[Review] The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown 《狮神决战之终极一战》#TheLionMen2

《狮神决战之终极一战》
THE LION MEN : Ultimate Showdown
故事纲要
“因《新兵正传》系列人气爆涨的Ah Boys原班人马,今年初连同恩师梁智强,强攻新加坡贺岁电影档,推出以舞狮为主题的动作片《狮神决战》。片商砸重金制作上下两集,第一部《狮神决战》1月新加坡上映,放映首4天就创下119万元的票房佳绩,登上贺岁片票房榜的冠军宝座。随后2月于马来西亚上映亦获得不俗成绩。而即将在7月17日上映的《狮神决战之终极一战》延续第一部的故事,讲述Mikey(王伟良饰)和Babyface(林俊良饰)在舞狮创意比赛后,与狮神(张智杨饰)所产生的磨擦。而狮神发现Mikey对小雨(程砚秋)怀有爱慕之情,不禁对他产生敌意。兄弟情与爱情,两团成员比赛最后谁能登上冠军宝座...”
Last week I attended the press screening and press conference of The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown 《狮神决战之终极一战》 at GSC One Utama and Neway. All the cast including Jack Neo 梁智强 , Chen Tian Wen 陳天文, Tosh 张智杨 , WeiLiang 王伟良, Maxi 林俊良, and Bunz 包尔琮was there for the event. Earlier in March I was at Genting Highland for "The Lion Men" premiere and you may wanna read my previous coverage here:
"The Lion Men 2: Ultimate Showdown" 《狮神决战之终极一战》 - 7月17号 全马上映 
Emcee together with Director Jack Neo
Emcee together with Director Jack Neo
As usual, the sharing session by the Director of The Lion Men 2 by Jack Neo and he was sharing that this movie he used several new approach including using the "flying camera" (I guess it is the DJI Phantom 2 paired with GoPro Hero 3+ camera) to record all the scenery of the Singapore City and other flying scene. Other than that, a big part of the the production cost comes from creating the CGI effect and animation during The Lion Men 2 Final match (you will able to see those during the movie)

Director Jack Neo has made this movie a good sequel from previous story as there is a recap (short video) on what happened in "The Lion Men".

Actors personal sharing on The Lion Men 2
Actors personal sharing on The Lion Men 2

Candid moment captured during The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown 《狮神决战之终极一战》PC
Candid moment captured during The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown 《狮神决战之终极一战》PC

Maxi Lim and WeiLiang demonstrated how they work together for the lion dance scene
Maxi Lim and WeiLiang demonstrated how they work together for the lion dance scene

Maxi 林俊良, Tosh 张智杨 , WeiLiang 王伟良 and Bunz 包尔琮
Maxi 林俊良, Tosh 张智杨 , WeiLiang 王伟良 and Bunz 包尔琮

WeiLiang sang "擦肩"
WeiLiang sang "擦肩"

The official theme song of The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown was performed together by the four young star "我们是兄弟"
The official theme song of The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown was performed together by the four young star
"我们是兄弟"

Wang Weiliang 说, “我温柔了一次”
擦肩 - THE LION MEN :《狮神决战之终极一战》OST 插曲 



A photo for Tosh and his fans
A photo for Tosh and his fans
My Review on The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown 《狮神决战之终极一战》

I believe that most of you who have watched The Lion Men 1 will wonder why the story suddenly stopped at the finale match of the lion dance. I personally think that if they combine two movie as one it will look much better over all =) In The Lion Men 2, I like how Jack Neo put more efforts in illustrating the love story between 狮神, 小雨 and Mikey. So if you like to watch love story besides some innovation lion dance move, you should watch this movie then. Does Mikey still got chance with 小雨??

This time Jack Neo decided to include Korean famous drama "来自星星的你" element into the movie and I guess people who watched the drama will understand that joke haha. I personally like the acting by Chen Tian Wen 陳天文 especially during the crying scene near the end of the movie. I can sense that it is quite real and emotional. For WeiLiang and Tosh, I think they are acting like themselves which made the movie has that reality touch; No doubt Bunz has the talent in writing music as I like the song "檫肩" sang by WeiLiang. Maxi demonstrated some fighting skill during the PC and I think if he act in a MMA movie it will definitely impress me even more. Still remember his unique character in "Ah Boys to Men".

Oh ya, in this movie there are 3 uncles acting as the bad guys and I think they can act well. Too bad the story line a bit twisted too much (or maybe that's Singapore style) that I think some scene can be removed to shorten the movie or include more other meaningful scene into it. Now go to the critiques part, there are certain scene where the actor has different facial expression in one same scene. (eg. when their SiFu in the hospital talking with his daughter). There are weird scene cut in the middle of the movie too, suddenly music stopped and changed to another scene. And this is the first time I see Lion Dance finale/contest can be postponed to the next day. Maybe I shouldn't use too much logic when I watch the movie hahaha.

Anyhow, I believe Jack Neo has the right actors for the movie. Besides Love and Action elements, there are Funny elements too, all these won't be possible with the selected cast and crews of this movie. By the way,  I like the background animation for the three lion dance teams and personally think that 虎鹤's animation of the Lion Dance's Love Story is the best. Matching the lion dance and animation together is a great innovation idea for sure, been seeing dancers combining technology in their performance so why not??

On a side note, all the actors including Bunz, Maxi, WeiLiang and Tosh are in the military training for "Ah Boys to Frogman" and I can see that they tanned a lot through those training. Really hope that this CNY 2015 movie will be a better one with the new skill Director Jack Neo learned from "The Lion Men"

到底最后谁会与小雨在一起?想知道就要去看《狮神决战之终极一战》
到底最后谁会与小雨在一起?想知道就要去看《狮神决战之终极一战》
Eva is a pretty actor to be included in this movie and most of the fans hope that Tosh the Lion Man will be together with Eva. Or do you think the other way round??

×××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

#TCSelfie with the young and talented cast of The Lion Men: Ultimate Battle
I am looking forward to see a better and even more awesome movie from you guys. All the best in your acting career!!

"The Lion Men 2: Ultimate Showdown" 《狮神决战之终极一战》 - 7月17号 全马上映 

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