Yuen Woo-ping and Jet Li Return with Blades of the Guardians

Earlier this month, I started making my way through the Once Upon a Time in China series, which contains some of the most acclaimed martial arts films of all time. The films feature Jet Li as Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung as well as furious action choreography courtesy of the one and only Yuen Woo-ping (Iron Monkey, The Matrix). Thus, it seemed rather fortuitous when I came across this trailer for Blades of the Guardians, Yuen’s first feature-length directorial effort since 2018’s Master Z: Ip Man Legacy.

Based on Xianzhe Xu’s popular Chinese manhua series, which was previously adapted into a 2023 animation, Blades of the Guardians stars Wu Jing as a legendary bodyguard who’s hired to escort a dangerous criminal across the desert. His mission, however, grows increasingly dangerous due to bandits, government officials, and rival bounty hunters. The film also stars Nicholas Tse, Tony Leung Ka-fai, and best of all, Jet Li, who last appeared in 2020’s live-action Mulan.

Yuen is one of the all-time great martial arts filmmakers, and Wu has established himself as a bonafide action star thanks to films like Sha Po Lang and Wolf Warrior 2. As for Blades of the Guardians, it certainly looks epic thanks to the desert backdrop, though I’m curious to see how the martial arts action looks. Will it hearken back to Yuen’s classic wire fu days, or will it fully embrace modern CGI and visual effects? In any case, I look forward to seeing it for myself.

Blades of the Guardians is currently in theaters, courtesy of Well Go USA. However, I will have to likely wait for the streaming or home video release.