Worth the Spark? Burning Flames Review

Hooked!!! Hooked!!! Hooked! From the very first 10 minutes of Burning Flames, I was Hooked. I jumped on this drama while waiting for new episodes of The Legend Of Shen Li and I just couldn’t stop watching it.

Impressions

As always the drama opened up with a brief introduction to the root of the storyline. The story of how Hei Long eliminated the ancient immortals and created a new immortal realm. This new immortal realm is evil, they don’t treat mortals as humans.

I found this interesting cos first, it’s rare seeing the immortal being evil. I mean, immortals are always hypocrites in most dramas and in Burning Flames, they just give us an image of how messy it can be if immortals were evil. It’s not the usual “immortals are helping mortals to get rid of demons”. This is something new, humans against evil immortals. Secondly, mortals are given a spotlight to showcase their powers.

This can be seen when the King of Xin destroyed an edict from Hei Long (The King of Immortals) presented by XuanChai as he was tired of being a slave to the immortals. Then war between state of Xin and Immortals began. From this point, you might say “Oh, what’s the point of humans fighting immortals when we know who will win”. This is exactly what I thought but then the mortals surprised the immortals, I won’t tell you who won.

Remember, it’s all happening in the first three episodes. In these three episodes, they offered impressive scenes that we normally get at the end of the drama. The battle between Xin King and The King of Immortals Hei Long was something you’d expect at the end. Also with the immortals coming down to the mortal world as if it was an end game scene… I’m impressed!

Then there’s the story of Wu Geng, the son of Xin King. I won’t say much about his mother because I might drop a spoiler. His story was unpredictable until the battle began and put all the puzzles together. So Wu Geng ended up losing his parents because of the battle and he had to take the identity of Gou to survive and possibly save the mortals. To do that, he has to pretend to be Gou and live his life. Gou had a friend called Bai Cai, who’s suspicious of this new Gou but she plays along.

Another interesting story is this one of the prophecy which is a ‘nightmare’ to Hei Long. It is said that there will a mortal who will be a God of war and defeat Hei Long. Hei Long is always on the lookout for this mortal.

God Of War? Not So Believable

It’s no secret that this story is about a God of war from the human race who will unite all realms. I have witnessed the journeys Wu Geng took and challenges he faced along the way. I wanted more from this character because of the way they built him up.

They always say Wu Geng is the only one who can defeat Hei Long. I believed it first but I started doubting it when he got “stronger”. There’s nothing special about Wu Geng to be honest. They keep referring him as the child of the prophecy and the one to reunite all realms but they failed to prove it. Why am I saying there’s nothing special about him?

Firstly, Wu Geng is weak to be Hei Long’s opponent. From the very first episode, Wu Geng was weak and protected. His entire journey was too smooth as if someone paved the way for him. He never met a real challenge that would make him fit to challenge Hei Long.

He fought most of the Immortals and he never managed to get a clean win on them. How is he fit to fight Hei Long who is 1000x more powerful than those immortals? One of the sages gave a clear comparison of Hei Long’s powers and Wu Geng’s power. He was right, and I expected to see Wu Geng improve but he never did.

Secondly, Wu Geng only has two moves. In the entire drama, I saw Wu Geng using two moves in his fights. All he does is throw a punch, then dodge his opponent’s attacks and throws another punch when he sees an opening. Another move of his is the shield he uses to protect himself from attacks. This isn’t a good moveset for a God of war. 90% of the cast (fighters) had more moves than him. They were presented as a threat but as for Wu Geng… All he does is talk big but barely improve.

Thirdly, Wu Geng had colorless realm power which is said to be number one in the world but he struggled to fight other immortals. I’m not talking about sages, but immortals who had less power compared to sages. And you believe this guy will defeat Hei Long?

Colorless Realm Power Is No Power

All the hype about colorless real was for nothing. Hei Long did show how powerful that power is, but then Wu Geng achieved it and it lost its value. Wu Geng sees a mouse in the house, he uses the colorless realm. I’m just kidding on this one but Wu Geng did indeed overuse the colorless realm. What’s worse is he never presented that power as something that people fear.

At the beginning, this power was feared by people because only Hei Long had it and he used it to defeated Wu Geng’s father who had the power of a Phoenix (undying bird), which is second to Hei Long in terms of power. Then the power got to Wu Geng and other immortals were like “oh, he’s got that power. Now we are no match for him.” Two episodes later they’re beating him like no body’s business even with that power.

Blah blah, “I’ll use my colorless realm power” to do this and that. That line is so irritating and I would cringe every time he says that. I don’t even know how many times he said that line and nothing big happened. This power’s reputation was ruined even Hei Long didn’t use it in the last battle.

Bai Cai The Burden

I don’t know about others’ opinion of Bai Cai but I saw her as a burden. She cried in all episodes (except when she went to the immortal clan), if you don’t believe me check it out. At first, I didn’t have a problem with her and I admired her love and loyalty for Gou.

Then she became a burden after the mine plot. She was everywhere you know and she does nothing beneficial. All she does is appear in every scene crying and shouting Gou’s name a hundred times. She reminded me of these characters of female students who fall for their teachers, they always shouting “master”. It is so annoying!

Was Allen Ren Fit For The Roles?

I actually began to ask myself if Allen Ren was fit to play Wu Geng / Gou, when this Wu Geng character started training. It’s not like I’m hating on Allen Ren. I’m just not fully satisfied with his performance, it felt like something was missing. The way he tried to look serious and determined wasn’t convincing. For me, it’s a 50/50 thing regarding my satisfaction with Allen Ren’s performance.

Xu Zhengxi Has It

Favoritism aside, Retirement aside. Xu Zhengxi nailed the Hei Long character. I don’t see any problem with his character, he made Hei Long convincing. Another thing that made this character realistic, is his appearance. Hei Long only appeared in three or four episodes and you could feel his presence. You can sense other characters’ fear whenever Hei Long appears. This is why I say Xu Zhengxi has it. He’s great as a villain, he’s great as a hero.

Burning Flames Ending

Burning Flames has an open ending. I expected this kind of ending when I watched the drama. This is the overused ending in the Chinese drama world. They always take a character off screen and then the remaining characters will question their absence. This is no spoiler, it’s how every drama ends nowadays even the one you just watched ended the same way. What do I have to say about the ending?

The ending sucks and Hei Long lost because the ml was protected by the storyline. Nothing can make me believe Wu Geng stood a chance against Hei Long. Wu Geng wouldn’t even beat the Grand Elder if they fought, so how could he defeat Hei Long?

They ruined Wu Geng’s character by getting him help whenever he fought someone. Even in the last battle, he didn’t defeat any of the sages alone. He had help, then you expect him to beat the king of immortals? What a joke! Like I said in the beginning, Hei Long’s battle with Xin King is the one that should’ve been the final battle.

Conclusion on Burning Flames Review

This review is one of the longest reviews I have ever written. There are characters who were fantastic but I would be extending the review if I talked about each one of them. My favorite character has to be Gui Mu, he always cracks me up. I’m so happy to see Bambi Zhu in action again. I loved the drama, no lie. I enjoyed every minute of it and found it very suitable for people who are into gaming because of the battle scenes and costumes.

Even the story itself feels like you’re playing a game where you have to fight your way up to challenge the final boss. I highly recommend it. If you loved Wu Geng, there’s no crime in admitting he wasn’t powerful enough to defeat Hei Long. What do you think about this drama?