SYNOPSIS:
Trained
in clandestine combat from childhood, the Jinyiwei were masters
of the 14 Blades. Above the law and with a license to kill,
they devoted their lives and lethal prowess to the service
of the Emperor alone.When the Imperial Court is taken over
by evil eunuch JIA, the best of the Jinyiwei, QINGLONG is
assigned to steal a list identifying those still loyal to
the Emperor. Unbeknownst to Qinglong, the Jinyiwei have fallen
under the control of Jia, and during the mission he’s
betrayed and barely escapes with his life.Now as the most
wanted man in the land Qinglong must seek out and rally the
loyalists to rise against Jia and restore the Emperor to power.In
his way are the deadliest assassins in the land, his former
brethren, the Jinyiwei.
MOVIE REVIEW:
The
English title of the movie, "14 Blades" refers to
a set of sophisticatedly weaponry which is carried by the
Jinyiwei, the Emperor’s very own bunch of secret agents.
And when you have the hottest action leading man in Chinese
cinema, Donnie Yen as Qinglong, the head of the agents, your
expectations of "14 Blades" shoot through the roof
liked the STI on a good day.
Unfortunately, director and writer Daniel
Lee fails to do justice to all the mayhem he supposedly due
to unleash after the opening cool CG sequence which briefly
explains the uses of 14 Blades. First and crucial of all,
the various characters and motive are poorly conceived. The
Emperor is overthrown by an evil eunuch Jia (Law Kar-Ying
in an occasional serious mode) with the backing of Prince
Qing (Sammo Hung in a cameo) and to make things worse, the
Jingyiwei is betrayed by their own member, Xuanwu (played
by a stiff Qi Yuwu) who is promised some incentives by Jia
for to carry out the killings. The only man left standing
of course is Qinglong who escaped with the Imperial seal and
with Prince Qing’s goddaughter, Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui)
hot in pursuit, the only way for Qinglong to stay alive is
to stick with Qiaohua (Vickie Zhao) and a bandit, Judge (Wu
Chun).
While
the audience knew the motive of all the killings right from
the start, we can’t help feeling underwhelmed by all
those villainous characters behind it. Sure it’s all
about the usurpation of power, blah…blah… but
hey at least give us a little more background and narratives
about Prince Qing and Eunuch Jia. Even Xuanwu and Tuo Tuo
has limited exposition, the former is embarrassingly disposable
(no offence but we guess Yuwu is there because of a certain
major financial backer) though at least Tuo Tuo manages to
kick some ass with Qinglong throughout.
The success of "Ip Man" helps to open windows of
opportunities for Donnie Yen who yearns to stretch his acting
muscles in addition to his martial-arts skills. We can’t
say for sure it’s entirely his fault as Yen looks visibly
stiffer for most parts of the movie than his much lively co-star,
Vickie Zhao.
Daniel
Lee might have some weaknesses in creating believable story
and emotions but the man does have an eye for all things beautiful.
The cinematography, set designs to name a few technical aspects
is top notch. Thus even if you are bored by the less than
sizzling chemistry between Donnie Yen and Vickie Zhao in the
movie’s prolonged love story angle, the background shots
and vast wasteland are marvelous to ogle at.
People liked Colin Chou, Wu Jing and Fan
Siu-Wong, worthy sparring partners of Donnie Yen might be
on vacation which explains why Kate Tsui has to stand in with
some assistance from the CG department to duel with Yen. One
of the major fights in a forest makes good use of the 14 Blades
weaponry showcasing some really fascinating stuff that will
make any gadget geek go wild and some of the action sequences
that follows equally amaze with the exception of some really
dodgy CG. Who needs CG anyway when you have Donnie Yen? Nevertheless,
the nicely shot and choreographed fights beside Yen himself
are the sole selling point of this martial-arts actioner.
Once
again, Daniel Lee fails to impress as an accomplished filmmaker.
"14 Blades" has some really cool nods to all those
classic Shaw martial-arts movies, pity for the mostly underdeveloped
characters. If you are not a fan of Lee’s "Three
Dragons", "A Fighter’s Blues"and "Dragon
Squad", I doubt "14 Blades" is going to change
your mind. Okay perhaps the cool opening sequence as I mentioned.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
The 17 minutes Making-Of briefly
consists of interviews with the director, producer, cast members
including Donnie Yen, Vickie Zhao and Wu Chun with some behind-the-scenes
snippets. There's also a trailer attached.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
"14 Blades" boasts a nicely transferred
visual with near perfect images and colour palette. The audio
features an extreme active track especially during the action
sequences.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
Posted on 15 April 2010
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