14 Blades (2010)

Set in Ming dynasty China, this film follows Qinglong; a member of the Jinyiwei or secret service. This elite force, made up entirely of orphans is dedicated to the service of the emperor but an attempted takeover at the royal court leaves Qinglong fighting to return a stolen royal seal. On his journey he travels with Qiao Hua the beautiful daughter of a man he employed to help him. Before the task is complete they will have to face many enemies but they will also make new friends.The plot to this film is fairly simple but that doesn't matter; this is a film about action and it delivers that in spades with one spectacular fight after another. As one might expect this includes a fair amount of impossibly athletic martial arts as fighters leap through the air, slice through large wooden building supports and dodge arrows… all part of the fun in this sort of film. While their moves may be impossible the protagonists are far from immortal and many will die bloody deaths before the end. Donnie Yen does a fine job as protagonist Qinglong and is ably supported by Wei Zhao who plays Qiao Hua… although I was a little disappointed that she wasn't in more of the action scenes… perhaps because I'd recently watched the playing Mulan! There is a fighting woman in the film; Kate Tsui who plays the most dangerous of the bad guys Tuo Tuo… a woman who wields a weapon that seems to be a cross between a sword and a whip! Chun Wu who plays 'The Judge of the Desert' is also entertaining. Everything looks good and the desert setting and characters on horseback makes it feel much like a western. Overall it might not be the best example but fans of the genre should enjoy it.These comments are based on watching the film in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Whether you enjoy "14 Blades" will most likely depend on what you think of the extensive use of so-called 'wire fu' throughout the film. This term was coined some time ago to describe the martial arts you see in some Chinese films where the stunts can only be achieved using hidden wires and harnesses to make characters magically fly as they fight. This was popularized in the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" but was actually used well before this in some of the Shaw Brothers films of the 1970s (such as "Sister Street Fighter"). I don't mind these crazy techniques if they are used very sparingly. When it doesn't dominate the film and when the actors aren't doing things so insanely impossible that I have trouble enjoying the movie, it can be effective. Instead, I prefer martial arts films where the action is both plausible AND insanely realistic--such as in films like "Ip Man", "In the Blood" and the old Sonny Chiba Street Fighter films. To me, wire fu can become a gimmick-- especially when used too often. And, in "14 Blades" it simply is overused and as a result, the story itself is rather weak.When the film begins, you learn that in the Ming Dynasty, the Emperors created the Jinyiwei. The Jinyiwei was initially a small group of men who were like a combination of spies and assassins. They were independent of the rest of the government and had the authority to overrule judges and dispatch supposed enemies of the Emperor with their bladed weapons. While this sounds far-fetched, I did some research and found that this really was a secret organization which was created in 14th century China! So, I applaud the film for basing the plot, in part, on real historical facts and characters.One of these Jinyiwei, General Qinlong (Donnie Yen) is the hero, of sorts, in this film. He is betrayed by disloyal folks within the Emperor's court and spends the entire film being pursued by an outlaw Prince and his band of baddies. Throughout the film, it's one battle after another after another, as the Prince's troops try to kill Qinlong and steal the royal seal. And, the baddest of these baddies is Tuo Tuo, the Prince's adopted daughter. She has all sorts of magical fighting powers, can punch through trees, tosses enormous statues about as if they were made of styrofoam and can appear and disappear, fly and do practically anything. How could Qinlong possibly defeat this magical killing machine?!To me, if Tuo Tuo had been eliminated from the film completely, "14 Blades" would have been a much better film. She simply was too impossible to believe and her stunts were insanely impossible--yet many of the fight scenes without her were exciting and high-energy. The wizards in The Lord of the Rings films had less powers than she did and to me this was just a distraction. This combining of real historical events (the Jinyimei) with ridiculous over-the-top characters didn't work for me and I wish the director, Daniel Lee, had focused less on these stunts and more on the story and realistic fighting. Not a bad film, it lacks the depth and believable characters I look for in a great martial arts movie.

It does seem that the quality of Hong Kong cinema has declined remarkably. I don't know what it is that during the days of Jet Li and Jackie Chan in the classic period I was able to follow the movie despite the sub titles, but with some of these later offerings I seem to simply get lost. Okay, this movie was easier to follow that some of the others that I have seen, but it seemed to be problematic at best, and did not really come to some decent ending.What I did gather from this movie is that it is about a special forces group in Ancient China who are raised as Imperial guards from when they are children. It seems that one of the Emperor's seals are stolen and the head of the guards is tasked to try and return it. The guards are given 14 swords, each one of them having a special purpose in their task to maintain order throughout the empire. The last blade, the 14th blade, is specifically used to commit suicide in the event of a failure.As mentioned, the movie was a little eclectic at the beginning, but it settled down a bit in the middle and it was easier to follow, though it still felt many of the scenes were simply thrown together simply for the purpose of having a scene with a lot of sword fighting and martial arts. Okay, that might have worked in some movies, but the earlier movies seemed to work, where as this one did not. Maybe it also has to do with the people doing the subtitles simply did not do a good job because not only do you have to read them, but you have to digest them as well. Still, I was able to watch Amelie with no problem despite not understanding a word of French.

It's about time Donnie Yen made an impact yet again in the fantasy wuxia-pian genre, given the rather recent dismal films with Painted Skin (where he only had a supporting role), An Empress and the Warriors, and Tsui Hark's Seven Swords back in 2005. Most of us went ballistic with his more modern action roles ranging from SPL to Ip Man, and his 14 Blades character of Qing Long (Green Dragon, thanks to those mean looking tattoos adorned all over his upper torso) here looks quite set to become yet another memorable role similar to his morally ambiguous one in Bodyguards and Assassins.Here, Yen's Qing Long is the General-in-chief bodyguard to, and assassin for a Ming Dynasty king, who had set up the Jin Yi Wei (the Mandarin title), or the Brocaded Robe Guards, a special army known for its dogmatic principles in fulfilling mission objectives, whose loyalty is to the king only, and are at his beck and call to do just about anything the king commands. That of course leaves room for evil eunuchs to manipulate, especially when they can get the king easily distracted with wine, song and plenty of nubile women. The first few minutes of the film introduces us to the background of Qing Long and his army of bodyguards and assassins, the evil that lurks within the royal family and palace from eunuchs to an exiled prince (an extremely short cameo by Sammo Hung), and of course, the fabled 14 Blades. Unfortunately, we are told of the uniqueness and names of each blade, but never see all of them in action, coupled by the fact that they look quite generic. Only Qing Long is assigned this utility box containing the swords and lugs it everywhere ala El Mariachi's guitar case, and at his will can throw up the appropriate weapon to battle adversaries, including a set of grappling hooks!Writer-director Daniel Lee managed to create a film consisting of a successful amalgamation of wuxia-pian elements, with iconic fight action sequences set in tea houses, desert duels, forest brawls with abandoned temples and exotic cities enhanced by CG to play host to a film complete with double crosses, a prized possession that everyone is after, and had time to sneak in unrequited romance. In some ways the film plays out like a Cowboy Western with its one man sheriff and an escort agency up against various bands of outlaws in endless desert filled land, with that theme of hope that they'll make it unscathed against changing odds, save the day and to ride off into the sunset with the damsel.The story though gave way at the midway mark, where it clearly became nothing more than a stringing together of battles and one on one duels, which thankfully were still exciting to sit through, with none of the fast cut edits or crazy closeups that will make you cringe. With the introduction of Wu Chun as Judge, the leader of a brigade of bandits who has this cool boomerang double blade, and Kate Tsui in a role where she only grunts as loud as Maria Sharapova in a return volley, ample time got dedicated for one to mirror QIng Long's transformation and road to redemption, while the other, well, just serves to grunt a lot, in a get up that looks inspired by Medusa, and armed with a serpent sword-like-whip, and powers of CG stealth.But underneath the fights, the flimsy storyline and gorgeous costumes, 14 Blades turns out to have an incredibly strong romance instead, with Vicky Zhao (her umpteenth period role straight) starring as Qiao Hua, daughter of the Justice Escort agency founder (played by veteran Wu Ma), enamoured by the manliness of the legendary leader of the Jin Yi Wei, since she grew up on fairy tales and harbouring the hopes that a fabled swordsman would one day save society from its evils. In a way her Qiao Hua exhibits the Stockholm Syndrome, being held captive against her wishes, but slowly being drawn romantically to her captive, even endangering herself (in a scene to provide comic relief) by willingly becoming his aide and pawn.It's far from being the perfect film, especially with unbelievably incoherent flashbacks and the going overboard with explosions (of the RPG type), but Donnie Yen once again shows that when it comes to the fisticuffs, he still has a lot to offer, despite the story's potential that had it go off the blocks strongly, only to fizzle out before the end in a case of severe narrative burn-out.