Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises In the Desert - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises In the Desert



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I’m going to wax eloquent here a little bit, as I think I finally understand how old-timers feel about music and movies now. Being that I’m 44 right now, I’m not really in a midlife crisis, but I’m at the stage in my life where things feel REAL now. Where you watch your friends have to deal with illness (and sadly sometimes death), and things that were just a few years ago are suddenly 20, 30, even 35 years old. Movies that I used to watch in my 20s are suddenly hitting me that they’re 20-plus years old. And that sense of loss that every generation feels as they watch the genres and decades that define their life slip away into the past. It’s no big secret if you’ve been reading my reviews of the last 15 years (in April it will be 15 years since I started this job) that I’m a HUGE fan of Hong Kong cinema and have been watching ever since I was 9 years old. I grew up watching Shaw Bro’s films on the WB every Saturday, and gorged myself on the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema with the Golden Harvest stars like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, and Jet Li filling 90s theaters. I even remember the early 2000s adding in a few major stars (in what I call the Bronze Age of Hong Kong cinema) like Donnie Yen, Scott Adkins, Wu Jing, and Nicholas Tse,e with films like Ip Man, Dragon Tiger Gate, Killzone, and the rise of Thai martial arts cinema like Tony Jaa and the like. But now those “bronze age” actors who were able to carve out a name for themselves as martial arts cinema faded a bit are now OLD. They’re the old-timers handing the torch off to another generation, and I’m sitting here remembering when they were 25 years old and were being handed the torch from Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and the rest. A bit sobering, but also a realization that the decades and generations of filmmaking that I idolized growing up are effectively gone, leaving something new in its place.

Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert (the whole Wind Rises in the Desert was added state side, as the Blades of the Guardians is the international title) is a blast from the past, being directed by legendary filmmaker and choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping, as a sort of homage to the Wu Xia films of the late 90s and early 2000s Hong Kong before Mainland China took over. It drops us straight into a tale of intrigue and betrayal, with quasi-bounty hunter Dao Mo (Wu Jing) and his young ward Xiao Qi (Ju Qianlang) slaughtering a corrupt town official (played by Jet Li) in order to collect the bounty on a known criminal. But in the process, he ends up taking on the family of the slaughtered man and traveling away from his crimes. Now he’s hunted by the Imperium, and has to team up with a series of ner do wells, outcasts, and other bounty hunters (known as Guardians) in order to stay alive.

I’m not going to explain everything here, as the story is massively convoluted, with intertwining stories that blend in and out throughout the film, and would probably take about 5 pages to flesh out entirely. Needless to say, Dao Mo and fellow bounty hunter Shu (Yosh Yu) have their prisoners in tow and are trying to get across the desert to cash in on their bounty when they find a common enemy. He Yi Xuan is a brutal warlord who is slaughtering peasants in his wake and wants to marry one of their fellow travelers. And while his reign of terror is not exactly their problem, the pair of guardians are sucked into a war between good and evil, as they bring out the good in themselves to fight the darker forces that threaten the people of that land.

As I said, there are about a dozen different interpersonal relationships in the film, as we learn about Dao Mo’s past as a mercenary, as well as his various compatriots and their struggles. Sadly, Je Li is only in the film for about 18 minutes before he’s killed off, even though his name is plastered heavily over the marketing material, but his 18 minutes are absolutely glorious. Maybe I’m feeling nostalgic here, but hearing his iconic voice and seeing him move on screen in that opening battle just brought back all those feelings from the 90s and very early 2000s that defined my youth. Even though he can’t move like he did 20 years ago, just seeing the fastest martial artist outside of Bruce Lee actually fight once more was a treat. That being said, there is a whole host of bronze- and golden-age actors strewn throughout the film. Wu Jing is really the lead here, but we have Nicholas Tse drop in; Rongguang Yu, Max Zhang, Xing Yu, and Tony Ka Fai Leung all play bit parts in this tale. And honestly, it brings a tear to my eye to see so many legends and semi-legends working together in a massive film like this. And yes, this is a MASSIVE film by any stretch of the imagination. At over 100 million dollars (which is huge for a Chinese film), it became the highest-grossing Wu Xia film of all time, and it has that epic feel to it that I miss from days of old.

On the flip side, the massiveness of it all sometimes feels like bloat. All of those characters and intertwining relationships can feel a bit heavy, weighing down the story and sometimes forcing me to rewind and remember just who is who. I don’t expect anyone to put it on the same tier as Hero, Crouching Tiger, or various other Wu Xia epics, but it is still a fun film that strives to be as legendary as the films of the past, and also pass the torch to other actors. The fights are a blast, and the last fight with Wu Jing and Nicholas Tse rivaled some of the greats from years past (Nicholas Tse was never a martial artist like Wu Jing, Jacky Chan, etc., but he became a really good martial artist over the years,s having learned film fighting from Jacky Chan, Donnie Y, en and several of the legendary stunt choreographers. Now he’s a force to be reckoned with, and his fighting skills are really good on screen. I did notice that the film set things up for an obvious sequel, but we’ll see. I’m STILL waiting for Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In to get a sequel, and so far nothing. But at the end of the day, this film has some problems, but overall is a blast to watch.




Rating:

Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout.




4K Video: Video:

The 2014 Blu-ray of Out of the Past was originally sourced from a fine-grain master positive that was fine enough for the time, but wasn’t AS good as going back to the original film negatives. And while it still is a good-looking disc, it wasn’t that good for a 4K UHD disc. This new disc comes from Warner Archive going back and using a scan of the OCN, resulting in a substantial upgrade over the previous master (as can be seen from the included remastered Blu-ray when compared to the 2014 disc). There are some slight tweaks to the master, giving it a teensy bit wider look (the one was slightly cramped on the sides) and a much better-looking image. Grain in particular is stunning, with much finer grain replication, and smoother and cleaner-looking clarity. Fine details are razor-sharp, and outside of mild optical shots that are MEANT to look slightly soft, this is an incredible-looking image. The Dolby Vision really enhances the black levels of this film, showing us every bit of shadow detail, and making the image look brilliant all the way around. Being that this is a black and white film, black levels are absolutely paramount, and this is just silky smooth from beginning to end. The remastered Blu-ray is almost as good, giving us a substantial boost to the 2014’s image, making this the all-around package by FAR.








Audio:

The Mandarin Dolby Atmos track is of the bombastic and energetic variety, blasting you back in your seats with the sounds of combat, the roaring of the desert storm, or the thudding of horses' hooves as our heroes try to escape their pursuers. Dialog is crisp and located up front as you’d expect, while the mains and the surrounds get a massive exercise with all of that activity mentioned before. Bass is powerful and deep, adding weight to the battles when needed, but also getting low and guttural when that sandstorm hits. Blades clang against each other, while arrows whistle by overhead, and there is such an intense sense of immersion that I felt like I was coming out of another world when the credits started rolling. It was surreal, but intensely invigorating at the same time.

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Extras:

• Behind the Scenes
• Trailer

Final Score: ​

I know we’ll never get the golden and bronze age of Martial Arts films back, but Blades of the Guardians feels very reminiscent of those films in many ways. Not entirely the same, but there are a massive number of that era’s stars in it, and Yuen Woo-Ping knows how to bring that style to the forefront. And while the film is a bit busy at times, I had an absolute blast with this one. I actually hope we do get a sequel, as I’d love to see some more of this style of martial arts film getting made. Massive scope, great fights, and stunts that really do rival some of the classic styles I grew up on. Well, Go USA’s 4K UHD combo pack is great, with picture-perfect video and amazing audio, but only a light smattering of extras, sadly. But this is worth watching if you’ve even the slightest interest in epic martial arts films.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jet Li, Tony Ka Fai Leung, Jing Wu, Xing Yu, Rongguang Yu, Yosh Yu, Nicholas Tse, Jin Zhang
Directed by: Yuen Woo-Ping
Written by: Tai-Lee Chan, Chao-Bin Su, Larry Yang
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: Mandarin: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), Spanish, English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional)
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: R
Runtime: 126 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 6th, 2026

Recommendation: Highly Recommended