Title: 14 Blades
Director: Daniel Lee
Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes
Genre: Action
Even though this movie came out during CNY, it can't really be considered as a CNY movie since it has nothing to do with CNY and it is a pretty dark movie which is a total opposite to the spirit of CNY. Anyhow, after reading numerous movie reviews on the four main movies that came during CNY, I decided 14 Blades as it is the only one that has the least number of unfavourable review.
The movie was set in the Ming Dynasty and the story revolves around the Royal Guards of the emperor, which sort of act like the secret police/assassins. The leader of the Royal Guards, named Green Dragon (Donnie Yen) was ordered to kill an official and retrieve an important box. During the assassination attempt, Green Dragon found out what was in the box and with that knowledge, he had to rethink his loyalties and was soon the target for the rest of the Royal Guards and a super powerful woman assassin, Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui).
I did not regret my decision in watching 14 Blades as my first CNY movie. While it is quite disconcerting to see the lip movements not matching the voice (some actors spoke Mandarin only and had their voice dubbed), it turned out to be quite a good movie.
Of course, with Donnie Yen, there'll be lots of action sequences. Though Tuo Tuo's martial arts are really, really very fake (the person who make the CG should go for more training :P), I enjoyed Kate Tsui and Donnie Yen's showoff. Also, Wu Jun, acting as the Judge of Sands is quite convincing as a robber with principles. This is the second time I watched him on the silver screen and I think it is much better than the "Butterfly Lovers" movie, though I think he tried too hard on being a badass and it made him to be a little stiff in some scenes.
However, this movie could have been much, much better. First off, the dialogues did not flow smoothly. Sometimes the characters would say something unrelated all of a sudden and it is really noticeable. And then there's this leading actress, Zhao Wei as Qiao Hua. I can see no reason at all why she would fall head over heels in love with Green Dragon... it just doesn't make any sense at all... it's like she love Green Dragon only because he can fight very well... and that is really shallow.
Anyhow, though this is not a movie suitable for children, I believe it to be entertaining enough to be watched in cinema.
Observation: This movie shows how stupid people are in the olden days as it portrays the power of the imperial seal which would enable anyone, including one with an army obviously trying to conquer the country to pass through as long as the enemy have the imperial seal :P
Bottomline: Acceptable quality for a movie that came out during CNY.
Bamboo Ranking: 3.7 / 4.0
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