ALL SCI-FI

[Gord Green]

I've recently fallen in love with a great historical film on Youtube.

Dragon Blade is a 2015 Chinese historical action film written and directed by Daniel Lee starring Jackie Chan.



In the film, Chan plays Huo An, the commander of the Protection Squad of the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty. Jackies martial skills are amazing as usual! Brody is the MOST evil opponet I've ever seen and John Cusack does a wonderful job as well!

Dragon Blade was released in IMAX 3D on 19 February 2015, the first day of the Chinese New Year holiday period

A synopsis of the basics of the plot-

An archeology group finds a plataue of ruins somewhere in the Gobi desert. There they explore as the story behind the place is revealed to them.

In northwest China, a security, customs and peacekeeping company under Han China's current government called Silk Road Protection Squad is committed to stopping battles, customs clearing and peacekeeping on the Silk Road.



Huo An (Jackie Chan), the captain, successfully averts a battle between Mogul Indians and Xiongnu Mongols whilst he inadvertently disgraces the Xiongnu woman warrior.
The squad returns to their home city where Huo An's gentle wife Xiuqing (Mika Wang) serves as a schoolteacher for orphans of multiple ethnicities.



One day, the Protection Squad's commanders uncover evidence that someone in the Squad is corrupt after soldiers found bribes among the corpses of enemies they neutralized.

Suspecting Huo An and his squad to be the culprits, the commanders sentence them to construction work at the Wild Geese Gate, a ruined fortress located on the fringes of the Western regions, run by a Turkic auxiliary commander and housing workers, peasants, and prisoners of various nomadic groups tasked with rebuilding the fort.



Not long after, Wild Geese Gate is threatened by an exhausted Roman legion, carrying with them a blind boy named Publius (Jozef Waite), youngest son of triumvirte Marcus Licinius Crassus.

The Wild Geese Gate commander tries to fight the Romans, only to be defeated. Huo An rides out to stop the Romans, leading to a duel between him and legionary commander Lucius (Cusack).

The duel ends in a stalemate after discovering a coming sandstorm, and seeing Publius and some Roman soldiers collapse due to starvation. Huo An allows the Romans to enter the fortress and recover, despite the Wild Geese Gate commander's protests.

The next day, the Romans help the workers in rebuilding the fortress using their superior engineering skills, boosting the morale and happiness of the inhabitants in the process. Huo An returns the favor by sending some of his men to assist Lucius's envoys in reaching the Parthian Empire.

A celebration is later held and Huo An is made an honorary centurion by Publius himself. During the celebration both sides sing their battle songs. The Romans and the Chinese bond in friendship and respect.



The other Roman Emperors' son, Tiberius (Adrien Brody) arrives with his legions as he was pursuing his younger brother to kill him to protect his rule. The new Romans clash with the combined forces of Lucius and Huo An .
A brutal battle ensues.



After the battle, the Chinese emperor allows the Romans to establish their own city, naming it Regum, or Liqian in Chinese, upon hearing of their bravery. The Emperor also allows the surviving nomadic inhabitants of the Wild Geese Gate to join the Protection Squad with Huo An as their commander.

Huo An and his men then honor their fallen comrades, especially Lucius, by relocating Wild Geese Gate's shrine to Regum.

Thousands of years later, the city fades from collective memory until in the present day, a team of archaeologists stumble upon the site and uncover its ruins, but upon learning of its tragic history via 3D reconstruction, the archeologists prefer to leave Regum be in peace.

Historical basis (The real historical part!)

Marcus Licinius Crassus invaded Parthia in 53 BC, but most of his entire army was destroyed. The historian Homer H. Dubs speculated in 1941 that Roman prisoners of war who were transferred to the eastern border of the Parthian empire might later have clashed with Han troops there.

Similar claims, and even a Roman force defecting to China, have been made since. These include a supposed Roman town near modern Liqian.

The first undisputed contact was much later, in 161 AD. An embassy from Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius or his successor Marcus Aurelius reached the Chinese Emperor Huan of Han at Luoyang.

I must warn you the movie is both exciting and heartbreaking. But I enjoyed it so much I ordered it from Amazon (from $7.99!)

The movie is on Youtube here--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ30YqKehSM&t=276s



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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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What a fine review, Gord! I will definitely watch this movie.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

This movie is really worth watching.
It shows that enemies can not only become friends but brothers!

Here is the trailer for this fine film along with videos of the two songs from the celebration. Two moving songs, one in Chinese the other in Latin. (The movie is completely in English!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwMlpp8GIAI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqC-HkvqFT0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_KZ1Zj_iNk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjzu4k7PouY

NOTE :
THERE ARE VERSIONS OF THIS FILM ON STREAMING SERVICES THAT CUT THE PRESENT AGE FRAMING SEQUENCES. I highly reccomend the Youtube version posted above. The edited versions cut almost 30 minutes off the running time but lose some of the charm of the film. Watch the Youtube version posted above!

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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.