Dragon Blade
English (U/A) ¬¬
Cast: Jackie Chan, John
Cusack, Adrien Brody, Lin Peng, Mika Wang
Director: Daniel Lee
Except for being a visual fiesta in martial arts, Dragon Blade is a monotonous affair. Jackie Chan (also the producer) plays peacekeeper Huo An in this period drama that revolves around “Roman soldiers taking the Silk Route to go to China 2,000 years ago.”
Travelling back in time and forward, the sumptuously mounted eagle-meets-dragon saga sees many a bloody battle. But it turns tiresome with 36 nations embroiled in a struggle where only the fittest would survive.
The ambitious action adventure helmed by Daniel Lee seeks to educate warring gladiators to live in peace, but lacks necessary gravitas to engross one through its 124.47 minutes of screen time.
The humanist tale of Huo An — inspired by the legendary Han who becomes the commander of Silk Road Protection Squad seeking to maintain peace — turns repetitive as it speaks of the bravado of the legionnaires. How his friendship with Lucius — a Roman general who leads his legion and child prince Publius far from home to escape the clutches of the boy’s evil elder brother, Tiberius — forms the fragile fibre of Dragon Blade.
With its ludicrous lows, Dragon Blade ends up as an effort to showcase the “slowly fading” charms of Chan.
