The movie has been met with mixed reception, leaning more on the negatives than the positives. The major criticism of this particular movie adaptation is toward the faithfulness of it being based on a very long and classic novel. Another big criticism is aimed at certain lead performers portraying essential characters in the novel. But is the movie actually good given its' source material being materialized? Does Donnie Yen, as both lead actor and director, do justice for Jin Yong’s famous Chinese novel? As a non-fan nor being familiar with "Demi-Gods & Semi-Devils", I can't answer that. But as a stand-alone movie, and for its' non-contextual story coherence I think Donnie does a good job serving us viewers with just the appropriate proportions.

Doing movie adaptations of stories of varying forms such as books, video games, TV shows etc. is such a hard thing to do under the cinematic platform. There's so many considerations to take into account in order to make one form into another as good as possible. But unfortunately, like arguably the majority of movie adaptations, compromises and sacrifices have to be made to fit the most important content into a movie. Donnie knew very well that he made this movie for his action movie fanbase so I bet he didn't feature a vast of other characters and certain events from the novel. As I said, I'm not good at all with the novel so I'm just taking the movie for what it is. The characters' names can be a bit confusing and makes you question who's who, and the purpose of these characters. But one thing is for certain: The movie deals a lot with themes of double-crossing, justice, betrayal, loyalty, self-righteousness, vengeance, and redemption. It's the usual ingredients found in classic wu xia movies, so there's nothing new going on here. The overall acting is nothing remarkable but it's serviceable enough to keep viewers interested to see through everything till the end.

My first prediction after seeing the very first trailer of the movie was that the action style would be similar to Donnie Yen's previous action choreography work on similar movies such as DRAGON TIGER GATE, 14 BLADES -- Donnie did some uncredited action choreography work -- , THE LOST BLADESMAN, and WU XIA. My expectations were met but yet it still exceeded them in many ways. Overall, the work he put here really attracts and the result is something else. Not just in comparison to his previous wu xia movies. I would also say in general within the whole wu xia genre. It's a mixture of everything. Everything with his own stamp on it, his personal take on what defines a wu xia world and its' characters. The way he and his co-players -- credits to Wu Yue, veteran action performer-turned director Tsui Siu-Ming in a wonderful guest appearance fighting Donnie Yen, and Cya Liu -- perform isn't your typical floaty and flashy wu xia-style fight scenes either. It showcases power, intensity, speed, and agility in very authentic ways. The Donnie Yen wu xia-style of action filmmaking. The wu xia genre isn't without the supernatural elements, and this movie is no exception having all of that. But as a whole, the action scenes kept things as grounded as possible, which is something rare today because grounded wu xia action scenes were more common in the late 1960s and 1970s. And with Donnie and his team behind the action choreography, things couldn't have been better. The mere feel of watching real physical skills being executed without being overtaken by the typical wu xia traits such as wirework and CGI too often is just fresh and a daring attempt to change and start anew. I wish more Hong Kong action filmmakers today would be like this, and start a reemergence in authentic MA skills done in periodic action movies.

Wu xia isn't usually a sub-genre I prefer watching -- I've seen a lot though, especially 1990s wu xia movies -- and I'm honestly not familiar with the source material the movie is based on. But I'll be glad to say that the movie will please many wu xia movie fans, and will absolutely be thrilled by the captivating and inventive action scenes staged by Donnie Yen. This is yet another movie where Donnie is making a mark in terms of raising the bar in Hong Kong (and in general) action choreography. Whatever the movie he will lead star and action direct next, I'll easily look forward to. So my verdict of the movie: It's far from a masterpiece in Donnie's filmography. But it's definitely above-average, and something to be recommended to those that love seeing Donnie let loose in fight scenes, or those needing their wu xia movie fixes.