14 Blades (2010)

Chinese martial arts films are a beast of their own. Not just the enormous amount of films Hong Kong has put out, but very often, the other Chinese films have this certain artistic quality to them that in several cases, translates rather difficultly to Western ideas. Yes, 'The Matrix' did do this to a large extent, but considering the vast output of Chinese films, that one was still a drop in the ocean.

Now here you have a period piece containing martial arts and Donnie Yen, possibly one of the best and certainly best known martial artists who is also able to keep his own, actingwise. That is a rare combination.

Surely that means this is an awesome film?

Sadly, you would be mistaken in that assumption.

'14 Blades' is set during the Ming-dynasty, which in itself does not say much, considering this is a pretty extensive period of time. In any case, the reigning emperors have produced the Jinyiwei, which is a group of special elite soldiers forced to protect the emperor and have to carry out their missions without question. They are selected from orphans and their first mission as a child is to kill another child to prove themselves worthy of receiving training. This harsh reality is mentioned, but too easily glossed over, because it does not seem as though the Jinyiwei here have suffered any massive trauma over this.

Donnie Yen plays Qinlong, at this point the best of the best. He is sent on a mission to retrieve a chest. It turns out this chest contains the royal seal, but he is betrayed (no surprises there). From then on, he sort of embarks on a mission of revenge whilst still doing his best to finish what he set out to do.

If that all sounds a bit vague, it is because the film itself does not do a very good job of conveying what the heck is happening. Plotpoints are introduced and abandoned without much care, new characters get introduced willy nilly, often only to be killed off five minutes later and the plot becomes increasingly muddled.

To be fair, in a lot of martial arts films, the plot is secondary to the action, but that also is a problem here. You have awesome martial artists and probably great action set pieces, but because the editor clearly was a squirrel with the attention span of a hypercharged goldfish, you would be hard pressed to be able to follow anything. They bounce and jump all over the place (which is normal), but when you add to this an editing style in the vain of Michael Bay's action scenes, you are pretty much lost before the fights even begin. That is a darn shame too.

By the way, the English title of '14 Blades' refers to a chest the Jinyiwei are supposed to carry with them containing 14 different types of swords, but it is only referred to once and is more of a McGuffin. The Chinese title is simply 'Jinyiwei', which is a little closer to the mark, but not by much.

Legend Sammo Hung also makes an appearance, but if you are expecting him to be as great as he is in 'Ip-Man 2' you are in for a disappointment. He only has a glorified cameo and is in this film for all of a glorious two minutes, if that. And he does not even do anything besides stare into the void.

'14 Blades' is a disappointment on many levels. The story is extremely muddled and the action is beyond chaotic. It is a real shame, because somewhere, you get the sense that with a better editing style, this might have been a thoroughly enjoyable film. As is, however, you pretty much forget anything and everything the story is about. There are not even scenes you can recall in a week or so.

Also, Donnie Yen's hairpiece/wig is troublingly distracting. Trust me. If there is one thing you will absolutely remember, it will be that awful wig.