Brotherhood
Of Blades (2014/Well Go USA Blu-ray)
Picture:
A Sound: B Extras: C- Film: A-
Lu,
Shen Lian, and Yichuan are Imperial Assassins for the Emperor; the
Emperor's most deadly assassins. Their mission... is to eliminate
all the previous Emperor's corrupt eunuchs and any followers.
Together, the three are invincible, but can they withstand the
pressure and corruption from their own court? Envied by their peers,
hated by their superiors, all their hard work, sacrifices, the
credit, their honor, glory was striped from them. The only thing
they can truly rely on is their own swords and their brotherhood in
Lu Yang's Brotherhood Of Blades (2014).
The
only thing more deadly than the foursome are the politicians they
protect, but unfortunately, the politics they represent is just as
corrupt as they ones they replaced. They are forced to kill in the
name of law and order, but in truth the politicians want only to
increase their own wealth. Lu, Shen and Yichuan are the only ones
who believe in fighting for each other, that they do things for more
than just themselves. Sadly, their own past aren't a clean slate
either, Lu in order to get promoted has taken and given bribes, Shen
is in love with whore, and Yichuan has ties to a criminal past.
This
was a tale of tragedy, 3 good friends, soldiers who fight for justice
in an unjust world, the tragedy comes they try to get out and find
themselves in even more debt. In the end, each one of them is
eventually brought down by their own Karma, without going into
details of why. The film is full of action, swordplay and martial
arts, but the story/theme seems to be it is all well and good to
fight for justice but it is meaningless if system is already corrupt.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is terrific and lossless
DTS-HD (MA) Master Audio 5.1 mix are a good combination, but the
English version has awkward dubbing, though the original Mandarin is
consistent, even if the voices are not as well recorded as the rest
of the elements in the mix. The only extra is a trailer.
-
Ricky Chiang
