Geekscape Home Video: ’14 Blades’ Blu-Ray
Anchor Bay Entertainment and RADiUS (of The Weinstein Company) have recently given the 2010 martial arts epic 14 Blades a proper home video release in the United States. Although it’s been several years, it’s not that bad timing since its star, Donnie Yen, is set to be in the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel due in 2016. Why not get his name further out there, right?
The Film
14 Blades is entertaining, and that’s it. Directed by Daniel Lee (Black Mask, White Vengeance), it succeeds as a lively martial arts film (with swords, primarily) accompanied by moody, stylish cinematography yet fails in creating any compelling characters to warrant true investment. I’ve always hated the excuse of using genre to dismiss such basic good storytelling necessities, and modern filmmaking should have taught us that good characters can come from any film. Pacific Rim gave us the haunted Mako Mori, As Above/So Below gave us the razor smart Scarlet, and The Fast & Furious movies have somehow, over time, given a sense of depth in the gentleness of the seemingly brutish Dom Toretto. So with 14 Blades, to use “it’s a kung-fu film, you’re not in it for characters,” is not only a toxic attitude, it’s also just wrong. To prove my point, see: Ip Man, Man of Tai Chi, The Green Hornet, Unleashed.
But what is 14 Blades?
During the Ming Dynasty, a secret police known as the Jinyiwei existed. I don’t know how accurate it is to draw parallels, but they are in effect a sort of Gestapo army. The Jinyiwei, in history, had authority under the emperor to arrest, interrogate, and punish anyone the emperor perceived to be a threat. They had power in legal proceedings and were assigned assassination targets to political enemies. They were the emperor’s bodyguards, and sorry if you ever got in his way.
In the film, the top Jinyiwei, Qinglong (Donnie Yen), is assigned by his superior, Jia Jingzhong (Law Kar-ying) to assassinate a councilman holding illegal contraband. During the mission, he finds that the illegal item is the seal of the emperor. If Jia were to gain the seal, he would hand it to the exiled Prince Qing (Sammo Hung), who plans to usurp the emperor. Qinglong realizes he has been set up and so he escapes with the seal and has become an outlaw in the land he once policed.
Qinglong is a title, not a name. The Jinyiwei were selected through a harsh mortal combat since childhood. Remember that scene in The Dark Knight where the joker auditions gang members to join his team and leaves a broken pool cue? It’s like that, but with children. So to be Qinglong is pretty hardcore, and a hardcore Gestapo cop gets a cool weapon: The titular 14 Blades. The first half are small dagger-sized blades used for interrogations, and the other half are full swords used for different purposes. They range from blades to use against those who killed fellow Jinyiwei to swords to sacrifice oneself should Qinglong fail a mission. They’re kept in a long box like a guitar. And that’s all you need to know, because despite being the title, there isn’t much focus on them. It’s weird.
While Qinglong is on the run, he seeks the help of a failing escort service (“escort,” as in those annoying missions in Grand Theft Auto). After a fight when the Jinyiwei catch up with them, he runs off with the owner’s beautiful daughter, Qiao Hua (Zhao Wei). Qiao shows flashes of brilliance and intelligence but has some of the most groan-inducing dialogue and has kind of a lame motivation: Her fiance is a womanizer and she has lost all feelings for him. It’s not that it’s a bad motivator, it’s just not particularly interesting.
I mentioned “mortal combat” before, and I did that intentionally. If not for the awkward, almost whimsical Disney-like romantic breaks with Qinglong and Qiao Hua in between the big set pieces, I would have mistaken 14 Blades as an adaptation of Mortal Kombat, without the signature gore. The film’s aesthetic has a gritty, dark fantasy edge despite the film not really having anything to do with the paranormal or ancient gods. The first thirty minutes of the film has the set-up of a horror movie, and it’s fascinating to watch. During Qinglong’s mission, he is surrounded by thunder and rain at night and dead bodies show up scaring children in the palace. When it is revealed Jia Jingzhong is orchestrating his coup, the scene is cloaked in Reptile-green, and two Jinyiwei soldiers still loyal to Qinglong are chained by their shoulders to a contraption reminiscent of SAW. Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui) is introduced, and her look really drives home why I think this movie looks like Mortal Kombat. She’s like Mileena, she’s cloaked in a mouth vail and uses a metal-whip. She can disappear and reappear through her cloak, making her had to even lay one finger on her. For a film so rooted in some historical reality, she’s the one character that makes this truly fantasy. She sticks out awkwardly and the CGI that makes her when she’s using her powers are kind of bad. But her “coolness” outweighs a lot of negatives she brings to the table.
In the second act, Qinglong and Qiao travel to the desert. It’s an area rarely explored in martial arts film, and it gives the movie a larger scale and imagination than one would previously think. Looking like Mortal Kombat was one thing, but then to make it look kind of like Assassin’s Creed? It was here where I thought the film would become a favorite. It introduces the Judge of the Desert (Wu Chun), who could lead an adventure film all on his own. He’s the leader of a gang and though he butts heads with Qinglong, he later rides with him in his cause. He’s an amazing character, if only because he’s just so god damn cool. He’s like a cross between Jack Sparrow and the Prince of Persia. Seeing him trade blows with Donnie Yen in an Arabian-like market, with sand and wind blowing was exhilarating.
Despite being a martial arts fantasy, it almost ends up like a western. Donnie Yen is like the Chinese Clint Eastwood, and the ending is so signature Eastwood it’s almost hilarious. Yen is good, but Qinglong is not engaging, and it’s a role he’s done several times before and since. But because it’s Donnie Yen, of course you want to watch. You just won’t remember anything about him here. And as I said, the lack of significantly memorable characters here are a bummer, because the world 14 Blades presents is wide enough to feature all sorts. But it doesn’t, and it feels like a waste.
One last gripe I have with the film is the confusing morality of the Jinyiwei. The film opens with a dark, horrible description of the Jinyiwei — children forced to kill, extreme exercise of power — that again, draws comparison to the Gestapo of Nazi Germany. Yet when someone dares to usurp the current emperor, we have to worry that the Jinyiwei — Gestapo — is being used by someone just as bad. The film’s happy ending is utterly confusing, because if the Jinyiwei were corrupt from the start, why do we have to feel good that the coup failed? It’s absolutely confusing and if the film is pro-police… well, I can’t say I’m all that surprised as the film hails from China. A sword in the hand of a monster and in the had of a villain makes no difference, and I’m only getting more angry as I keep thinking about it.
Overall, 14 Blades is an entertaining swordplay film that does a lot of things right but makes several missteps from keeping it being any good. It has awkward storytelling — its introduction constantly throwing shit at you demanding you keep up, and after it’s over so you can take a breath, it throws a little more exposition your way because why not — and its central characters are mediocre. The titular weapons of the film are also more of an after-thought than of any actual significance, so why give it this title? The Jinyiwei have confusing morality, and it’s difficult to understand its message. Donnie Yen is in full force, but his character is lacking and for a talent like Yen, it’s a disservice. But its excellent choreography witnessed with dramatic photography were why you came in the first place. I wish I could keep proving that great characters can come regardless of genre, but this film will be of no help.
The Blu-Ray
Pretty bad. The picture quality and sound are top-notch, so you don’t need to worry about purchasing a bad-looking film. This is one Blu-ray that you can use to show off your expensive home theater set-up, you rich bastard. But the home video release is severely lacking in extra features and even some basic functions. There are no commentaries, no special features, and not even an easy way to access other trailers. There are only three subtitle options, and no other audio tracks, just native Chinese. You’ll get the picture and sound quality you want from a Blu-ray, but if you want anything else you won’t get it.
14 Blades gets 2/5 stars. 14 Blades on Blu-ray gets 1/5 stars. A review copy was provided courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment and RADiUS-TWC.
