14 Blades

Daniel Lee

The story: When the imperial court of the Ming Dynasty falls into the clutches of evil eunuch Jia, Qinglong (Green Dragon, played by Donnie Yen), head of the Jinyiwei elite squad of secret agents, becomes the most wanted man in the country. He seeks the help of an escort agency to smuggle him out of the capital and strikes up a tentative romance with Qiao Hua (Zhao Wei), daughter of the agency’s chief.

There are as many elements simmering away in this potboiler thriller as there are blades in the title. This makes for a long and clunky exposition in which the background has to be laid out.

The audience learns about the unscrupulous Xuan Wu (Qi Yuwu) who is in cahoots with eunuch Jia (Law Kar Ying) and is part of Prince Qing’s (Sammo Hung) conspiracy to overthrow the court.

Then, in a lengthy aside, it is told about the titular blades. Given to Qinglong, eight of them are for torture, five for killing and the last one for committing suicide if the mission fails.

It takes a good while before the film settles down into the pursuit of Qinglong by rogue agents.

And there is still more to come with the introduction of Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui), a highly skilled femme fatale who is the adopted daughter of Prince Qing, and The Judge (Wu Chun), the warrior leader of a band of desert brigands.

Given director Daniel Lee’s professed love of, and previous experience in, martial arts flicks, the pay-off is that the moviegoer gets a number of stylishly executed fight scenes. But there are too many jarring ingredients for the whole thing to come together as a whole.

Yen is a reliable action leading man and he has been on a roll in recent years with hits such as cop thriller Flash Point (2007) and biopic Ip Man (2008). He is equally adept at wielding a gun or sword but still seems uncomfortable when a role demands more than fisticuffs.

Despite Zhao Wei’s best efforts, the blossoming romance between Qiao Hua and Qinglong is not very convincing and instead of providing the film with its emotional centre, is just another plotline to be accounted for.

There is also the snigger-inducing name of Tuo Tuo (which means to undress) who actually disrobes as she darts about in so-fast-the- viewer-needs-to-see-this-in-slo-mo fashion around her hapless opponents.

Wu Chun takes the cake, though, when he turns up looking like a reject from the Pirates Of The Caribbean sequels in his dreadlocks, chunky earring, bandanna and a vest two sizes too small in order to flaunt that taut midriff.

Having introduced all these disparate components, Lee then follows through on all of them, making it seem as though the film would never end.

With 14 Blades at his disposal, he could have considered using one or two to cut the movie down to size.

(ST)