Dragon Blade
2015; directed by Daniel Lee

A Jackie Chan film featuring an odd plot of fictitious pseudo-revisionist history combined with what some might see as stunt casting of Western actors would probably be seen as a cinematic trainwreck in the making. But, despite these apparent hurdles, in addition to a case of "annoying kid actor syndrome" and some overdependence in parts on heavy-handed melodrama, Dragon Blade actually turns out to be a very entertaining picture.

Jackie here plays Huo An, the captain of the Silk Road Protection Squad. The squad is framed for a crime and their punishment is to repair a dilapidated fortress known as Wild Gesse Gate. The repair mission soon turns into one of defense, as a Roman officer, Lucius (John Cusack in a poor-looking wig), wants to use the fortess for his own forces as he prepares to fight with the corrupt official Tiberius (Adrien Brody in an even worse wig), who is after the aforementioned annoying kid, Publius (Jozef Waite), so he can become emperor.

So basically we have a story that China taught the Romans how to work together and saved their empire, which is about as plausible as the Romans speaking English but singing in Latin. Speaking of which, a scene featuring the Romans singing one of their battle hymns goes on for far too long, almost uncomfortably so, especially as Publius creepily lip-synchs the words. But if you didn't have enough musical stylings, just wait and stay tuned for a dance-off thinly disguised as a martial arts demonstration scene.

Thankfully, Dragon Blade manages to remember that it is not a sword-and-sandal version of Pitch Perfect and throws in some action scenes as well. And for stuff featuring a sixty-plus year-old lead and (assumingly) untrained western actors, it's actually pretty fun. Sure, Jackie is heavily doubled and there is some obvious use of CGI (especially in the larger scrums) but for the most part, it's enjoyable enough, lining up with the rest of the film in being fine (if a little overbloated) mindless entertainment that perks up a it if you're a major Jackie Chan fan and/or come armed with a few chilled adult beverages beforehand.

RATING: 6.5

Note: this review is based on the "international" edit of the film, which is in 2D and about 23 minutes shorter than the original 3D Chinese version. Most of the cuts are from the removal of bookend sequences in modern times about a couple of archaeologists (Vanness Wu and Karena Lam) searching for Wild Geese Gate.