Kingdom 2: ผ่าแผ่นดินเดือด

How did they manage to successfully capture the atmosphere of small-scale, local conflicts?

★★☆ Compared to the first film, Kingdom 2: Far and Away shifts its focus to the battlefield, and it does successfully deliver some grand and epic scenes. The war serves as a catalyst for Shin's character development, though some aspects still feel a little too childish or frivolous. The action choreography is a marked improvement over the previous installment, but the dramatic scenes still suffer from a sense of dragging, making it hard to stay fully engaged at times.

Well... the palace scenes feel like child's play. The focus is clearly on the battlefield, but they force嬴政 into it, cobbling together a storyline for him. The war scenes are decent and have some good momentum. But the constant close-ups of the male lead's face at crucial moments are really unnecessary. Especially during the final duel between the two generals, the male lead is just an observer and doesn't drive the plot, yet they keep cutting to his face... resulting in an idle bystander making increasingly contorted expressions. It would really be better without the close-ups. And why do the armies just stand and watch when the two generals duel? The original work explains it, but the movie doesn't, making it a bit absurd. As for the plot...

The casting for Kyoukai is spot-on, and the action sequences featuring Shin and Kyoukai are top-tier in the Japanese film industry. The production team's dedication is evident in their commitment to filming in China and investing heavily in CG, despite the severe pandemic. Masquerading and shrugging off past criticisms and doubts, Kento Yamazaki quietly lets his performance speak for itself, making him even cooler than Shin.

"Unification is a grand goal, but it sure can make for some chaotic drama."