14 Blades

14 Blades

Synopsis

During the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor of China possessed one weapon greater than all others, the Imperial Guards, an elite force of assassins recruited from street orphans. Trained in clandestine combat from childhood, the Imperial Guards were masters of the 14 Blades, eight being for torture, five for killing and the last blade reserved for suicide when a mission failed. Above the law, with a license to kill, the Imperial Guards devoted their lives to the service of the Emperor alone. When the Imperial Court is taken over by evil eunuch Jia, the best of the Imperial Guards, Qinglong (Yen) and Xuanwu, are assigned to steal a list identifying those still loyal to the Emperor. However unbeknownst to Qinglong, the Imperial Guards have fallen under the control of Jia, and during the mission Qinglong is betrayed by Xuanwu. 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.

Official Site: NA

Singapore Release Date: 4th February 2010, Thursday

Running Time: 108 minutes

Ratings: G

Genre: Action | Drama | Thriller

Cast: Donnie Yen, Wei Zhao, Chun Wu, Kate Tsui, Yuwu Qi, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo

Crew: Director (Daniel Lee), Producer (Susanna Tsang), Cinematography (Tony Cheung)

The Trailer

The Review

14 Blades started out slow for me, but it got better in the second half of the movie.

Donnie Yen as usual is great with his gong-fu, but could do better on his emotions.

The premise of every martial arts film is always the same, plenty of action, and this one is no different.

It is not breaking new grounds, so expect run-of-the-mills gong-fu story of loyalty, love and redemption.

Do expect an epic final battle, now that’s amazing stunts choreography at its best.

The Good

• Spectacular stunts
• Amazing scenes of landscape

The Bad

• The editing could be better
• Too long of a movie, considering too many redundant scenes

Editor’s Ratings