‘Triumph in the Skies’ is the first film of 2015 that I watched. It is a Hong Kong film and it is an adaptation of a successful TVB series franchise of the same name. However, the movie version is not related to the storyline in the two television dramas from that particular franchise. It brought back some original casts (Francis Ng, Julian Cheung, Kenneth Ma, Elena Kong) but with addition of more (Louis Koo, Sammi Cheng, Charmaine Sheh and Amber Kuo) to add up the glamour to the film version.
What I dislike mostly regarding the film is its plot that is broken down to three separate love stories; Francis and Sammi as a pair, Louis and Charmaine as another pair, and lastly, Julian with Amber. I’m already not a fans of romance movie, and this movie even had three of those to deliver. Oh my God…I can’t stand it. Focusing on one pair is already enough. Eventhough each of the three love stories are quite interesting on their own, but putting them up all together in a single movie is a bit too crowded and makes way for things under-developed. There isn’t enough story development to create spark in this romance-based film, but if they want to go with that, then we might even end up with an over three-hours long movie. A big NO to that too.
Wait…I thought this is supposed to be a pilot-centred drama in the first place. Now, it’s about romance and relationships all over the place. After a scene had shown enough of this pair, then it will switch to the next one, and we saw just the repetition of that in the entire movie till each stories end with very much predictable happy ending. The outcome is quite a boring movie that is only saved by some beautiful sceneries captured in the film. No doubt that this movie delivered fantastic cinematography. I’m worried that it is the only compliment I had for the movie. Ahh…one more…I also enjoyed some light-hearted and hilarious moments in the movie. But those are very little. This isn’t a comedy after all.
As for performance category, nobody stood out since everyone of the main casts had their fair share of time on screen. The only most interesting character in this movie is T.M., portrayed by Sammi Cheng. I like the scene when she performed ‘hit wall’ moves for a commercial with the awkward Francis. I also enjoyed the scene when she explained how she had the ‘T.M.’ nickname. But like I said earlier, none of the characters is given the opportunity to excel in this film that emphasizes too much on the ‘love’ matters unnecessarily.
After watching this movie, you will find yourself loving the TVB series (Triumph in the Skies I and II) more. But this movie is still recommended especially for those sweet couples planning to spend their lovely Valentines together in a cinema. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Triumph in the Skies’ (film version) a total of only 6.8. Disappointing. I am expecting things would turn out good when the movie started with the popular theme song by Eason Chan. It raises the bar but everything just went downhill with all the unappealing love stories. It fails to triumph in the skies.
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
