14 Blades

I got Gam yee wai (14 Blades) over the weekend and watched it over Saturday.

It's essentially the story of some psychotic secret police martial artist working in Ming dynasty China who gets embroiled in some politics. The title comes from the fact he carries a box with 14 swords in it for a variety of killing methods.

The story doesn't make a lot of sense, but I fault that to Daniel Lee's HORRIBLE direction. The costuming, casting, etc. all seemed fine, but the direction was pretty bad. I can't say the script was all that hot either, but I was operating on subtitles, so I'm willing to let that slide.

In a nutshell, it's a reason for Donnie Yen to go around throwing down. There's a variety of other characters who flow in and out of the story for no apparent reason. They have no impact on the overall story.

The final throwdown between Donnie Yen's disgraced secret policeman and the dreadlocked asskicking assassin princess woman was decidedly anticlimactic and kind of stupid.

I'm glad I got the film for a really cheap price. It was amusing, but I'd be upset if I paid a lot for it.