Blades of the Guardians by Yuen Woo-ping (Review)

With a career spanning more than 50 years, Yuen Woo-ping is one of greatest martial arts filmmakers of all time. Western moviegoers will most likely recognize his name thanks to his intricate and mind-blowing action choreography on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the original Matrix trilogy, and the Kill Bill movies. However, Yuen has numerous classics to his name, both as director and choreographer, including Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, Drunken Master, Once Upon a Time in China, Iron Monkey, Fist of Legend, Kung Fu Hustle, and The Grandmaster.

In other words, Yuen Woo-ping has directed some of the greatest martial arts films of all time. Even so, it’s safe to say that his latest film — and first feature film in nearly a decade — is his most epic work to date.

Adapted from Xianzhe Xu’s acclaimed comic series, Blades of the Guardians is a modern wuxia classic, filled with sweeping desert vistas, an intricate storyline, and, as you’d expect, blinding martial arts action. Although Blades of the Guardians doesn’t quite reach the graceful heights of arthouse fare like Zhang Yimou’s Hero (my personal gold standard for wuxia cinema), Yuen and action choreographer Shan Peng Dang still deliver the high-flying goods. As with most modern action films, Blades of the Guardians contains plenty of obvious CGI, but it’s a testament to Yuen and Shan’s filmmaking, as well as their highly trained cast, that the visual effects never overwhelm or undermine the human skills on display.

I’ve been watching martial arts films for nearly three decades now, long enough to sometimes think I’ve seen it all. Yet Blades of the Guardians still showed me some original moments and moves that had me rewinding so I could see them again and again. At one point, two combatants duel in the midst of a savage sandstorm straight out of Mad Max: Fury Road, and Yuen uses the wind and swirling sand to create a swordfight that grows increasingly surreal and dreamlike, though no less intense.

One of those combatants is Dao Ma (Wu Jing), a former government soldier who now travels the wilderness with his adopted son while seeking work as a bounty hunter, Lone Wolf and Cub style. Despite his infamous reputation — or perhaps because of it — Dao Ma is hired to escort Zhi Shilang (Sun Yizhou), who has become the nation’s most wanted criminal after launching a rebellion against the corrupt government. Not surprisingly, their journey is soon to be complicated by government forces, rival bounty hunters, desert clans seeking to claim Zhi Shilang’s bounty for themselves, and even a ghost from Dao Ma’s past.

To the best of my knowledge, no sequel has been announced, but Blades of the Guardians — which is subtitled Wind Rises in the Desert — certainly feels like the first in a series due to its world-building and front-loading, which includes introducing a new character or faction every fifteen minutes or so. Unfortunately, that means the film does start to feel a bit convoluted as it juggles multiple storylines alongside Dao Ma’s primary mission.

Some of those storylines feel like they ought to merit their own movies, like a fiery young warrior’s efforts to buck her clan duties or Dao Ma’s encounter with a former comrade seeking to reclaim his lost honor. But in their current form, they end up feeling a bit truncated and underdeveloped. (Blades of the Guardians clocks in at two hours, but in truth, I wouldn’t have minded another 15 – 20 minutes if that meant giving those storylines some additional space in which to develop.)

As befitting its scope, Blades of the Guardians’ cast is pretty stacked. Wu Jing has emerged as one of China’s biggest stars in recent years, thanks to such blockbusters as Wolf Warrior 2, The Wandering Earth, and The Battle at Lake Changjin, so it’s no surprise that he was cast in the lead as Dao Ma. (It also brings things full circle since he was discovered by Yuen Woo-ping, who gave him his first starring role with 1996’s Tai Chi Boxer.)

But as good as Wu and the younger cast members are, the real treat is watching Jet Li and Tony Leung Ka-fai. Li, who starred in some of Yuen’s most well-known films, has slowed down in recent years, with his last role being The Emperor in 2020’s live-action Mulan. Here, he gives a wonderful performance as a devious general intent on capturing Dao Ma. Li clearly relishes the role, elevating it above a glorified cameo, and even gets a chance to show off his martial arts chops, which still look pretty formidable. As for Leung, he brings a wonderful gravitas to Lao Mo, Dao Ma’s benefactor who becomes trapped between his personal sense of honor, his obligations to his clan, and his love for his daughter.

I had no idea that Blades of the Guardians was a Yuen Woo-ping film when I started watching its trailer on YouTube. Seeing his name pop up brought back all sorts of fond memories of watching his wild and frenetic wire-fu in Iron Monkey and Tai Chi Master. I’m thrilled to see that, thirty years after those films, Yuen can still deliver the action, and even make it look bigger and more grandiose than ever before.