The rebel leader who gave herself to AI control in order to achieve her goals of universal praise,  Dongfang Bubai  (Zhou Dongyu) imprisoned the old leader and turned the rebel forces into a cult of personality.   Members recite slogans and cheers for her in fear of death, while she herself leaves most of the governing to a mechanical dragon of her own creation.

The latest adaptation of political intrigue wuxia novel Laughing in the Wind is a groundbreaking cyberpunk wuxia film set in a future where the world is ran by several major corporations that maintain order in the society.    Opposite them are the Sun & Moon Collective, a loosely connected group of increasingly violent activists seeking to overthrow the military-industrial complex. 

The Lin family has long been rumored to hold the rights to a ground-breaking technology that has never been used.  When the family is reportedly slaughtered by a group of bandits, the sole surviving member – Lin Pingzhi (Dilraba) –  becomes a target as all sides, including herself, seek to find her heirloom technology.

But the technology was unused for a reason. Humans don’t realize their choices until a few seconds after the decision-making process. The program’s complex algorithms allows the user to make instant optimal decisions  to achieve preset goals, but users won’t realize their decisions until it’s too late to stop them. The program’s use causes the user to slowly be consumed by the algorithms until they become AI’s solely driven by the preset goals.  Continue reading →