Brotherhood of Blades (2014) - Review by Yuliang Liu

History of The Film

This is a Chinese martial arts movie, which was released in August 2014. The investment is about 30 million yuan, and the final box office score is 90 million yuan. This movie is considered to be one of the most successful martial arts movies of this century, and some people think that this movie is a successful example of martial arts film innovation. The main storyline of the film is about after Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty ascended the throne, Eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who had held power in the central government for many years, was driven out of the central government, and Wei’s disciples were cleaned up in the central government, and then the new Eastern Depot (spy and secret police organization) leader was sent Zhao leads people to arrest Wei, and the emperor needs Wei's money to help the disaster and maintain the war against Manchuria. But zhao tampered with the emperor's order and asked the three protagonists who worked in Jinyiwei to kill Wei, because zhao was also a disciple of wei. In order to cover up this fact, he tampered with the emperor's order. When the three protagonists found Wei who lives in a small hotel, they fought with wei’s cronies. Finally, shen (the male protagonist) met Wei alone, and was persuaded by Wei to accept a large sum of money from Wei. Let him go and replace him with the corpse of his servant, so that he can return to life. This money also allows him to help his elder brother Lu and his younger brother Jin solve their difficulties, and to save his favorite girl Zhou. Zhou was killed due to family reasons. Income from a state-owned brothel, and the reason for this result is precisely because shen, the central official han found some loopholes in shen’s practice, and at this time wei found zhao, both of them have reasons to kill the three brothers The three brothers began to be assassinated. Shen could only tell the truth to Lu and Jin. In the end, Jin was killed by his classmate Ding (Ding was hired by Zhao). Lu surrendered to the central government, admitted all crimes, and was eventually executed. After she rescued Zhou, she tracked zhao to Manchuria and found that zhao had collided with the enemy. So after a fight with zhao, she killed zhao. Ding also went to Manchuria after helping she put zhou in Suzhou and watched she kill him. Zhao later told Shen about Zhou's location, and finally Shen rode a horse alone on the grassland, recalling the days he had spent with the two brothers. The script was inspired by Japanese writer Ryōtarō Shiba’s novel "Blood Wind Records of the New Writers Group". Under the writing of director and screenwriter Lu Yang, the story has changed from the love of the marginal warriors to the resistance of the marginal warriors to fate. The emotional drama is still there, but No longer the main plot. It took two and a half years from the completion of the first draft of the script to the final draft. The film did not get too good publicity before it was released, but still allowed it to receive box office income equivalent to three times the production cost. Even if the share with the theater party was removed, it also got about 30% of the investment. Can prove the reputation of the film. The main actors of the film have all been recognized by the audience, except for the actress Liu Shihshi, who played the heroine Zhou. The audience thought that she did not successfully interpret the contradictory character of Zhou, and her eyes could not convey enough emotion. This is the only actor criticized by the audience. The rest, whether it is the three protagonists, zhao, wei, and even ding, who has not many roles, all deduce the unique personality of the character. The successful interpretation of the actors is also one of the important reasons for the popularity of the film.

Historical Analysis of the Film

The logic in the plot of the movie fits the history very well, except that the hero helped Wei Zhongxian to forge the plot of his death, because in history Wei committed suicide by hanging himself, the body was not destroyed, and officials who recognized the corpse were suppressed when Wei took power. It is difficult to risk his life to help Wei escape. So this point should not conform to historical facts. Also, the protagonist’s costume is inconsistent with historical facts. The protagonist is a junior officer in Jinyiwei who is not qualified to wear a flying fish suit, and the flying fish suit worn by the protagonist does not match the historical costume. The hats and costumes of officials in the movie are also inconsistent with history. First of all, the officials’ hats do not have the correct caps, and the tonics representing the ranks are also wrong. This error is very low-level, because the official Ming Dynasty clothing materials are very rich, regardless There are many books handed down during the Ming Dynasty or archaeological discoveries. However, the movie about the restoration of society at the end of the Ming Dynasty, especially the restoration of officialdom, is very realistic. For example, at that time, the most critical factor in determining the promotion of officials was whether the bribes to higher-level officials were sufficient rather than credit. It is easy for high-level officials to manipulate their subordinates. These are all very good restorations of the dark and chaotic era at that time. Every little person is struggling to survive. This is also the most successful part of the film.