Brotherhood of Blades - DVD

Film: Around the year 1620, Wei Zhongxian (Chin Shih-Chieh), the leader of the Imperial Assassins, rules the imperial court for many years. But when the new Emperor Chongzehn came to power, Wei Zhongxian was stripped of his posts and exiled. However, this did not truly disempower the supreme eunuch. He was still pulling the political strings from the distant outpost. To put an end to this, three blood brothers were assigned to arrest Wei and all his followers. Lian Shen (Chang Chen), Lu Jianxing (Wang Qianyuan) and Jin Yichuan (Li Dongxue) took on this dangerous task - each of them for different reasons. But when one of them allows himself to be corrupted, they all become entangled in a deadly web of betrayal, lies, and conspiracies that will demand great sacrifices from them.

Brotherhood of Blades is a visually stunning historical drama that boasts good actors, an opulent set, and some top-notch choreographed battle sequences. The story itself is relatively simple, but is presented in an overly complicated manner, especially at the beginning. It takes time for the viewer to realize who is fighting whom and what motivations compel each protagonist to accept the dangerous assignment of hunting down and arresting (or killing) Wie Zhongxian's followers. Once all that is established, the movie follows a very straightforward dramaturgy that has little really new to offer. And that's actually the only real problem with the production.

For as beautiful as the film is to look at, and as exciting as the somewhat convoluted story may be at the beginning, the film ultimately suffers from not managing to stand out from the crowd of similar type works. The fight sequences are great executed, but overall just come up short. The dramatic aspects - Lian Shen's unrequited love for courtesan Miaotong, who loves another man, or the blackmail of Jin Yichuan by the crook Xiu - are sometimes laid on a bit too thick, so that it's hard for the viewer to really let himself fall into the story. This leads to the fact that even the dramatic ending, which actually offers enough material for real emotions, leaves you rather cold.

Despite this: even if the story tends to fish in familiar waters and there are some dramaturgical lengths, Brotherhood of Blades offers enough entertainment value and appealing fodder for the eye in the end to give fans of Asian historical adventures an entertaining home cinema evening. And that's why we give it a satisfied: worth seeing!

Image + Sound: If there is one aspect that can fully convince in Brotherhood of Blades, then it is the opulent imagery. And this comes across well on the DVD thanks to the powerful colour scheme, which is often dominated by warm greens, and a high level of detail sharpness. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix comes across as pleasantly dynamic even in the more sedate scenes, as not only clearer sound effects but also smaller ambient noises bring life to the surround channels. The DTS mix is still a bit more powerful overall, which can be heard especially during the fight scenes. Good!

Extras: Unfortunately, the disc has no bonus material to offer. Weak!

Conclusion: Brotherhood of Blades is a visually stunning historical drama that can make up for a few dramatic flaws with some very well choreographed fight sequences and opulent sets. Even though the film doesn't really offer much new, there is enough fodder for the eye, so that genre fans will definitely get their money's worth here. The DVD is technically appealing, only in terms of extras one would have wished for something more. Overall, however, there is an absolutely deserved: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp