I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
Young Johnny Allen arrives to Denmark from US as a secret CiA operative. His disguise is a college student. We are told that he is gay, which normally doesn't go well with CIA hiring policy and his job is to drive people from one place to another. He finds an apartment and quickly makes friend. He gets close to one of these friends named Sanders. Johnny is very attracted to Sanders but fears. if he comes on to me, that may spoil their friendship. When after almost 8 months, Johnny Allen gets his first job, Sanders decides to tag along not knowing what he is getting into. Seeing the enthusiasm and everything, Johnny tells him of his real identity and tells him that he needs to drive a man from Belgium. Things go awry when it turns out the asset he was supposed to meet has been compromised, and in his place is a villainous Russian. It's during this trip, the 2 guys also confess to each other that they both love one another. The Russian escapes and in the process all three of them get hurt. Eventually everything works out, the evil Russian is arrested and Johnny and Sander end up happily together.
The film is way too slow and lengthy for what its trying to show what they wanted to. No one would believe that the young man is either American or a CIA agent for that matter. Sanders is attractive and charming and you can see why the 2 men would fall for each other but their friendship scenes drag on for almost first hour of the movie. Also, the 2 men really don't have much chemistry together. It goes nowhere. I wonder whether this film was supposed to be a spoof or something but I guess not since apparently its based on a true story and on a novel. Kill me now!! And the random last 20 minutes where Sanders suddenly wants to meet Johnny's family and if that can't happen then they are not meant to be together. We are shown a bit of Sanders past that adds absolutely nothing to either of their stories.
Overall, it feels like a very amateurish attempt at making a film and both the director and editor just kept shooting without keeping a pulse on what audiences actually expect. (3/10)
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