GwydionMW

It started out as a decent revenge thriller. But I got increasingly irritated by two things:

1) A mediocre professional fighter suddenly becomes invincible.

2) He has no coherent alternative to what he sets out to destroy. It is even said that the Chief of Police has achieved a low crime rate.

It is a mindless rage at what exists, but showing n interest in any of the possible alternatives.

In as far as it has an answer, it wants us to take the mythology seriously. But even that is not consistent.

Really, what was the point of it supposed to be?

As silly as Slumdog Millionaire, where the lad gets miraculous luck for no good reason. But that at least did not encourage futile types of violence.

In the famous book, Verne left it open what nationality Nemo was, and who he had a feud with. And suggested in a letter he might be a Pole with a vendetta against Tsarist Russia.

But a later book, 'The Mysterious Island', He is stated to be an Indian prince who was dispossessed by the British Empire. So the TV series is entirely consistent with what the author intended.

As an adventure story, I found it decent, though full of improbable ideas. Each character is distinct and they cover a wide range of possibilities. And fights with monsters and with other humans are interesting.

Well worth watching.

The film has truly wonderful visuals. Amazing landscapes, but also the filming makes the best of them.

But I was immensely irritated by the slow incomplete English subtitles. Cheap little fantasy or kung-fu movies do a much better job.

Much of the time, there was a subtitle in Chinese ideograms, but no clue to the context for an English-speaker. And more than half the world does not no Chinese or Indian languages. An amazing failing.

When there was something in English, it often seemed to pop up well after the events it related to.

A silly waste for a high-budget film with some noted actors.

If anyone decides to re-do it and have a proper version that might be popular outside of China and India, it would be good to give more context. We do get the bad translations explained, but people would wonder why Tang China is not letting people travel.

They also need to be told that this was before the rise of Islam, so a mix of Buddhism and Hinduism was the norm on the path the man followed.

Looking more widely, I noticed that when the man gets a follower, he has this servant carry his pack. Buddhism when institutionalised tends to be as bad as Christianity at rendering practical service to oppression.

Likewise I was unimpressed by an admired guru sitting well above everyone else, assembled to admire them. Not what I'd see as holiness.

I did see it as an excellent rendering of some interesting cultures. Which is why the sloppy English subtitles. And why I still give it a decent mark.