Martial arts star Donnie Yen plays Qinglong, the toughest of all the Jinyiwei, deadly assassins of the Ming dynasty. For some reason that I can&#39;t quite remember, Qinglong finds himself hunted by his fellow Jinyiwei, and is forced to hold hostage a pretty young woman, Qiao Hua (Wei Zhao), to make his escape. While fulfilling his mission of protecting the royal seal, he also teams up with an Asian Jack Sparrow (armed with a boomerang sword!) to steal a load of gold, and does battle with Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui), daughter of Prince Qing (Sammo Hung), whose ability to move like a wraith makes her almost invincible. Fortunately for Qing, he possesses a very useful mechanical wooden box, which, like a giant Swiss army knife, holds fourteen very sharp implements (but nothing to pick a stone out of a horse&#39;s hoof).<br/><br/>I don&#39;t know? maybe I just wasn&#39;t in the right mood for an epic wire-fu filled wuxia movie, or perhaps I was just too tired to concentrate, but 14 Blades, which stars the amazing Donnie Yen, did almost nothing for me: I found the plot hard to follow, and the martial arts scenes left me distinctly unimpressed, the choppy editing and the CGI certainly not aiding my enjoyment. Yen isn&#39;t at fault: he puts in another fine performance, but after all these years he really deserves better than this unmemorable kind of dross; I imagine that his exposure in Rogue One next month will finally get him the recognition in the west that he deserves, but I fear that he&#39;ll end up co-starring with the latest fast-talking black comedian on the block, or a bloke with a funny shaped nose.<br/><br/>A generous 4/10, minus one point for having the clearly female Qiao Hua pose as Qinglong, just another example of that silly kung fu movie trope of women successfully pretending to be men simply by wearing a hat.

It&#39;s about time Donnie Yen made an impact yet again in the fantasy wuxia-pian genre, given the rather recent dismal films with Painted Skin (where he only had a supporting role), An Empress and the Warriors, and Tsui Hark&#39;s Seven Swords back in 2005. Most of us went ballistic with his more modern action roles ranging from SPL to Ip Man, and his 14 Blades character of Qing Long (Green Dragon, thanks to those mean looking tattoos adorned all over his upper torso) here looks quite set to become yet another memorable role similar to his morally ambiguous one in Bodyguards and Assassins.<br/><br/>Here, Yen&#39;s Qing Long is the General-in-chief bodyguard to, and assassin for a Ming Dynasty king, who had set up the Jin Yi Wei (the Mandarin title), or the Brocaded Robe Guards, a special army known for its dogmatic principles in fulfilling mission objectives, whose loyalty is to the king only, and are at his beck and call to do just about anything the king commands. That of course leaves room for evil eunuchs to manipulate, especially when they can get the king easily distracted with wine, song and plenty of nubile women. <br/><br/>The first few minutes of the film introduces us to the background of Qing Long and his army of bodyguards and assassins, the evil that lurks within the royal family and palace from eunuchs to an exiled prince (an extremely short cameo by Sammo Hung), and of course, the fabled 14 Blades. Unfortunately, we are told of the uniqueness and names of each blade, but never see all of them in action, coupled by the fact that they look quite generic. Only Qing Long is assigned this utility box containing the swords and lugs it everywhere ala El Mariachi&#39;s guitar case, and at his will can throw up the appropriate weapon to battle adversaries, including a set of grappling hooks!<br/><br/>Writer-director Daniel Lee managed to create a film consisting of a successful amalgamation of wuxia-pian elements, with iconic fight action sequences set in tea houses, desert duels, forest brawls with abandoned temples and exotic cities enhanced by CG to play host to a film complete with double crosses, a prized possession that everyone is after, and had time to sneak in unrequited romance. In some ways the film plays out like a Cowboy Western with its one man sheriff and an escort agency up against various bands of outlaws in endless desert filled land, with that theme of hope that they&#39;ll make it unscathed against changing odds, save the day and to ride off into the sunset with the damsel.<br/><br/>The story though gave way at the midway mark, where it clearly became nothing more than a stringing together of battles and one on one duels, which thankfully were still exciting to sit through, with none of the fast cut edits or crazy closeups that will make you cringe. With the introduction of Wu Chun as Judge, the leader of a brigade of bandits who has this cool boomerang double blade, and Kate Tsui in a role where she only grunts as loud as Maria Sharapova in a return volley, ample time got dedicated for one to mirror QIng Long&#39;s transformation and road to redemption, while the other, well, just serves to grunt a lot, in a get up that looks inspired by Medusa, and armed with a serpent sword-like-whip, and powers of CG stealth.<br/><br/>But underneath the fights, the flimsy storyline and gorgeous costumes, 14 Blades turns out to have an incredibly strong romance instead, with Vicky Zhao (her umpteenth period role straight) starring as Qiao Hua, daughter of the Justice Escort agency founder (played by veteran Wu Ma), enamoured by the manliness of the legendary leader of the Jin Yi Wei, since she grew up on fairy tales and harbouring the hopes that a fabled swordsman would one day save society from its evils. In a way her Qiao Hua exhibits the Stockholm Syndrome, being held captive against her wishes, but slowly being drawn romantically to her captive, even endangering herself (in a scene to provide comic relief) by willingly becoming his aide and pawn.<br/><br/>It&#39;s far from being the perfect film, especially with unbelievably incoherent flashbacks and the going overboard with explosions (of the RPG type), but Donnie Yen once again shows that when it comes to the fisticuffs, he still has a lot to offer, despite the story&#39;s potential that had it go off the blocks strongly, only to fizzle out before the end in a case of severe narrative burn-out.

&quot;14 Blades&quot; represents the best M.A. movie I have even watched. Thanks to Daniel Lee who wrote this gorgeous piece of art work which portrays some positive human qualities lacking in so many M.A. movies. Qing Long (played by Donnie Yen) possesses some noble qualities of integrity, loyalty, commitment &amp; courage, though a bit ruthless &amp; cunning at times. Qiao Hua (played by Vicky Zhao) is faithful, gentle &amp; optimistic. Another thing I like about this movie is that there are relatively few violent or bloody scenes. <br/><br/>Not a professional action scenes reviewer, I&#39;d rather concentrate on talking about the movie&#39;s &quot;Romance&quot;. On the surface, Qing Long seems to be using Qiao Hua for completing his own mission, but the trust between them makes their romantic connection very convincing. Qiao Hua, though a bit naive &amp; ignorant of certain personality darkness of her hero, is actually fully committed to him for completing his course of action, thus demonstrating full customer service (we have to bear in mind that Qing Long is a big customer of Qiao Hua&#39;s father). Implication for modern day romance is:- Be fully devoted to your lover (rather than being over calculating) when you still have a chance &amp; accept life as it is when you have none.<br/><br/>Qiao Hua shows a cheerful personality &amp; maintains her serenity throughout the whole story, without the slightest resentment towards Tuo Tuo, who brings an end to her romantic journey. This makes her adjust better to the lonely life afterwards. Though the ending is a bit sad, it demonstrates how single women can still lead a meaningful life with the pure memory of delightful experience. This kind of attitude may sound a bit &quot;classical&quot; but forms a great example for people in turmoil situations.<br/><br/>I sincerely hope that Daniel Lee can produce more wonderful M.A. movies in the future, but with a happy ending next time. Donnie Yen &amp; Vicky Zhao do create a perfect match on the screen (&quot;Painted Skin&quot; is a good example). Really looking forward to seeing them again soon in another great movie. Just to copy from Qiao Hua, &quot;When there is hope, life is still inspiring!&quot;