Tuesday, December 2, 2014

3 Reasons Why I Am Excited for Netflix's Marco Polo!

Netflix's newest original show, Marco Polo nearly went under my radar when a string of articles on the interwebs lead me to the Business Insider article titled "Netflix Is Creating One of the Most Expensive TV Shows In The World--Here's Why It's So Important." After watching the trailer and reading the article, I became infinitely enthralled by Netflix's new series written and created by John Fusco, which focuses on the life of the famous explorer, Marco Polo, and his adventures in Kublai Khan's court in 13th century China. So here are 3 reasons why I will be tuning in at midnight on December 12!

1 // Marco Polo is going to be the one of the most expensive TV series ever made with a whooping cost of $90 million with merely 10 episodes. The only other show with a higher budget is HBO's Game of Thrones. And with the show produced by The Weinstein Company, it's a sure bet that Marco Polo will showcase the highest level of engaging performances, detailed production design, and gripping drama. I mean $90 million is bonkers especially for only 10 episodes so let's see why they shelled out so much money for a period piece like this one. The costs might have been for the construction of the entire set considering that the show was denied filming in China and they had to resort to filming in Italy, Kazakhstan, and the Pinewood Studios in Malaysia. But who knows. 

2 // Considering that the story takes place in Kublai Khan's court in 13th century China, we will seeing a large majority of the cast of Asians and Asian-Americans like Chin Han, Rick Yune, Benedict Wong, Zhu Zhu, Claudia Kim amongst many others. I don't think we've seen this many Asians in a mainstream and highly funded show since....ever! I just hope they don't heavily rely on old and trite stereotypes and fetishes of the Asian persuasion in hopes to amp up the drama. Netflix has always been a great platform that showcases  minorities and unconventional characters like in Orange is the New Black and House of Cards, so it'll be another refreshing take on Asians if they follow their trending ways and present some dynamic and diverse range for these actors and characters alike. 

3 // In the trailer, you get a glimpse of some epic sword fights by a naked women and even a Karate Kid-like training session between a man and the main protagonist Marco Polo played by newcomer, Lorenzo Richelmy. If anyone learned anything from the many mind-blowing martial art films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ip Man, and basically all pre-Rush Hour Jackie Chan movies, is that meticulously executed fight scenes are essential in  a Asian period piece which only makes the conflict even that much more thrilling and perilous. They already got me hooked when the naked lady whipped out her sword and fought and sliced several men's head! We definitely need to see more female action up in this palace. 

There are many other reasons why I want to watch this series but these are the 3 main reasons why I would even lose some sleep come December 12! The series was created and written by John Fusco who has had a lifelong background in martial arts first wrote The Forbidden Kingdom, starring Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Now, penning Marco Polo and the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it seems like Fusco will be the go-to guy when it comes to martial art films especially ones that are catered to the American public. What do you guys think? Do you think it's good enough for you to check it out?

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