Truth be told, I like my “kung fu” films to be more about open-hand fighting than sword-wielding dramas, but every so often I’m happy to watch the latter. Enter Brotherhood of Blades which is out this week from Well Go USA. Originally released in China in 2014, it was nominated for four Golden Horse Awards and features a very capable cast and crew. At the helm is Director Lu Yang and leading the cast is Chang Chen who was in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as well as the massive war epic, Red Cliff. The story of Brotherhood takes place in the 1620s and is about three members of the Secret Police of the Imperial Guard. They’re essentially Imperial Assassins, who are highly skilled and love each other like brothers. They lead modest lives, but do get their hands bloody when their occupation requires, which it often does.
A new emperor, Chongzhen, has tasked them with finding and arresting all supports of the former Head Eunuch, Wei Zhongxian. Wei has been exiled and is being sought by the emperor. Wei is found early in the film, but what happens during the brothers’ assault on Wei’s hideout begins a series of increasingly intense events. The brothers have to depend on one another more than ever as the grip of the Imperial Court begins to tighten and betrayal and conspiracy run amuck. Further layering to the story stems from two diverse love interests, one that seems perfectly innocent yet ultimately unobtainable, and the other that is severely tainted with violent events that took place years ago.
I’m trying to avoid any spoilers because Brotherhood relies so much on its story and characters as opposed to the action. The pacing and details of the story do take a while to come about, and at times I was a bit confused, but it kept me hooked until the end out of curiosity about the fates of all of the characters. The three brothers are well developed and I did become pretty invested in them. Just bear in mind the film is more of a tragedy than a ‘feel good’ one, though. It does make for a solid viewing experience the first time through, and you might give it a second go to make sure you understood the layers of the plot, but I’m not in any rush to watch it again. The action, while serviceable, isn’t enough to have me returning anytime soon. So despite the flashy box art, the action in Brotherhood is not one of its strengths, it just sort of ‘is.’ The combat scenes aren’t bad, they’re just not that memorable (other than the silly CG blood effects in one or two of the fights, which felt well out of place).
Brotherhood of Blades is presented of course in 16:9, 1080p and it looks great from a technical perspective and in an artistic sense. DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio in both native Mandarin and English tracks are included, as as Dolby Digital 2.0 in both languages, with only English subtitles included. The subs worked well, I didn’t have any issues with the speed of them or anything like that. In a word, the presentation quality is great. As for extra features, there are none to speak of, but there is a trailer running 1m36s, in HD.
And with that, let’s get to the summary…
