A Writer's Odyssey (2021) User Reviews

an easy-to-watch movie with plenty of astonishing visual effects

[ElephantChaser · 7/10 · 4 March 2021]

I like the overall setting of the story very much, which mixes the imaginary world of the book and the real world of the writer pretty well. In several flashes of moments, the scene switches between these two worlds, and I could not even tell which one is real, which one is imaginary. The cinematography of the city of Chongqing also helped a lot on developing this blurriness of the two worlds.

What I felt a bit unsatisfied is the lack of surprises in the development of the plot and the characters: the only twist occurs on the heroin, a non-essential character of the film. The two heros are just consistent and flat from the beginning to the end. In this regard, it has wasted the good setting of the story.

Overall, it is an easy-to-watch movie with plenty of astonishing visual effects.

An intriguing concept let down by its storyline and over reliance on CGI.

[pcummins-91996 · 6/10 · 17 February 2021]

I managed to grab a viewing of this as the storyline seemed interesting that a writer could be able to influence the real world and potentially have links to the story world that was created.

There is much that can be commended, which is mostly the creativity and work that had gone into set design and costumes in the story world along with the soundtrack by Jed Kurzel, with clearly significant work done to make each area stand out. There are clear highlights of creativity that definitely show that what China is capable of producing is on par with USA.

Unfortunately, the entire movie is let down with its storyline, which apparently had 4 screenwriters. Interesting elements are brought up and then dropped or never adequately explained, characters seem fairly bland and one dimensional with occasional hints of depth that is not able to be fully explored. I would say this is from trying to fit two linked stories into one movie, which naturally limits screen time for both.

The inevitable final boss fight is the prevalent over-the-top CGI that Chinese movies appear to be going for nowadays; ultimately good looking but the over reliance of CGI and length means as an audience you become disconnected from what's going on in the real world.

Some attempts are made to link things through in the denouement of the film however at this point with so many open ended plot elements it is difficult to know where to go from there.

I think perhaps if more time was spent world building and exploring the writer's abilities and expanding on this in a second movie or a trilogy by reducing the scale of the plot for this initial instalment it would have worked better overall.

stunning, entertaining, mysterious!

[arminwax · 7/10 · 30 June 2021]

It was a lot of fun, watching this movie!

I can recommand it!

Visuals are crazy! Liked it very much, also the music, the acting and the general story.

What was not so good?

A little bit illogical and seemed a bit flat in the end, but that's okay!

General recommandation!

A Writer's Odyssey

[jackson_ro · 6/10 · 19 January 2022]

Daring in Chinese cinema standards with top-notch CGI and cinematography. Great attempt in linking the two Worlds and characters intertwinely, but unfortunately the plot and flow of the film is a little slow. While there are beautiful scenes such as the one of the War, but those are a little far and few between. Nevertheless a great attempt and hopefully there are more of these films to come out of China.

A cyber punk version of the lord of the rings

[arwenzwj · 6/10 · 18 February 2021]

Nice storyline but many ends unexplained. CGI is great and oriental. The leading actor really nailed it. Some cyber punk elements reminds me of Ghost in The Shell Innocent, with mysterious exotic atmosphere mixed with the plots of The lord of the rings.

Could Have Had a Better Clearer Flow

[westsideschl · 7/10 · 26 April 2022]

Three storyline tracts that are interconnected & taking place simultaneously. A contemporary father has his daughter kidnapped by child kidnappers. A writer tells his fantasy tale online, but for some unexplained reason his story has a real life impact effecting a mogul's well being who then put's out a contract on the writer. Also, in an ancient fantastical past (the story being created by the online writer) is governed by some strange evil being trying to take over humanity.

BS all the Way!

[bertilfox · 1/10 · 15 October 2021]

Pathetic mess of a poor script edited by a blind man!!! You need something to drink after this "odyssey" of chaotic nonsense! #boredom's-gates. Avoid.

this is how you do fantasy

[oukak · 9/10 · 5 June 2022]

Engaging story. You start following in simple "kidnapping" story, usual: father daughter baddies. But then... no, no spoilers:)

sound perfect.10/10 music perfect placing.10/10 vfx perfect. 10/10 story have "flow" problem, but it gives you feeling as it should, like storyteller makes story on the go, so it have disconnection sometime, so what? Good 9/10

it should take place in iconic movies like "neverending story"

Great CGI movie, but that's it...

[v-77410 · 3/10 · 20 February 2021]

Convoluted storyline, dreadful plot, little action. 3 stars to CGI and music. The pictures are quiet beautiful but the story telling is really poor, brings out insufficient intel to free up brain power.

Imaginative Collision Between a Quirky Fantasy World and a Gloomy Real World

[kluseba · 8/10 · 25 April 2022]

A Writer's Odyssey is a Chinese fantasy movie that follows two distinct story lines that intertwine on several occasions. In the real world, there is a young and gifted author who is targeted to be assassinated by a desperate father whose daughter has been kidnapped by pitiless human traffickers. In the world of the author's epic novel, a young hero tries to overthrow tyrannical ruler Redmane who manipulates peoples into attacking one another while secretly establishing a reign of terror with his powerful army.

This movie convinces on many levels. First of all, both story lines are quite intense and make viewers root for the clumsy, innocent and naive author and his courageous, desperate and resilient assassin as well as for the agile, determined and intelligent hero and his young female companion who oozes with creativity, flexibility and wit. The movie features stunning special effects that add a gloomy touch to the real world and a magical element to the fantastic world. The action sequences deserve to be praised separately as the showdown in the real world at an old library and in the fantastic world in the court of a mysterious castle leave lasting positive impressions.

There are only a few minor elements that could have been improved to make a perfect movie out of a very good one. First and foremost, the film has a few lengths in the middle section that could have been cut for a more dynamic viewing experience. Lastly, some character development could have been a little bit better such as for the antagonist in the real world who doesn't leave a lasting impression.

At the end of the day, A Writer's Odyssey is a creative, entertaining and quirky fantasy movie that is certainly more captivating than the endless prequels, remakes and sequels involving the usual Hollywood superheroes and supervillains. This movie deserves attention and acclaim and should have gotten a world-wide cinematic release if it had not been for the inconveniences of the ongoing pandemic. Make sure to watch this film on a legal streaming platform or to purchase it physically in store to support truly imaginative fantasy cinema.

Had to stop watching after 1 hour

[WatchAndSmile · 2/10 · 2 May 2021]

The script is horrible! Boring nonsense.

Great sfx, not bad acting, camerawork and visuals, but the movie is soooooo boring. I was waiting 1 hour for it to start and become interesting but nonsense after nonsense continued and led nowhere up to 1h and 4 minutes at which I had to tell myself there's no need to continue torturing myself with this movie.

Title seemed intriguing, but movie fell short

[Alicedreams · 2/10 · 16 February 2021]

The story hops from the real world to fantasu world too often with no linkages. The characters play dual roles in these two worlds, but the constant interchange makes it hard to stay engaged. Confusing movie and the CGI gave me a headache, so i didnt watch to the end. Wont recommend.

An enjoyable evening with amazing effects.

[jgarymatthews · 8/10 · 17 February 2021]

Watched it based on the trailer which looked interesting. The subtitles made for a few head scratching moments, and the first 20-30 minutes you may not be able to figure out what's happening but eventually the movie settles in and its a very good movie. I took 5 friends who never watch foreign movies and they really enjoyed themselves. All of them said they would have never picked the movie on their own but were glad they saw it. The theater was empty except for us, we go see at least one movie a week and this was a unique experience that is very different than most Hollywood stuff. Think if it as Pan's Labyrinth meets Lord of the Rings meets John Wick.

Recommended.

A slapping own face movie

[xiaohei-80112 · 3/10 · 16 February 2021]

A Self injury disorder movie. A great two worlds link story setting and yet it fail terribly.Director take short cut to connect the two worlds by little bit of flashback and totally no connection between the two worlds throughout whole movie. This movie once again show us the most classic (bad guy more words die) theory.Totally feel emotionless while the non catchy child song came in.Sudden change of no reason the bad girl switching to the good sides. The good about this is only the cgi and nothing else. Not sure why this movie so overrated.

Great CGI but just for entertain

[ronwindy · 8/10 · 18 May 2021]

Must be honest, the CGI in this movie is awesome, the effect looks natural, sometimes overused but in general it's still very well-made.

The story seems interesting but still has many illogical moments, the acting is good. Overall this movie deserves more points than it's currently is. Quality product.

A fantasy mess

[hydralien-40230 · 3/10 · 30 October 2021]

The movie jumps through scenes without any explanation which makes it look as a bunch of fantasy stuff stringed together for no particular reason. And it might have been one of those "just take it as it is", but the acting is poor and the story is incoherent. Maybe it's based on some larger material like a book series which explains things and helps it all make sense, but then the movie does it no justice.

An stupid and clumsy copy from "Sucker Punch (2011)" movie.

[skywalker_2003 · 1/10 · 25 March 2021]

Number one reason of making that garbage movie is just copying some sequences and ideas from Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch (2011) movie. The warrior in red cloths is a direct copy from a Samurai warrior in "Sucker Punch (2011)". This is a shameful work for makers of Ci sha xiao shuo jia (2021) aka A Writer's Odyssey (2021) because of such robbery and copying from another famous movie. You should use your lame brain to write and make new movies with new ideas . Audience are not stupid. You are stupid because can not find a fresh story and idea for entertainment them in right way. Because you think people are blind and can not detect copy work. Stealing ideas from other movies is a bad act! Anyway this is made in china and china is famous for bad copies!

Two stories in one!

[patriciajszymanski · 9/10 · 15 February 2021]

This movie takes you on a ride that you won't want to get off! An actor would jump at the chance to play any of the characters as they are all equally good and all important to the plot. And what a plot! A man's daughter is kidnapped and he will do anything to get her back. A fantasy novelist is creating more than he knows and is in more trouble than even he could imagine. A "Big Boss" wants to eliminate the writer and uses not his henchman, but a henchperson, that is, a woman who can hold her own in any fight. Add to that a man who is bent on revenge upon losing his sister, and a super-human giant(a God of Destruction)! The film has twists and turns and builds up to a frenzied climax. Should be seen in IMAX, but just see it!

CGI needs story too

[GinaDRX · 4/10 · 13 July 2022]

I agree with a lot of the reviewers. There is cool CGI (which could be more visually pleasing but that is not the main issue), and that is it. The story does not make much sense. Drama was created for drama. The story line was not quite clear either. The acting was meh, a lot of overacting or underacting. The story was so weak that acting was not even important anyway.

weird, surreal, but so cool

[nublingnoob · 8/10 · 8 August 2021]

What a suprise this film was, decent story, however this film is a visual feast, so many cool visuals that gave me vibes from other films and games, goemon, dark souls, onimusha, assassins creed and sucker punch

loved it.

Redmane vs Tangerine

[bendmadio-36-548475 · 3/10 · 4 December 2021]

This was a very long cigarette ads.

But, I'm impressed with the eyes of Redmane.

Don't bother watch whole movie, a clip of the fighting scenes, before the gatling gun.

Great production values

[fluffchop · 3/10 · 22 May 2022]

It's visually highly engaging with the sets and characters. I found the story to be really uninteresting. It doesn't have a cohesive storyline to follow. It meanders along in an often typical Chinese movie way. That's fine for Kung Fu movies as you get to see some Kung Fu. This is 2 hours and 10 minutes of waiting for something to happen. I had to just call it a day half way through. I don't see much for kids in it either so I'm not sure who this is aimed at. I was just not interested in it the whole time.

For skywalker_2003, the movie does not copy Sucker punch

[npm_petre_mihai · 8/10 · 4 September 2021]

Dear @skywalker_2003, inform yourself, this movie does not copy Sucker punch, the movie is based on a book of the same name.

Magnificent mess

[avindugunasinghe · 5/10 · 22 December 2023]

Writer's odyssey fails to take shape with a definite theme due to the excessive details that are packed into the two hours span. Two parallel stories are stiched together with force yet neither of them produce a proper story. Visuals are magical yet wasted on the confusing nature of the stories. Plot is understandable but the delivery is blunt. It's light hearted and proves that any idea when supplemented with right amount of technology could makeup to a good story. Performances doesn't look to be natural rather seemed as a struggle with the ever changing directions. Audio effects were fine but a bit too excessive. It's a fun watch but confusing.

Interesting concept and excellent acting from all lead characters

[agnesng-53061 · 9/10 · 15 February 2021]

At first it might seem confusing between the two world but as the story unfold, you will understand the linkage and navigation. The CG in this movie is pretty good and excellent acting skills from the main characters. I personally feel this is good movie and enjoyable for all age.