The Wild Blade of Strangers

Story: In the Ming Dynasty, the Prince of Qi murdered the crown prince and put himself on the throne by using a forged decree. However, the crown prince has a son, and he could challenge the Prince of Qi for the throne in the future. Thus, he orders General Xuqing (Geng Le) to find the baby. Xuqing and his men almost have the baby in their power, but Nie Ling'er (Xia Meng), who takes care of the baby, desperately seeks help from the coal seller Tian Anye (Zhang Jin) on the street. Tian doesn't want anything to do with the matter, but his business partner Qiansun (Liu Hua) persuades him to help the woman. They therefore hide them from the palace guards, but in the end, they are found. But Tian is a master of the sword and manages to take out the guards. While General Xuqing learns that a new person has entered the battlefield, Tian is approached by another party who, for unknown reasons, wants to protect the baby and get it out of town. Qin Gu (Jiang Luxia) is the leader of this group and together with Tian she works out a plan. But Xuqing is not willing to just let her go...

Review: The times when you could only see good wuxia movies in cinema are long gone, even in China. By now, you can find boring Marvel-ish CGI stuff without a story or interesting characters everywhere. Therefore, it should not be too surprising that there have actually been a few pearls on the iQIYI streaming service lately that should not be missed. My personal favorite so far was "The Hidden Fox", but "Eye for an Eye 2" should be far better known. Accordingly, I keep my eyes open for new genre entries on the streaming service, and thanks to the ratings, you can quickly detect potentially good movies. Like in the case of the weirdly titled wuxia work "The Wild Blade of Strangers", which also caught my attention because Zhang Jin (aka Max Zhang) can finally be seen in a leading role again. The result is indeed impressive.

Lately, it has been particularly striking how much higher the production value is nowadays, or at least how much more expensive the movies on iQIYI look. The sets in "The Wild Blade of Strangers" are excellent and never seem cheap or like recycled studio locations. The costumes are equally brilliant, and the numerous extras make the flick seem a lot bigger too. It is small moments like the one in which the camera briefly pans through a festival in the city, where different traders and visitors from various cultures mingle, that breathe life into the movie. It also refrains from using unnecessary CGI effects, which are usually not very convincing in Chinese productions anyway. And even though we are clearly presented with a well-equipped world here, which also focuses on a political intrigue, the plot concentrates on the essentials, namely the characters and their motivations. That's what makes the story work so well in the end.

However, getting into the movie may require a little patience. We are slowly introduced to the different characters and parties and the camera work seems a bit strange at first. For example, the camera itself is moving a lot because it is supposed to represent, say, a log, which is an interesting directorial choice, but unfortunately, this stylistic device is used far too often. In the further course of the flick, this is luckily scaled back and only used sporadically, e.g. when a head is cut off, which then again works quite well. Still, getting drawn in is also difficult because the characters don't make it easy to warm up to them. Zhang Jin ("Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy") plays the coal merchant with an enormous calmness and so stoically that we know right from the start that his past holds a great secret. Acting-wise, this therefore kind of gets a bit clichéd, but at least Zhang Jin always manages to show some screen presence in his scenes.

Tian's business partner and Ling'er bring a little more emotion to the story, though. And even the enigmatic third party manages to arouse our interest. None of the characters get the depth you would wish for, but it's enough to make us feel involved in the events after the first 30 minutes. In addition, the story offers enough material and twists that the movie also works outside of the fights. It's surprising, though, that the fights even seem quite disappointing at first. Watching Tian face off against a variety of opponents is fun - and visually appealing, as the fight with an improvised "fire whip" proves - but it doesn't knock your socks off. However, this changes abruptly in the middle of the movie when Tian competes against the villain for the first time. The fight offers great choreography, creativity, and a strategic approach. In addition, you always feel like something is at stake. Down-to-earth fights (including some wire-fu, of course) like this one, and of course the finale, are exactly what most wuxia movies lack nowadays.

Unfortunately, there are also a few moments when the movie drags on a bit, but the finale is able to compensate for that. The showdown simply has character. Tian, who initially laid some traps with his allies, has to defend himself against a small army, while Ling'er performs a dance as a thank you, even though crossbow arrows are flying through the air everywhere. This may seem a bit too artificial, but it's still entertaining and gives the whole thing a special touch. You also get the feeling that director Li Wei has copied a bit from previous iQIYI works (for example, predicting the opponent's next attacks, which are then shown with their possible outcome). But since he uses elements that work well, it's not a big deal. And Tian's preferred weapon later explains his fighting style we saw him perform with a normal sword at the beginning. For wuxia fans, it's details like these that make "The Wild Blade of Strangers" worth a recommendation, and on top of that we also get a decent story as a bonus.

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