Teaser and pics from ‘14 Blades’

The first official teaser trailer for Daniel Lee’s upcoming period martial arts film, 14 BLADES, starring Donnie Yen and Vicki Zhao has arrived. Previously, a very brief teaser leaked onto the web courtesy of amateur video.

Here are also some fresh images courtesy of Sina.

In 14 BLADES, Yen is part of an elite team of Imperial Guards, who grows weary of killing and politics so he resigns. Yet he knows too much about their organization to simply walk away and becomes a target of his former comrades who are now under the command of scheming court officials.

Other cast members feature a mix of new and veteran entertainers. Sadly, all of the young stars featured are idols rather than dedicated martial artists. Wu Chun is a member of Taiwanese boy band Fahrenheit and has starred in several TV series. Qi Yuwu is a former Star Search China winner from Singapore who previously starred in Lee’s TV series MASTER SWORDSMAN LU XIAO FENG (2001).

Now when it comes to the veterans, Lee picked some of the best. Legendary action director and martial arts actor Sammo Hung appears, along with one of the best-trained stars to ever headline Shaw Brothers movies, the great Chen Kuan-tai (THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG). There is also mainland wushu champion Xu Xiang-dong, who caught my eye after tangling with Yuen Biao in the excellent TV series WING CHUN. Other veteran actors appearing include Wu Ma, Damian Lau and Law Kar-ying.

Both Yen and the footage shown look promising and I’m going to try and keep an open mind despite knowing who the helmer is. Daniel Lee is a filmmaker whose output I haven’t been able to warm to, largely because of consistently immature and overly sentimental storytelling, and stylized direction and editing which both tend to diminish and obscure rather than elevate and clarify action sequences. DRAGON SQUAD and THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON are his two most recent films.

It isn’t talked about much in Chinese media but 14 BLADES is basically a loose remake of Shaw Brothers’ SECRET SERVICE OF THE IMPERIAL COURT (1984), starring Leung Kar-yan, It’s an action-packed wuxia film I have great regard for. Pitting a former member of a crack team of assassins against his own unit is a premise that was also used for another Shaw Brothers classic, THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1975), starring Cheng Kuan-tai.

14 BLADES is scheduled for release in the spring of 2010.

Discuss this topic in the comments section below or in our related forum thread which contains even more images.

Tags: 14 Blades (2010), Chen Kuan-tai, Daniel Lee, Donnie Yen, Master Swordsman Lu Xiao Feng [TV] (2001), Sammo Hung, upcoming, Videos, Xu Xiang-dong