recommended

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Set in Ming dynasty China, this film follows Qinglong; a member of the Jinyiwei or secret service. This elite force, made up entirely of orphans is dedicated to the service of the emperor but an attempted takeover at the royal court leaves Qinglong fighting to return a stolen royal seal. On his journey he travels with Qiao Hua the beautiful daughter of a man he employed to help him. Before the task is complete they will have to face many enemies but they will also make new friends.The plot to this film is fairly simple but that doesn't matter; this is a film about action and it delivers that in spades with one spectacular fight after another. As one might expect this includes a fair amount of impossibly athletic martial arts as fighters leap through the air, slice through large wooden building supports and dodge arrows… all part of the fun in this sort of film. While their moves may be impossible the protagonists are far from immortal and many will die bloody deaths before the end. Donnie Yen does a fine job as protagonist Qinglong and is ably supported by Wei Zhao who plays Qiao Hua… although I was a little disappointed that she wasn't in more of the action scenes… perhaps because I'd recently watched the playing Mulan! There is a fighting woman in the film; Kate Tsui who plays the most dangerous of the bad guys Tuo Tuo… a woman who wields a weapon that seems to be a cross between a sword and a whip! Chun Wu who plays 'The Judge of the Desert' is also entertaining. Everything looks good and the desert setting and characters on horseback makes it feel much like a western. Overall it might not be the best example but fans of the genre should enjoy it.These comments are based on watching the film in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Whether you enjoy "14 Blades" will most likely depend on what you think of the extensive use of so-called 'wire fu' throughout the film. This term was coined some time ago to describe the martial arts you see in some Chinese films where the stunts can only be achieved using hidden wires and harnesses to make characters magically fly as they fight. This was popularized in the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" but was actually used well before this in some of the Shaw Brothers films of the 1970s (such as "Sister Street Fighter"). I don't mind these crazy techniques if they are used very sparingly. When it doesn't dominate the film and when the actors aren't doing things so insanely impossible that I have trouble enjoying the movie, it can be effective. Instead, I prefer martial arts films where the action is both plausible AND insanely realistic--such as in films like "Ip Man", "In the Blood" and the old Sonny Chiba Street Fighter films. To me, wire fu can become a gimmick-- especially when used too often. And, in "14 Blades" it simply is overused and as a result, the story itself is rather weak.When the film begins, you learn that in the Ming Dynasty, the Emperors created the Jinyiwei. The Jinyiwei was initially a small group of men who were like a combination of spies and assassins. They were independent of the rest of the government and had the authority to overrule judges and dispatch supposed enemies of the Emperor with their bladed weapons. While this sounds far-fetched, I did some research and found that this really was a secret organization which was created in 14th century China! So, I applaud the film for basing the plot, in part, on real historical facts and characters.One of these Jinyiwei, General Qinlong (Donnie Yen) is the hero, of sorts, in this film. He is betrayed by disloyal folks within the Emperor's court and spends the entire film being pursued by an outlaw Prince and his band of baddies. Throughout the film, it's one battle after another after another, as the Prince's troops try to kill Qinlong and steal the royal seal. And, the baddest of these baddies is Tuo Tuo, the Prince's adopted daughter. She has all sorts of magical fighting powers, can punch through trees, tosses enormous statues about as if they were made of styrofoam and can appear and disappear, fly and do practically anything. How could Qinlong possibly defeat this magical killing machine?!To me, if Tuo Tuo had been eliminated from the film completely, "14 Blades" would have been a much better film. She simply was too impossible to believe and her stunts were insanely impossible--yet many of the fight scenes without her were exciting and high-energy. The wizards in The Lord of the Rings films had less powers than she did and to me this was just a distraction. This combining of real historical events (the Jinyimei) with ridiculous over-the-top characters didn't work for me and I wish the director, Daniel Lee, had focused less on these stunts and more on the story and realistic fighting. Not a bad film, it lacks the depth and believable characters I look for in a great martial arts movie.

From all the reviews that I read above me seems like no one knows that 14 Blades is a Shaw Brothers remake of the 1984 movie Secret Service of Imperial Court directed by Tony Liu Jun Guk. Now that I got that out of the way the modern version 14 blades is directed by mostly hit or miss Daniel Lee.His credits include Black Mask,What Price Survival,Three Kingdoms Resurrection of the Dragon,Star Runner Aka Kumite,Dragon Squad aka Dragon Heat and the upcoming Wuxia White Vengeance.As you can see from those credits most people that have seen his movies only Black Mask and What Price Survival were their favorites. The cast includes both new actors old school Kung Fu actors from the Shaw Brothers era like Chen Kwan Tai,Wu Ma,Lam Chi Tai,Fung Hak On.From Golden Harves of course Sammo Hung which has only a supporting part and does not lay a finger on nobody,Duel to the Death's Damian Lau (if you blinked you missed him because i don't even remember him being in it).Wu Chun who looks like a pretty boy Asian Jack Sparrow,Vicky Zhao Whei,and Donnie Yen filling up for Leung Kar Yan aka Beardy. The Cinematography is nice too look at as well as the special effects.Donnie Yen barely saves this movie and the supporting cast seems to be weak and not backing him up at all.There is both some wire fu and some good fighting scenes in this movie but unless you're a Donnie Yen fan this one is an OK movie better than Three Kingdoms but not better than its rivals like Ip Man movies and True Legend by Yuen Woo Ping.Watch the Original it is 10 times better and did not need wire fu or GGI to make it a good movie.

As i said in the summary this movie is like a candy for a chocolate lover! If you are the kinda person who likes the martial art movies, if you wanna see some kungfu kicks and wanna hear swusshhhh of the swords, this is the movie for you. Story is not that extraordinary, screenplay is good, locations are good. In the second half of the movie they added this middle-eastern styled city, it looks like a place straight from Arabian desert cartoon and Chun Wu's appearance fills the role of Aladdin lol.Wei Zhao was good in her role but I'm not sure how much you gonna like her. She is not the Wei Zhao of shaolin soccer or red cliff, shes more of a Wei Zhao of warriors of heaven and earth. she does not know any martial arts in the movie and the love story between Donnie and Wei is not that impressive. The box of swords used by Donnie and the all little gadgets its embedded with is quite new and very good. Kate Tsui's role was good, she had the exact amount of screen time that was needed and she did exactly what she was supposed to do. However there are quite a lot mistakes but hey come on, its a martial arts movie. The ending of the movie could have been different and better.Final verdict: Good acting, good action scenes, okish story, nice locations and worth watching MA. Its definitely watchable movie, i got exactly what i expected to see, not a penny more not a penny less. I give it a rating of 6.