The Emperor's Sword - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Emperor's Sword



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
While a huge fan of Well Go USA and Asian movies in general, I’ve been a little bit let down by the “Hi-Yah!” original films since their introduction the last year. “Hi-Yah” was originally a station for all things martial arts related back in the day, but they started funding and producing their own movies in the last year. A move which I initially supported as I LOVE good old fashioned chop-socky martial arts flicks having grown up with all the Hong Kong and American greats. However, their film repetoire has been mediocre at best, with The Emperor’s Sword following in that pattern.

Taking the old mythical tale about the creation of the Qin dynasty, The Emperor’s Sword tells a tale of violence and intrigue based around a mythical sword that has been split into two pieces. Each one holds incredible power, but combined they have the power to take over the world. Naturally there are bad guys looking to get a hold of the ancient weapon, but a young woman is tasked with keeping one of the pieces safe along with her protector.

As you can guess, this is a non stop action film as the young girl Meng Xue (Hao Yilin) commits herself to the mission of the sword’s protection. Baddies come to take it, and violent ensues. Rinse and repeat for 91 minutes until the credits end. Personally I wanted to like The Emperor’s Sword, but it is a super stylistic mess of a film. The entire thing is basically one nonstop action piece with very little story outside of the basics that are stolen from the historical headlines about the creation of the Qin dynasty.

While non stop action sounds fun at first, it’s a mixed back. The Emperor’s Sword tries to be part art house film with with part 300 at the same time. Director Zhang Yingli uses some really wacky camera angles to get some incredible shots, but also over uses slow motion to the point of being comical. I mean, I really was intrigued with the stylistic battle shots and the incredibly quick camera angles, but the over use of slow motion with these angles soon left you feeling like it was just a gimmick to be used, abused, and overused the entire film. There really is no substance to the film and anything of value is lost midst the chaotic camera shifts and art house slow motion combat shots.

The best way of describing the film is “Derivative”. It’s just not very interesting and blatantly steal from other movies in terms of plot, set pieces AND action choreography. Nothing about the film stands out except for the 300 esque slow motion over use. There were a few moments of fun in the opening battle, but once everything got going and you realize that it was just a “rinse and repeat the last battle ad nausea”, the luster wore off really fast.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

The 2.39:1 AVC encoded Blu-ray looks really good, but also has it’s fair share of problems as well. The typical teal imagery that is predominant in Asian films is a good looking image with more than it’s share of great details, but for some reason is distinctly soft in many scenes. Not enough to be a major problem, but I noticed obvious smoothing and softness around faces and backgrounds alike. I also noticed some pretty annoying banding and digital noise as well. Maybe it was the stylistics of the cinematography, but either way it kept the picture from being a great one, and just was a “good Blu-ray” at the end of the day.








Audio:

Being basically a “for streaming services only” type of picture (modern day DTV) I wasn’t expecting much, but overall the single Mandarin 5.1 DTS-HD MA track did pretty well for itself. It was solidly immersive for a good chunk of the action, and the bass response was nice and punchy. The dialog is solid and placed right where it should be in the center of the room, but surrounds were never that active and overall it was a good track that checked off enough action check boxes to be GOOD, but never really excel at anything.









Extras:

• Well Go USA Previews
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

As I said several times in this review, I wanted to enjoy the movie. It’s not horribly acted, and Meng is a surprisingly fun character, it’s just that the actors aren’t given much to work at outside of some fairly decent action choreography. It tried so hard to be stylistic and unique that it ended up being derivative because it took all it’s flair from other movies. The Blu-ray itself sports some pretty decent audio and video (if not a bit soft for my tastes) and the typical almost non-existent extra. Personally, I would skip this one and wait for the next.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Xu Chang Chao, Yilin Hao, Qin Chu Ming, Feng-bin Mou, Ruoyao Pan
Directed by: Zhang Yingli
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: Mandarin: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Mandarin DD 2.0
Subtitles: English
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 91 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 9th 2021

Recommendation: Skip It