14 BLADESPoster for the Daniel Lee Yan-gong directed martial actioner, 14 BLADES, headlining Donnie Yen Ji-dan. I am not a fan of Daniel Lee Yan-gong who has also graced up with the empty WHAT PRICE SURVIVAL, BLACK MASK, A FIGHTER'S BLUES, DRAGON SQUAD, and the almost good THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON. His films are too sleek looking for me and appear to be rooted in the new, pretty looking HK cinema sensibilities. 14 BLADES isn't a total loss though. There are some nice fight sequences. A memorable fist to fist sequence even pits Yen against HK legend 'Big Brother' Chen Kuan-tai. Kate Tsui Tsz-shan appears as a baddie who sports braided hair that more resembles the Rastafarian look honed to perfection by the PREDATOR in the movie....well....PREDATOR. Ridiculous. Vickie Zhao-wei is in this mess and seems to be the go to chippie for HK/Mainland co-produced crap period actioners.
I watched 14 BLADES a few months back and the film was instantly forgettable for me. Looking to beef up this post, I breezed through the film again. I entirely forgot that the great Sammo Hung Kam-bo co-stars!? How the hell does someone forget Sammo Hung in a movie? Either I better start consuming more omega-3 or this film is tired? I will choose the latter.
I thought that this was not quite as bad as I expected it to be. I thought Three Kingdoms and Dragon Squad were pretty bad. If 14 Blades had been shorter, I probably would have liked it more. But it's still a sloppy, shoddy film -- it's a long way down from the wuxia of the 1990s to this.
ReplyDeleteAnd oh how tepid those Donnie waters are, King Who. The ego is not pretty.
ReplyDeleteI paid $5 for Three Kingdoms and felt ripped off. I will have to watch 14 Blades for Chen Kuan Tai though - the ONLY reason I'll see it!
Great blog as usual, Mr. King. :)
Glenn, 14 Blades was definitley a step up from his previous 2. Dragon Squad was incoherent and Three Kingdoms was fun for a quick minute. I think Red Cliff may have cut into Three Kingdoms enjoyment having some of the same characters. I did like Ti lung as Guan Yu. Today's films unfortunately don't come close to heyday wuxia.
ReplyDeleteSylvia, hit a torrent for 14 Blades and then quickly delete it. That's about what it's worth. I think Donnie played his bath tub scene while looking at his reflection in the water?
Is this the one that's supposed to be some kind of remake of the awesome, gory and dramatic Shaw Brothers film SECRET SERVICE OF THE IMPERIAL COURT(1984)?
ReplyDeleteI can't stand Donnie Yen. I try to avoid movies with him in them if I can. If this is like SECRET SERVICE, I will likely pick it up. I did buy SPL, though, because he died at the end. He has skills, yes, but his ego towers over what shred of modesty and humility he may have.
venoms5, 14 Blades is a remake of that film. It's not as bad as Daniel Lee's other films but it's no treat.
ReplyDeleteAs for Donnie, I like him. From the stories I have heard/read he doesn't appear to be my cup of tea as a human being. But filmwise, I think he has a great persona. I saw SPL a few years ago but I don't remember it much. Same goes for Dragon Tiger Gate. Flashpoint was excellent though and the final fight with Donnie Yen vs. Colin Chou was one of the absolute best fights i have ever scene and it was very enjoyable.
It's true that he can have a good screen presence - especially as a bad guy. I also liked the Flashpoint finale. The Hurricanrana - it's not just for Mexicans anymore!
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