Notable Cast: Chang
Chen, Yang Mi, Zhang Yi, Olivia Wang, Tan Zhuo, Lei Jia-Yin, Xin Zhilei, Chin
Shih-Chieh, Li Yuan, Mickey Yuan, Liu Feng-Chao, Wang Ren-Jun, Wu Xiao-Liang
Back in 2014, Brotherhood
of Blades came out as a rather big surprise. For a modern wuxia, it had an
impeccable sense of balance to its dramatic storytelling, old school Hong Kong
style brotherly loyalty at its core, and a flashy sense of taking modern action
and mixing it with classic wuxia elements. It was artistic enough to be
effective and heartfelt, but entertaining enough to strike a chord with more
mainstream audiences. It was also a surprise box office hit along with winning
a few awards to add to its list of strong qualities. Fortunately, it was enough
to warrant a franchise out of the film and this year we were given a prequel, Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal
Battlefield, that tells the ‘origin’ story of Chang Chen’s character from
the original film. As much as a prequel can horrifically backfire, in another
round of surprises, Brotherhood of Blades
II is just as impactful, fun, and effective as its predecessor. It’s
inherently the same kind of film, a historically set wuxia surrounding a
conspiracy with plenty of morally gray characters to fill out the tale, but
it’s also one that strips the film back and refocuses itself on one key
element: a love story. And it works brilliantly.