Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert – Review

In the final years of the Sui dynasty, power had corrupted the government and people were suffering. From this discontent and chaos emerged Zhi Shi Lang (Yi-zhou) who founded the Flower Rebellion, vowing to restore the light to the lands. This led the emperor to attempt to capture Zhi and he became the most wanted man in the kingdom.

The Mo Clan and the Heiyi clan led a group of Five Great Western Clans who armed themselves with swordsmen, rangers and Tocharian mercenaries. With these large groups scouring the desert, it seems that only a tiny spark would lead to all-out war across the empire.

The film focuses on a few main characters, such as bounty hunter Dao Ma (Jing Wu) and his young nephew Xiao Qi, or Chang Guiren (Li), local governor who wants him to instruct his troops on fighting techniques. But wait, what about the local innkeeper who Chang looks to extort for additional taxes?

What happens when this same man is revealed to be a notorious outlaw swordsman Double-Headed Snake (Zhang)? As alliances and enemies begin to form between our players, power struggles play out from the highest levels of government down to the villagers in the streets.

The scope of the film is epic and features large set pieces and wide sweeping shots through the countryside, all with action scenes and fights playing out across it. Stunts are well done and the fist, sword, bow and arrow, and general melee combat is all entertaining to behold. These are all talented performers in multiple ways, and their fight styles and moves are impressive. There is a bit of wire work, but a lot of it is natural.

I know some of the cast, but there were plenty of new faces for me in this one. No one failed to rise to the occasion, and all performances were adequate for the film. The script and story may be a standard historical adventure tale of this scope, but I was never bored.

Costumes and creative weaponry are nice additions to the film as well, and in general the quality is high across the board. If you are looking for action and adventure you could do worse, plus there are nice tidbits of historical context included. While it is more action and fighting based than emotional resonance or battle strategy, it does what it sets out to do just fine.

This is a live action version of a comic series of the same name, and there was also a 2023 anime series. I do not know the source material so I can’t comment on similarity.