Netflix’s Marco Polo Is Good, Film Critics Are Wrong About It

I get it, some people hate nudity and bloodshed in films, but how the so called experts in film criticism — that the Internet mentioned — got so wrong about the quality of Netflix’s new Internet series known as Marco Polo.  I’d seen some of the commenters on Netflix typed that the so called film critics compared Marco Polo with Game of Thrones.  I totally disagree with such comparison.  How could that be?  Marco Polo was part fiction and part historic, and such it has no similarity to Game of Thrones in which is all fictional.  Furthermore, even if Marco Polo isn’t a real historic figure, but Marco Polo has been a part of human recalled  history for hundreds of centuries; it does make one wonders the credibility of the argument of how Netflix’s Marco Polo was inspired by Game of Thrones.

If I’m not wrong and if Wikipedia isn’t wrong, Marco Polo was a real person and he had been in Kublai Khan’s domain when Kublai Khan controlled both North and South China as a unified China.  According to Wikipedia, some people had doubted Marco Polo had been in China, because he forgot to mention of China’s Great Wall, foot binding, chopsticks, and so on in his time.  Nonetheless, others had argued that Marco Polo was dwelling among the Mongol elites, thus some of the Chinese cultural practices might not yet be commonly adopted among the Mongol elites.  Some people argued that China’s Great Wall failed to prevent the Northern invaders such as Mongols themselves from invading China, thus the Mongols felt that they didn’t need to maintain China’s Great Wall.

Perhaps the reasons I just mentioned in the previous paragraph had kept Marco Polo from mentioning about such things (e.g., Great Wall, foot binding, chopsticks, etc…).  Regardless, Netflix’s Marco Polo Internet series incorporates the foot binding and chopsticks.  Nonetheless, Netflix’s Marco Polo Internet series isn’t making a big deal on the foot binding and chopsticks when Marco Polo is around, thus in a way Netflix’s Marco Polo Internet series is trying to stay neutral in the story of the real Marco Polo historic figure.  Of course, a lot of things cannot be accounted for as real history in Netflix’s Marco Polo Internet series, because the series itself is an exaggeration to please the audience such as you and I, and the entertainment industry.  I’m still scratching my head how those film critics think Netflix’s Marco Polo Internet series has any similarity to Game of Thrones.

For the very first episode, I wasn’t impress since it started out slow.  Nonetheless, I kept watching since I got nothing else to watch.  As I invested deeper into Netflix’s Marco Polo story, I got even more intrigued by how the show began to creep into my film spirit.  Although Marco Polo is the main character of the show, surprisingly the supporting characters are just as interesting as Marco Polo himself.  Of course, one of the most interesting characters is Kublai Khan.  I have to say the actor who filmed in the role of Kublai Khan did a very good job in making Kublai Khan figure a powerful, mean yet kind, selfish, sexual decadent, and wise.  Marco Polo himself is being portrayed as timid at first, but he is something else as he lives longer among the Mongols.

I can’t go too deep without spoiling the details for you, because you might watch this series later on if you haven’t done so already.  Regardless, the series is well filmed.  The sceneries are gorgeous, and the characters are well sculpted.  The actors themselves are believable in their roles.  Basically, the entire Netflix’s Marco Polo Internet series is well made in my opinion.  The ending is very special too.  The ending is a big spoiler for what may come next in the Season 2 if there will be one, and I do hope there will be a Season 2 for Netflix’s Marco Polo Internet series.

In summary, I think Netflix’s Marco Polo Internet series has done well in blending the history and fiction together.  Others may think Netflix’s Marco Polo is inspired by Game of Thrones (as in an imitation), I think not since the series is extrapolating from history first then weaving in the fiction after.  Even if it’s true that the creator of Netflix’s Marco Polo Internet series was inspired by Game of Thrones, I still think the creator didn’t stray too far from Kublai Khan’s empire.  Since Kublai Khan’s empire was real, and so it gives more credence to Netflix’s Marco Polo Internet series than something just plain fiction.  Of course, plain fiction is wild and fun and unique, but as a human being I like to think of a glorious past is definitely more glorious than something isn’t even real.  Of course, something isn’t real may come true in the future, but that is for the future.

Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Game_of_Thrones