14 Blades
Reviewed by
Christopher Armstead
‘14 Blades’ is the third movie I’ve seen from director Daniel Lee and based on these three films it looks to me like Mr. Lee might not be much of a story teller but he sure is one helluva visualist. Seriously, ‘Dragon Heat’, ‘Resurrection of the Dragon’ and this movie are so optically and aurally spectacular that it almost brings a tear to my eye but the stories in these movies tend to defy all reason and logic. ‘Resurrection of the Dragon’ less so because it’s biography of sorts but it’s a bio that skips over forty years of the subjects lifetime and if forty missing years isn’t a plot hole then I don’t what is. But despite whatever shortcomings ‘Dragon Heat’ and ‘Resurrection of the Dragon’ might’ve had, I really enjoyed sitting through those movies… but not nearly as much as I enjoyed sitting though ’14 Blades’.

Sammo Hung plays a part in this as well as Prince Qing who I believe is mounting a coup of sorts and to this end has sent his adoptive daughter Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui) to spearhead this little plan of his. Now I’m looking at this completely adorable young woman and thinking how dangerous can this cute little thing… oh… damn. That’s ugly what she did that guy. I hate to be crude but the character of Tuo Tuo just might be the baddest bitch in history of movies. The Bride thinks she needs to bring it down a notch and show some compassion every once in a while.
Anyway Qinglong needs safe passage to heaven knows where and hires an escort agency run by the aging Jiao Zhong (Wu Ma) and his lovely daughter Qiao Hua (Vicky Zhao) to shield him while he gets to wherever it is he is trying to go. The escorts are oblivious to the fact that Qinglong is Jinyiwei but they will find out soon enough when on their journey he single handedly eviscerates a troop of his former charges sent to retrieve him.


Eventually Qinglong runs off with Qiao Hua as his ‘hostage’ which is obviously just an excuse to get these attractive people alone so they can bond and fan the fires of love. More or less. While they do all that Tuo Tuo is steady tracking her prey while Qinglong is looking to set things right and restore his dignity in addition to making the person that betrayed him pay the ultimate price. But eventually it has to come down the mano a womano battle between the tattooed badass and the cutie pie who is mighty pissed off throughout this entire movie. Who the heck is she so mad at?
I’ve read in numerous publications that Donnie Yen isn’t considered to be much of an actor, and who am I to say differently since I wouldn’t know good acting if it walked up and kicked me in the nuts. That being said it looked to me like Mr. Yen did some preparation before taking on the role of Qinglong in this film ‘14 Blades’. Now this prep either consisted of Donnie taking some time off to hone his acting skills or it this prep consisted of Donnie hitting the gym and bulking up a bit to look even more badass. If you’re curious Donnie Yen did the right thing and chose option B.


Narratively speaking there were times I didn’t know what precisely was going on in this movie especially in the beginning as it was attempting to setup its story but after that nonsense was out of the way, and it gets out of the way quickly, the rest of this movie is a festival of ass kicking delight and actress Vicki Zhao staring longingly off into the distance. This isn’t to say that ‘14 Blades’ is just series of disconnected action sequences as the main story elements, Qinglong’s relationship with Qiao Hua and his quest for redemption, are crystal clear and handled very well by Daniel Lee. Vicki Zhao creates a multi dimensional character which draws us into her life and has the audience actively involved in caring about her outcome. But don’t get it confused, it is the big time action sequences that make this movie so much fun to watch.

Kung fu, Wire fu, shootouts, runaway carriages, explosions, gun fights, avalanches, knife fights, sword fights and more death and destruction than you can shake a stick at. It’s all here in glorious Technicolor. The best of course is the ridiculously beautiful Kate Tsui, her character of Tuo Tuo, the assassins CGI doppelganger and Tuo Tuo’s various methods of death dealing who complemented Donnie Yen’s typical badassery just perfectly. Outstanding.
‘14 Blades’ is a movie had me feeling like a ten year old again. When you’re ten you can watch something and while you might not what’s going on, you really don’t really care what’s going on. You just know you’re having a good time watching it.