Brotherhood of the Blades Film Review

Brotherhood of Blades

Director: Yang Lu
Year: 2014
Rating: 7.5

I have started trying to catch up on some of the Wuxia films of the past ten years that I have neglected to see. There are a lot of them. And most of them are produced by China these days since they have the financial means to make these sorts of epic action films. China jumped into the Wuxia game with Hero and House of Flying Daggers and are now about the only game in town for this most Chinese of film genres. They are different from those Wuxia films made in Hong Kong during their glory days of the Shaws and then later in the 1990’s when they came back strong under Tsui Hark and others. They have much bigger budgets and so are more lavish in their set designs, costumes, special effects and scenery. They have a heavier tread – often quite artistic and serious with very little humor or simply being a feel good movie. They tend to be less insane and willing to go off the deep end – it is hard to imagine that Swordsman II could have been made in the Mainland. They are more conservative with an eye from Beijing always in the background. They appear to be more fatalistic with the heroes of the films more likely to die and for the romances to go unfulfilled. And though there is a certain sameness in the way they look, they are glorious and gorgeous at times with amazingly well-choreographed set pieces and stunning cinematography and at least for me a pleasure to watch. They are made by meticulous craftsmen, but I miss the go for broke feel of the Hong Kong Wuxia films.

I am not sure if it was intentional but this film seems to be a riff on the Three Musketeers of yore. Like the Musketeers, it follows the adventure of three men in the King’s Guard – or in this case an elite group of Imperial Assassins who carry out the orders of the Emperor. Often to kill his opponents. To put them in a more modern context, they are close to being the Gestapo of their period. But these three men show more mercy and independent thinking than most and thus become the heroes of the film that is filled with palace intrigue, betrayals, sword fighting and death. It has a smaller scope than many of the epic wuxia films being contained primarily within a small city area of high walls and narrow alleys with killers always in the shadows. This gives the film a claustrophobic edgy feel throughout.

A new king has ascended the throne in 1627 and he has dismissed the Eunuch Clique that was running things under Wei Zhongxian (a real historical figure in the Ming Dynasty). Now the Imperial Assassins are tracking down the remaining members of the clique and arresting them. Our three boys – Shen, Yichuan and Jingzhong are fast friends and master swordsmen. They also have no family connection and are considered expendable by those above them. They all have personal issues – Shen wants to buy the freedom of a woman in a brothel that he pays to spend time with but does not sleep with, Yichuan is being blackmailed for a secret in his past and Jingzhong feels he is being overlooked by his superiors and needs money to bribe them. They get chosen to find Wei and kill him. It is a set-up. From this point on the film explodes into intrigue, suspicion and lots of excellent choreographed fights. The three find themselves in a position where everyone is trying to kill them.

The big star here is Chen Chang (Shen) of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame and reportedly the film would not have been made if he hadn’t signed on. He is very good here toeing the line between carrying out his orders and keeping his honor – very unemotional, thoughtful, morose and playing a dangerous game. His Brothers are played by Ethan Li as the young cheerful protégé to Shen and Qianyuan Wang as the wily dignified older one. Both are impressive. As was Chin Shih-chieh as the scheming, merciless and slightly insane Eunuch Wei. Actors who get to play the Eunuchs in these films always take it to a different level than everyone else can. It must be fun. This did very well at the box office and that led to Brotherhood of Blades II.

Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield

Director: Yang Lu
Year: 2017
Rating: 7.5

The follow-up to Brotherhood of Blades (2014) turns out in fact to be a prequel taking place a few months or so before the other film. It is again directed and written by Lu Yang, who surprisingly had only one directing credit before Brotherhood of Blades. These are both big ornate luxurious films for him to have taken on so soon but he does a great job. This one leads right up to the next film (I mean the first film) but doesn’t entirely connect neatly to it. The only characters from the first film in this one are Shen Lian (Chang Cheh), the Imperial Guard/Assassin, and Eunuch Wei still played by Chin Shih-chieh. Neither of Shen’s comrades are present nor his love for the woman in the brothel. Which doesn’t really make any sense if you think about it but nevertheless that is how it is. But if you are looking for more of the Three Musketeers it is not here.

Though this would likely be placed in the Wuxia category, there is only the occasional action piece in it till the very end. It is more a historical thriller detective story with ample amounts of intrigues and conspiracies going on. Characters shift from friends to enemies and enemies to friends as everyone has their own agenda and there is much more going on than easily discerned. What I liked about this complicated plot that whizzes around like a hard thrown rubber ball is that the characters all have motivations – and from their perspective they are all honorable. Betrayals are common but almost justifiable. As I mentioned before in Brotherhood of Blades, the Mainland Wuxia or historical films are serious, brooding films – there is not a light moment to be found here. It is relentlessly dark and dangerous as Shen tries desperately to navigate his life between various factions.