Wow. Was not expecting all the whiners to be the only comments. It's a shame too
This movie was GREAT!!!

First, let me say you can't expect it to be a comedy/kung fu movie. Chan was tired of being type cast and he does a tremendous job playing one of China's folklore heroes.

Next it's often hard for "westerners" to understand that the Chinese and Japanese culture have written history going back much further, because they didn't destroy written history from one dynasty to the next. The events this is based on occurred during the Han dynasty under Emperor Yuan. His formal decrees, referenced at the end of the movie, are still archived in China. So we know the Roman soldiers did in fact help defend the West gate Wild Geese city. Whether Huo An and General Lucius became friends or enemy of my enemy is hard to know, but warriors even today often respect those they fight with even if not friends.

You have to go into this movie knowing it's based on facts that are in historical record and in Chinese folklore. You also have to go into it knowing it's not a kung fu movie, or at least like me, realize very quickly that's not what it is. After that though, wow. This is sleeper hit. Brody is great. Chan is actually surprisingly good in the dramatic role and deserves respect for this. And Cusack? Probably one of his best performances in decades.

If I have one complaint. The memory flashbacks to explain away some of the movie is well done and I normally don't like that. I think I might have made the movie longer and done it in whole, but then you really wouldn't get in 50-48 BC how alliances were not necessarily clear. News didn't travel even close to how it did in the last century let alone now.

***East meets West on the Silk Road in this hyperactive action/adventure***

In 48 BC, a peace-promoting protection squad on the Silk Road in Northwestern China is assigned to construction work at Wild Geese Gate wherein they are assisted by a fugitive legion of Romans led by General Lucius (John Cusack), who befriends the leader of the security company (Jackie Chan). When shady Roman leader Tiberius (Adrien Brody) arrives with an army of 100,000, the other two groups team-up against them.

Supposedly inspired by real-life events, "Dragon Blade" (2015) is a Chinese action/adventure that cost $65 million and looks it. The film is top-of-the-line as far as production quality goes (score, cast, costumes, sets, quick editing, locations, etc.). Chan is entertaining as usual while Cusack and Brody surprisingly tower in their roles (I say “surprisingly” because I wouldn’t have imagined them cutting it as Roman commanders in the ancient past). The tone is serious with goofy quick-edited action and a modest amount of humor that’s actually funny.

If you happened upon any 2-3 minutes of this film you’d automatically think that it was a very worthy adventure flick. Unfortunately, it’s too manic for its own good. I tried to adapt to its hyper tone and did so until just past the halfway mark when the overkill action style pretty much lost me. I endured to the end, but it was difficult. It seriously needed to slow down and cultivate depth (but at least it tries to at times).

“Dragon Blade” lacks the confident poise of the excellent “Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan” (2007) and instead shoots for overKILL. Consider the frenzied pace of the 2011 version of “Conan the Barbarian,” but up the ante a couple of notches. That’s this movie.

The film runs 2 hours, 7 minutes and was shot in Hengdian and Dunhuang, China, as well as the Gobi Desert.

GRADE: C