Director/action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping created a martial arts masterpiece way back in 1978 with his debut film Drunken Master, starring the legendary Jackie Chan. Together, the duo crafted a unique and hilarious style of fighting, as if Jackie was actually inebriated while pulling off insanely acrobatic fighting moves. Woo-ping has consistently been reinventing the martial arts wheel in film ever since, with choreography in such instant classics as The Matrix, Kill Bill, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Yuen Woo-ping lends his directorial talents once again in the new wuxia (where fighters seemingly defy the laws of gravity with moves such as graceful leaps) martial arts epic Blades of the Guardians, written by Tai-Lee Chan, Chao-Bin Su, Larry Yang, Baimei Yu, and based on a comic series created by Xianzhe Xu. The film features the return of another longtime star of the genre, Jet Li, with a small but tasty sequence to show that he’s still got it.
The story takes place near the end of the Sui Dynasty in the early 7th century and follows mercenary Dao Ma (Wu Jing) in the Western-like style setting of the Taklamakan Desert. Ma is the second most wanted fugitive in the empire. Dao and his young companion Xiao Qi (Charles Ju) are on the run from Governor Chang Guiren (Jet Li). Dao’s mission is to take the most wanted fugitive, Zhi Shi Lang (Sun Yizhou in an interesting mask for much of the movie), across the desert as a favor to tribal leader Chief Mo (Tony Leung Ka-fai), with the Chief’s fierce daughter Ayuya (Chen Lijun) in tow.
“…martial arts epic…based on a comic…”
The ragtag heroes face the villainous Di Ting (Nicholas Tse) and his group of mercenaries. The story can get a bit convoluted at times, which makes me wonder if the comic book fills in some of the blanks. Either way, this movie is all about the action for me.
The fighting style closest resembles Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It’s fast, close-quarters choreography, with graceful leaps (with the help of wires) that remind of the aforementioned classic. Woo-ping adds some really cool touches, such as blades on fire, a sandstorm, and later a battle in the snow, with a good mix of horseback action plus bow and arrow fighting to go along with the swordplay. The scale is enormous, making it a perfect fit for a large screen format such as IMAX.
Yuen Woo-ping didn’t reinvent martial arts onscreen yet again with Blades of the Guardians, but he didn’t need to. The wuxia action is riveting on the grand scope, something that fans of the genre must be starved for (at least in the United States). With the new subtitle in the credits: Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert, it looks like this will be the first film in a series.
For this film to reach the legendary status of others that were mentioned, I would need to be just as invested in the storyline as I was in the action. Alas, that was not the case, but for most wuxia fans, that will be just fine.
"…The wuxia action is riveting on the grand scope..."
