The lost bladesman donnie yen biography

--This is the only thing I don't like about foreign films, is the cruelty to animals that some of them have, at At 44:49 they clearly bust the legs of a horse.

Guan Yu was a general under the leadership of warlord Liu Bei during the Han Dyansty period of Chinese history. a good thing given that the subtitles on my DVD were quite hard to read (small and often white on a pale background).

Now, this should be a fine setup for some good old-fashioned no-nonsense martial arts action. When you combine this with dramatic scenes that come off like the actors are reading cue cards, there's very little of value for The Lost Bladesman to offer a potential audience, unless they're part of the few that haven't had their fill of historical martial arts films.

One fight takes place behind closed doors. Come to think of it, there was a conscious drop of background to how Guan Yu got to each stage which removes plenty of drama, and made it really look like Guan Yu going on a rampage to rid all who stood in his way. Those familiar with the ‘sweeping martial art epic genre’, for indeed it has become a particular subset of an existing sub-genre, will know that the best of its kind manages to captivate with the segments that link the frenetic martial arts wizardry together just as much as the slicing and dicing itself.

Cao Cao is sad and sheds tears for the loss of his friend. Instead, for the most part, we get fight scenes where Donnie has either been heavily assisted by wires or doubled, if we even see him at all. Yen shows why he still has it in him as a top notch action star and choreographer with a variety of fighting styles and mano a mano battles against opponents hell bent on slaying his Guan Yu to gain instant recognizing and fame.

The story isn't too complex...

The important character of Cao Cao is much more than a cardboard cut-out villain, demonstrating incredible kindness at times and fierce loyalty at others, but his ultimate motivations or greater place within the kingdoms is obscured in a convoluted plot made all the more confusing by the obligatory action sequences.

Indeed, Donnie Yen’s central character of Guan Yu is one of the central legends in Chinese history (as his full title of “Saintly Emperor Guan the Great God Who Subdues Demons of the Three Worlds and Whose Awe Spreads Far and Moves Heaven” might indicate), but the only knowledge us outsiders truly gain of him from this production is that he is particularly good with a blade.

The film is not without some staggering highlights, especially one rapid-fire fight sequence within the close confines of an alleyway.

He headed to reunite with Liu Bei, fighting against his lord's rivals for the next two decades until his death.

The scene then turns back to Guan Yu's funeral. Ostensibly, this was done for artistic effect, but it comes off as cinematic wankery, and worse yet, boring. But the better scenes of fisticuffs are too few and far between to provide any true impact to the audience.