Arriving on digital on May 12th, director Liu Wenpu's The Butcher's Blade is a decently entertaining whodunnit Wuxia hybrid that suffers from some baffling decisions in its action sequences.
The setup is as intriguing as it is timeless: Xue (Liu Fengchao) is a well-meaning but inefficient cop in a corrupt town, where the rule of law means the strong bully the weak, and everyone else looks the other way. When he's tasked with solving an actual crime that could make a difference in the city, Xue jumps at the opportunity.
This turns out to be a ruse, and Xue is soon the fall guy in a plot to incite a violent uprising. Just as he's about to meet his maker, Xue is rescued by his former teacher, Huang (Shanshan Chunyu), who has been dispatched to the town by an increasingly suspicious magistrate.
That's only the initial setup, and right away you can tell that Butcher's Blade suffers from a bad case of overplotting. Everyone suffers at least one or two betrayals, and the entire midway point is bogged down by talks of jurisdiction and authority that are far less engaging than the film thinks they are.
I'm all for Wuxia and kung-fu films that toy with their genres. I was enamored by the Italian/Hong Kong romcom-action thriller Forbidden City, which took equally big swings with tonal shifts and a bloated runtime. All I ask in return is that the fight sequences are thrilling, and that I can make out what's happening.
Sadly, The Butcher's Blade doesn't quite make that tradeoff. At times, it almost feels as if the film is fighting itself by making the action as incomprehensible and unengaging as possible. Then, out of nowhere, it delivers a spectacle that showcases the hard work and incredible athleticism its cast is capable of to a dizzying degree. There is no middle ground. You either get nothing or everything.
The problems are mostly in the way that director Wenpu stages his fights. In every action setpiece, the camera darts around like a mosquito avoiding a newspaper. None of the hits holds any weight or power because the camera moves alongside them at an askew angle. At one point, I wrote down how I was more interested in the physicality of the camera crew than in the actors. That's not a great sign for an action film.
During the credits, The Butcher's Blade offers us a glimpse at the hard training that goes into even a disappointing action piece. These moments are shot from a distance, where we can see every move. They're more thrilling than almost anything else in the film. It's such a shame that Wenpu didn't have enough faith in his material to let the choreography speak for itself.
And yet, for all its faults, The Butcher's Blade is engaging. The acting is a step above the usual murder mystery fare, and there are a few big sequences towards the end that make the most of the impressively vertical set design. At 90 minutes in length, it doesn't overstay its welcome, either.
I must admit that in the past year, I've been spoiled with action films, especially kung fu epics. From The Furious to Blades of the Guardians, there's been a plethora of great titles to choose from, which naturally stacks against Butcher's Blade. In any other year, it would probably stand out better.
It won't surprise you, and it doesn't bring anything new to the table, but that doesn't mean traditional delights aren't delights nonetheless. The Butcher's Blade is familiar comfort food. It works because we know exactly what it is. That's never a bad thing.
