Brotherhood of Blades

There are faint echoes of The Three Musketeers (but with far more gravitas) in Chinese action director Lu Yang's tragic epic. Three young members of the Emperor's feared secret police ("Imperial Assassins")—Shen Lian (Chen Chang), Jianxing (Wang Qianyuan), and Yichuan (Ethan Li)—are sent in pursuit of once-powerful court eunuch and intriguer Wei (Chin Shi Chieh), now out of favor but still retaining many powerful connections (think J. Edgar Hoover in the Ming Dynasty). One of the assassins, who is being blackmailed over his lawless past, succumbs to a bribe to allow Wei to fake his death and flee, a gambit that puts the close-knit trio in danger, not only from suspicious lords who suspect the truth, but also from the eunuch's fanatical followers, who want to leave no witnesses alive. Ferocious exhibitions of swordplay (marred only by a too-obvious use of CGI for blood spatters) are matched by intricate (and sometimes confusing) plotting and conspiracies in this kinetic film that is sure to appeal to martial-arts action fans. Recommended. (C. Cassady)