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Dragon Blade
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This is the latest Jackie Chan film, the most expensive one ever made in China to date, released for Chinese New Year. It was responsible for the first time China's box office beat Hollywood's, but to be fair, February is a weak month for Hollywood because everyone is focused on the Oscars, and Chinese New Year is the third major film rush in China.

I'm still ruminating over Dragon Blade. It's very Jackie Chan, especially if you've kept up with his more recent efforts like Chinese Zodiac or Little Big Soldier. He has distinctive style of storytelling that is complex and interwoven that leads to some great moments, but has a strange rhythm, more akin to the tempo of Bollywood film than Hollywood. It doesn't lend itself well to American audiences. I was thoroughly engaged by Dragon Blade, but I'm so biased. Jackie has been entertaining me for nearly four decades now. At some point in the film, he always delivers for me. I wouldn't recommend to many however, because the style of filmmaking will be to alien for most, and that will just get written off as lousy, especially because of the nature of the story. Nevertheless, Dragon Blade has several surprisingly poignant, even poetic, moments, stand-out scenes amongst the action and overdone melodrama. A few scenes have really stuck with me, not because it was a great fight or anything, more so because the film reached an emotional point that was touching despite so many absurd plot issues. Maybe that's just me, my admiration for Jackie, messing with my perspective on it.

This film is utterly massive in scope. Set on the Silk Road, there are eye-popping panoramic vistas (and some mediocre CGI that probably looks better in 3D). The money was spent on lavish costumes - the armor is to die for. Of course, there's some absurdity in the idea that anyone would wear full battle armor in the scorching desert while moving refrigerator-sized stones to rebuild a city wall, but the armor is so cool looking, we'll just overlook that. There also are some impressive set pieces, but I'd have to see it on the big screen to see where the sets really end and the CGI begins. I will try to see this on the big screen if possible. This is not a humorous film. It gets a little preachy with its moral stance about how different people can come together. Large portions are in English. There's a lot of music too. John Cusack really shines as the Roman General. The more I think about Cusack, the more I admire his body of work. Adrian Brody hams it up as the villain. He's actually not in it that much until the end. The film is bookended by a modern day story arc where a couple of archeologists are seeking the ruins of an ancient city (the setting of the film) that is entire superfluous and I hope that is cut when it is released in America (still no word on when that might happen but it is supposed to get a theatrical release).

As for the action, it's enjoyable. Lots of sword fights. For Jackie, it's nothing new choreographically or stunt speaking. In fact, he even recycles a few moves like the catch-the-falling-babe-by-copping-a-double-feel that he did with Michelle Yeoh in Supercop as well as the keep-adversarial-swordsmen-from-drawing-juggling-act from Young Master. There are no long uncut action pieces, but the dialog of the fight is clever and agile, signature Jackie choreography. Remarkably, the best action piece is an archery sequence, which leads me to think Jackie is poaching from K-flicks as they have done so many thrilling archery battles. The final battle is huge, like Lord of the Rings huge, but with live actors instead of CGI orcs. It gets super sanguineous, but not that gory - no entrails, but lots of blood spitting, arterial sprays and one hand chopped off. A lot of characters die in the end.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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