For What’s It’s Worth
The story begins with a navy trainee with planned prospective future, back to his hometown for summer break. His life trajectory went off course for a while after he got entangled with a teacher he admired, who asked him a favour. The favour brought him to Shanghai, he rescued a little girl whose family was murdered in front of her. She offered him her precious chain and 23/- (where she gathered from her school friends) and hired him to investigate her parents’ murder. Probably ML is so bored, he agreed to take on a fake ID and joined the 4th station police team as rookie through back door recommendation by his brother, so he can investigate the case.The 4th station is make up of the Station leader who holds a retirement mindset but caring; the team lead who is smart and sharp (but also a hidden communist) and three other rookie policeman which one of them is our courageous FL. Through the investigation he discovered his teacher is a communist, ML was sent to deliver train tickets to the family who got murdered, were also part of the communist movement. He became good buddy with the team-lead, Captain Chen Hao and FL, Lou MinMin.
In span of one month, the case was resolved, they found the murderer and ML thought he can be back on track till his fake identity was being investigated again and he was framed to be a communist.
With ML’s brother help, he cleared his name and was sent back to Navy school, and forced to cut away from Shanghai contacts. By chance Hua Zhen went back to Shanghai and because of his curiosity, he is once again entangled with Luo MinMin and Chen Hao. Hua Zhen discovered that his brother is involved in illegal smuggling of arm fire materials to Japanese military. So our final arc will be on how Hua Zhen with Chen Hao and Luo Min Min work together to uncover the clues and unveil the smuggling crime. Both Hua Zhen and Luo MinMin also decided to join the communist movement.
The first arc of investigation involving our little girl was my favourite. their chemistry were fantastic. I enjoyed watching LiXian’s portrayal of ML, Hua Zhen, the main hero, sharp, calm, observant, smart and decisive with righteous principle, when strong determination, once decided on his goal, he will achieved it. Then our inspirational, second ML, Chen Hao portrayed by Zhuo Yu, a great actor also another smart character, an undercover communist, hidden in police station to investigate the corruption. Our FL, Lou MinMin portrayed by REN Ming, adorable, cheerful and courageous, have a great family, especially protective father. All casts were well fitted in their roles, even the villains by Wang Miao Lei, Jiang Yi and Song Ning were spot on in their roles.
Pros
Warmth of family relationship, friendship and brotherhood.
The fights and gun fights are quite well filmed.
For a Republican Era, this drama gave the unusual positive and happy ending, which is rarely seen in most drama for this time period but I am not complaining as it’s a positive message of strength and young people’s determination to fight for a greater cause, for the country. It’s emphasis on honoring the unsung hero’s sacrifice in those difficult times.
Cons
Not totally realistic, for a Republican Era, a communist movement at that time, death count very little.
An 8 year old girl has a soul and intelligent of an old adult
FL and Chen Hao being severely beaten up yet survived and recovered fast
How did so many things happen in one month. Time is relative in this drama.
Some emotional scenes and flashback scenes were repetitive and draggy.
The ending kiss scene between the leads is not necessary. They have chosen to be on mission and sacrifice for greater course, so romance can be just a subtle thing. I preferred the treatment between Shi JunYu and Chen Hao, love but yet not need to express.
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This Republican Era genre had less propaganda, good script and acting, especially from Li Zhi Mo.
Shooting Stars is another Republican-era melodrama genre. I wish China stopped producing so many dramas for this era. The plot is pretty much the same for every Republican-era drama. This one focused less on the communist party and more on the relationship between the Unit 4 police station and their friendship.My Reviews:
1. If you are looking for romance in this drama, you will be disappointed because there is very little romance between the main CP and 2nd CP.
2. The gits of the story about espionage and the intro and recruitment of the communist party.
3. I adored Li Zhi Mo, who plays Li Qiu Shi / Meng Duo Ci's character. This young actress has great potential. She acted so well in the first 10 episodes.
4. In this drama, she acted better than Ren Mi, the FL. I don't like her acting ability, so I dropped most of her dramas where she is the FL.
5. It has an interesting twist about Li Xian's character as he discovers his own journey and how his family was involved in smuggling weapons and selling them to the Japanese. It went against what he believed and eventually went against his brother and family joining the community party.
I give it a 7.5 rating for decent scripts and good acting, especially from Li Zhi Mo.
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A Lavish Production With Great World Building
Shooting Stars is a lavish and well made production that promises much. The acting is first rate and the world building regarding the Republican Era, second to none.At its heart is a very strong theme that people and relationships matter. Camaraderie is important and working together to achieve the greater good is a worthy goal to aspire to. Family in its different forms is shown too. The conflict between brothers a vital cog in how the plot unfolds.
The first 16 episodes were superb. There were a range of scenarios regarding who might be good and who might be bad. It was also intersecting re the portrayal of the police force at this time, the rise of the different political factions and the evilness of the Japanese menace. Show used actual footage from events that occurred at that time, deftly weaving our characters into what happened.
However, in the second half of the story, the patriotic fervour was a bit overdone. On some occasions it was over sentimentalised. Chen Hao as the face of such idealism was overdone. I was wasn’t convinced of his relationship with Miss Shi, but she was a fabulous character. His friendship with Yuan Sheng was a key part of the story, but I found its execution so so at times.
Our lead couple were very good. I liked their relationship. So much was against them, but their genuineness shone through. Min Min was a delight: delicate but strong and very loyal. Yuan Sheng needed to lighten up a bit ?
Overall, Shooting Stars is worth a look. The set design, wardrobe and old vehicles are worth watching for these aspects alone.
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