison.
@Masaharu,
Thanks for your lengthy and insightful review. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it although I did not get a chance to complete the series.
Personally, I think Wong Fei Hung is such an overdone theme in series and films. Mention WFH and everyone expects specular fights thanks to Jet Li raising the bar.
Like you pointed out, the plot had structural loopholes in which it did not create situations for Liu Xuan to showcase her athletic abilities. I think it would be better if TVB filmed a series about Wing Chun, who founded the martial arts of the same name instead.
Jayne, yeah the plot didn’t give Liu Xuan enough room for her agility showcase; her final fight against the Japanese master is lacklustre and it’s not shown how Mok can upgrade her skills overnight. I can forgive the weak choreography if the plot is strong, but both are weak.
The serial over-developed Yau Sam Shui(Kenneth’s character) over the first 10-15 episodes – I believe that’s why a poster above mention that this series screentime is eaten up by Kenneth Ma. At the same time the other characters such as Mok Kwai Lan(Liu Xuan) doesn’t have much to do even when she’s onscreen, while Ah Long(Bosco) and Kwai Fa(Fala) doesn’t have much screentime and are almost disconnected from the main plot. No kidding, the scriptwriting department headed by Lau Chi Wah shove out a total mess in this series.
My ratings: 2.5 over 5
Thanks for the reviews! I enjoyed watching this series but like what most series, some parts were dull.
I know this may be a little off topic, but am I the only one who can’t stand Leung Ka Ki (梁嘉琪)’s acting? The actress who played Tong Yuet-hang (唐乙恆)’s daughter?
I mentioned that I didn’t like her. Not many people do since her debut in EU. She hasn’t been in many TVB series since she graduated from the acting school. I think she hosts a few shows. Maybe that’s where TVB wants to keep her.
It was weird seeing her play a bit role in Burning Flame 3 (or something around that time) after she was like part-lead in EU. Yea, her acting has a long way to go.
I’ve said above that she’s the worst acting in this series.
I don’t find Ka Ki pretty at all, but she does have very beautiful skin.
Yea, I also did not like her acting but the character was ok at times. The part where she stabbed Kenneth’s character was really annoying… Her acting needs a lot of work…
Hey is it just me or does Liu Xuan’s nose kinda looks well… I don’t know… It kinda stands out to be whenever I see her closeup… like… it doesn’t really belong to her… sorta… kinda… if you get what I mean…
her nose is too big for her face. a smaller nose will make her prettier.
Her nose is the least attractive part of her face, but this imperfection makes her face real, if you know what I mean. It’s great that she hasn’t wanted to artificially enhance it.
I think her very attractive face shape balances out the incongruity of her nose.
Completely agree that close-ups probably don’t do her justice. However like a previous poster, it does make her more genuine. I guess if she did enhance it in any way. We would all know as she has been in the eye of the media since she was a young gymnast.
I still think she’s very pretty with make-up especially around the eyes. I saw old pics of her back in her gymnast days and her eyes were probably the most unattractive feature but the eye make-up has helped.
Many people look pretty with eye makeup and become unattractive once the eye makeup is removed. We should try remove all the eye makeup of TVB actresses now. Myolie, Tavia especially wear heavy eye makeup.
Not really eye makeup but rather eyeliner, fake lashes. Fake lashes does wonders don’t they?
fake lashes and eyeliner is the secret!! Their eyes always look big with thick and long lashes
Cinsin, you’re right about Liu Xuan’s eyes being much more beautiful with eye makeup – she had less eye makeup in episode one after which her eye makeup was more lavish and she looked better. And it’s also true that fake eyelashes do open up the whole eye area.
Eyeliner only makes the eyes look bigger, Funn and Vivien, if the eye’s not too small to begin with; lighter colours are more attractive, especially if eyes look tired.
I wore mostly brown/pink eyeshadow for awhile, no other eye makeup, but then got too lazy and decided that natural was best since eye colour accentuates tiredness..or maybe it’s because I didn’t know how to apply eye makeup in the first place 😉
You are right Vivien. I once saw the Hey girls group member, Mei Mei, without any make up and could not believe it. I used to think that she was one of the prettiest in their group. But without makeup, she was one of the worse looking.
Don’t people wear contact lenses to make their eyes bigger as well? I just saw my cousins wear fake lashes, contact lenses and eyeliner and their eyes looked a lot bigger. However, they looked fake as well..
I think her nose is ok. At least it is natural.
Can anyone tell me roughly in wish episode Jacky Heung appear? His wikipedia page said that he’s in this series. Last time I check, he’s only listed as Mok Kwan Lan’s opponent. So, is he just some nameless tournament participant?
Jacky is in this series?!
Funn, I check further liao. It seems wikipedia info is incorrect.
Maybe he was casted earlier but end up not in the final cast list, or his scene edited out liao.
Jacky Heung is defintely not in this series cos I watched it from start to end.
I don’t remember seeing him at all in the series o__O I think I would remember his bad cantonese
I just saw the whole series and did not see Jacky Heung at all. I think maybe he was supposed to be in it originally, but then had other things to do.
@HTS, Lol, when I read this I thought you were confused this series with A Fistful of Stances. I didn’t hear that Jacky Heung was going to be in here and I’m glad he’s not.
I suppose it would be fair to say that I did sort of enjoy this drama but still not as good as the one with Wayne Lai in. He won best actor award for it last year. Sorry I can’t remember name of it. Now with Grace Under Fire, I did like John Chiang but agree with lol here that he was a pretty weak Wong Fei Hung. I prefer him in other roles. I am sorry to say that I did not like his screen wife and my criticism for her is that she was too plain and short for the role. Her fight scenes were ok but I also did not like the dubbing and would have preferred a much taller and slightly older female. I read somewhere in the critics that the “supposed romance” between him and her was so wishy washy so to speak. I quite agree and it just seemed too quick and not in depth. It just did not seem convincing that they were totally in love despite their age difference. I would have preferred to see her pairing off with that child stealer who became good in the end. I honestly thought that they would end up together and disappointed that they didn’t. Although I have always been a Bosco fan, I was totally disappointed this time. He didn’t seem very strong in the role. The one I really liked was Dominic Lam who is a great actor anyway. Fala Chen was so-so but I actually liked her better in the other drama with Wayne Lai (the one which he got best actor in last year). I give this drama 3 stars out of 5.
In this series Dominic’s acting is better than John Chiang mostly because John is ill-fitted for his character and made him weak.
I think Fala was overrated for her performance in No Regrets and her win looks rigged. I think she was so-so although the series overall is very well written.
I agree. I was actually rooting for Elena Kong to win.
So true Fala Chen is so so so overrated. Why is TVB promoting her so much. Geez!!!!
Pineapple: There was no chance of MKL and Siu Hou hooking up in the series because it’s meant to be based on real life events. MKL marries WFH and she never remarries…
Also Liu Xuan is 32 years old in real life, but obviously does not look it because of her petite size. Technically she plays an 18 year old in the series which is true to history that she marries WFH when she’s 19. So an older looking woman wouldn’t have looked right in the role.
Well who said that TVB’s series were accurate to history? They change history so much sometimes that some refuse to watch their series.
John Chiang is weak in this series as Wong Fei Hung maybe because of age caught up to him or he’s just not suitable for this.
Even when he was young I never could see him as Wong Fei Hung.
Personally I grew up with watching Jet Li in the Once Upon a Time series and he has always set the bar quite high as WFH. I’m sure we all have our own opinion as to how WFH should be portrayed.
I also read somewhere that WFH in this series is meant to be more placid and John Chiang actually requested to have fight scenes because he believed that in real life WFH would be still be quite active at that age.
I don’t think it is age. I think it he is just not fit for the character.
I didn’t like this TVB series much even though I love watching Kung Fu shows but I watched it anyways because of Liu Xuan’s performance as Mok Gwai Lan it was really good. I think she did a great job as a new actress.
yea this drama is pretty cliche on the surface, but with careful understanding and patience it is overall a good drama.
the thing with history based films, kung fu films, war films, is that they try to promote nationalistic pride. and that is not something i see a lot in chinese citizens over here in america, nor do i see a lot of it in chinese media (other than game events, new years day).
in the words of jackie chan, ‘Chinese culture is a very valuable and amazing culture. Everyone knows this, only we the Chinese don’t know this.’
I pretty much gave up on this show after… 8 episodes. It wasn’t getting anywhere.
It’s not your fault. It’s a bad series and I don’t recommend anyone watching this. The Wong Fei Hung here is weak and made Dominic look more powerful. It’s also excruciating for me who’s neutral for Kenneth because he has a promising role and more time on screen than others but he’s acting ott.
it really is not your fault
Speaking of Nic Tse, he recently has a martial-arts drama with Yuen Biao – if I’m not mistaken. Has anyone caught it?
I’m pretty sure this drama has 32 episodes and not 20(Listed above)
I don’t know what some people are talking about but this is now one of my favorite dramas ever! Bosco and Fala were so cute! <3
I like Bosco & Falan in this series.
Liu Xuan is so wooden in expression & a little too petite. Especially for the scene where she has to compete with a very big guy,teh whole scene looks unbalance & odd. They should get a smaller guy to fight opp. her!