The Yin-Yang Master: Dream Of Eternity Movie Review: An action-fantasy drama not worth a second watch

The story begins with young Qingming attending a heavenly ceremony on his master’s order and trying to perfect the protection spell. Years pass and now, Master Qingming has to go to the Imperial City as the demonic serpent is waking up from its 300-year slumber and has already killed Qingming’s master. Now, it is Qingming who has to go to Imperial City to ensure that all the four masters put the serpent to rest. However, many mysteries start to unravel once he reaches the palace. Along with warrior BoYa (Allen Deng), Longye (Jessie Li) and Master He Shou Ye (Wang Duo), he begins to solve the mysteries of the palace. However, BoYa and Qingming’s first meeting goes awry, because of which the former is suspicious of Qingming when a murderous spirit is detected within the palace followed by the news of the death of Master Hongruo. Now, the challenge for the Yin-Yang Master Qingming is to find out a host in whom the serpent is resting. After Master Hongruo’s death, everyone’s a suspect.Adapted from Japanese author Baku Yumemakura’s series of Onmyoji novels, The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity is quite a sleek flick when it comes to choreographed stunt sequences, music, flowing costumes and fabulous sets. Also, the unmissable CGI effects make it a thorough visual treat. However, that’s also a bit of a drawback, as the visuals take away from the story and you have to pause and re-watch scenes just to understand the correlations between every character. Directed by Guo Jingming, watching The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity feels like watching Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee. And how can we not mention that the action scenes are highly influenced by Doctor Strange? Rumours are rife that the movie was pulled down from many Chinese cinemas recently amid a plagiarism scandal involving the filmmaker. However, with so much going for Guo, had he worked a bit on the runtime and made the story crisper, this action fantasy movie would certainly be more than a one-time watch.