5 Star

The Epic of the Year

From the man that has brought you all the Wuxia stunt action, and beyond, film director Yuen Woo-Ping (Drunken Master, Tiger Cage I,II,III) brings us his biggest film to-date, with Blades of the Guardians. Which is bigger and badder than anything that has come before, based on the graphic novels by Xu Xianzhe.

They fight through wind, sand, oil, fire, and water, this film has it all.

 

Excellence abounds in every scene.

The Sui Dynasty (581-618) and a man and a young boy travel the desert of the Silk Road. He is bounty hunter Dao Ma (Jing Wu, Wolf Warrior 2, The Wandering Earth) the boy is Xiao Qi, and he is a mystery to us. They turn up at a town, and Dao Ma sets about plying his trade finding Egg Head, he shows him his bounty sketch, and tells him if he pays him three times his eight-hundred coin bounty he will forget he ever saw him, but this is a wuxia film, and the fighting starts, you can immediately see the class of this multigenerational martial arts film.

Hearing of Dao Ma’s skills he is asked to train Lord Chang’s elite archers in hand-to-hand fighting, But Dao Ma is enjoying his freedom from being a member of the Left Valiant Cavalry Guard. This upsets Chang, and he ends up fighting with Dao Ma and a bounty called Two-headed Snake, with the latter sacrificing himself to kill Chang. This gets him a very high bounty on his head as the pair flee the area.

They flee to Mojia village and to the man he owes everything Mo (Tony Ka Fai Leung, SHE SHOOTS STRAIGHT, Ashes of Time) where he meets his daughter Ayuya (Lijun Chen, Xin Longmen kezhan: Yue ju) who wants to see the big city of Chang’an, and Mo wants Dao Ma to escort someone to a meeting place four days away. This is where Dao Ma’s troubles really hit the fan, as this person is Yan Zi Niang (Yunxiao Li, Xin Longmen kezhan: Yue ju) the most wanted man in the land and Dao Ma is the second, so every bounty hunter will be on their tail.

So they best high tail it out of there. Now watch as these individuals go up against the imperial elite, a Mad ex-fiance, bounty hunters, mercenaries, and ex-colleagues, and sandstorms, this is an out-and-out masterpiece of Wuxia.

Simply Mesmerising.

Trinity CineAsia presents Blades of the Guardians in UK cinemas from 17th April