Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
From writer/director Daniel Lee comes a new Asian dynasty-focused Movie filled with incredibly entertaining action, Dragon Blade. The Movie may lack in some story aspects, but the adrenalized action that carries the Movie throughout most of the second and third act, quenching the thirst of an audience seeking serious sword-wielding action and real revenge.
Dragon Blade focuses on a strained relationship between Huo An (Jackie Chan) and Lucius (John Cusack) as they form an unlikely alliance with one another shortly after a near-deadly encounter. We are provided with the backstories to each of our characters as we find out that Lucius was a former guard for the evil tyrant Tiberius (Adrien Brody) as he fights for his rightful spot on the throne, even if it means poisoning and blinding his younger brother Publius (Jozef Waite). When Lucius finds out about Tiberius’s actions he takes Publius away from him, committing treason, and tries to bring the boy to safety. This is where he runs into Huo An (Tomer Oz), whose sole responsibility is to protect the Silk Road. When Tiberius presents himself as a force to be reckoned with and tries to take over the Silk Road, the unexpected partnership between Huo An and Lucius and their respective forces, leads towards a battle of epic proportions that is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
Thankfully, when you have an incredibly-talented and diverse actor such as Jackie Chan, you get authenticity with the level of detail he puts into his performances, including executing his own stunt work. However, the performances from both John Cusack and Adrien Brody are not without their merit both as Cusack delivers justice to his savior character and Brody is fear-inducing within his. The performances in Dragon Blade are well done and adds another dimension of depth to this otherwise purely action based Film.
Jackie Chan has well-earned his title as a master of hand-to-hand combat. Throw-in some weapons to the mix and some phenomenal choreography and you have yourself a pretty great Movie. Despite some lags in traction along the way, the thrilling action more than makes for makes up ground for that.
VVS Films release Dragon Blade in theaters and on VOD on Friday September 4, 2015.
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