Review: Dragon Blade (DVD, Blu-Ray and HDX)

A history resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2015

Last night I had the dubious "opportunity" to view "Dragon Blade" starring Jackie Chan, John Cusack and Adrien Brody.

I think the 1/2 star rating I gave this epic misadventure on Vudu says it all - mainly, just a convoluted string of choreographed fight scenes. The villain, Tiberius, played by Adrien Brody, is a fictional son of Marcus Licinius Crassus, the 1st century BCE triumvir, who is chasing down his baby brother Publius, a child of about 9, because the senior Crassus preferred Publius over Tiberius as his heir. (in history Publius, a fully adult cavalry commander, died fighting with his father at the battle of Carrhae).

Perhaps Tiberius is supposed to be a nickname for Marcus Crassus Jr. who was the eldest son of Crassus Sr but was so undistinguished that historians have argued maybe, despite his name, he was not the eldest after all. Anyway, Crassus Jr. never made it to the east as far as we can tell from history. Instead he spent a rather lackluster career serving under Julius Caesar in Gaul then was later appointed governor of Cisalpine Gaul. Marcus Crassus Jr. is mainly remembered as the man who married the Caecilia Metella whose tomb remains along the Via Appia is so popular with tourists. Supposedly he had a fearsome reputation among the Parthians, though. The Augustan historian Pompeius Trogus, of the Celtic Vocontii, said that the Parthians feared especially harsh retribution in any war won against them by Caesar, because the surviving son of Crassus would be among the Roman forces, seeking revenge for the deaths of his father and brother. But, as we all know, Caesar never made it to Parthia and Crassus Jr. didn't either.

John Cusack plays "the greatest warrior in the empire" (a la Gladiator's Maxiumus) who whisked young Publius out of the clutches of Tiberius and, with a small contingent of legionaries, has fled with the child east along the Silk Road to the outskirts of the Han Dynasty.

Jackie Chan reprises his often played role as the wise but good-natured leader of a band of battle-weary warriors charged with keeping the peace along the Silk Road. Chan's character no longer believes that violence settles anything so each time he is forced into fighting someone who is striking viciously at him with swords and other nasty weapons, he fends them off with comical facial expressions accompanied by deft deflections off of his breastplate and a small metal shield worn on his forearm.

After one such encounter, Chan's little troop returns home to find their villainous greedy governor has framed them and sentenced them to forced labor repairing the fortification walls of a Han outpost. There they collide with John Cusack's group, make friends then face off together against the evil Tiberius.

I was hoping this was going to be a more realistic story about the so-called "Forgotten Legion" (of Ben Kane fame) from the Battle of Carrhae that were rumored to have been taken captive by the Parthians and subsequently traded to the Han Chinese and settled in Liqian in the north central province of Gansu. After all, I've seen the History Channel, Nat Geo and PBS programs about the Chinese villagers with European physical traits and the European-looking mummies found in China, too. But, instead we get a ridiculous story with theatrically flamboyant characters wearing totally unrecognizable armor (except for the helmet crest) in slashing battles with short swords (?) like ill-trained barbarians singing soaring arias supposedly in Latin that sound more like the vocals of a Byzantine church choir.

I must admit, the sword fights between Cusack and Chan then later Chan and Brody were impressive. Cusack was even convincing as a physically powerful hero type even though he usually plays characters more adept with their brain than their brawn. But that is about the only praise I can give this historical disaster of a movie. And to think I actually purchased this frivolous fantasy sight unseen when it was offered in digital HDX format on Vudu for only $7.99. It's now in my Ultraviolet library so I could actually watch it again if I should ever need historical shock therapy in the future!

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"Eagle of the Ninth" to get the Taymor Treatment

I was so excited to see "The Eagle of the Ninth" was being made into a film until I read that the Romans will be made to look like US GIs. Rosemary Sutcliff is probably turning over in her grave! I'm so tired of ancient Romans getting the Taymor treatment! Last summer I went to a production of "Cariolanus" at the Oregon Shakespearean Festival and it was "modernized" as well. The acting was fine but I went to see men in scarlet cloaks and muscled cuirasses and I got guys dressed like Nazis and guerilla fighters! Sometimes I wonder if this "artsy" approach is just a disguise for a tight budget that doesn't have enough money in it for authentic costumes. What's wrong with presenting a moving, award-winning story just the way it is!!

Another film in production "Centurion" claims it will look at history directly, but it sounds like just a chase movie with lots of gore. "Centurion" is apparently not based on Simon Scarrow's book since the book takes place in Palmyra (ancient Syria) not Scotland like the film.

When "Gladiator" reawakened a world-wide interest in historical drama there was so much buzz about a new era in historical film making. But Hollywood has squandered this market opportunity with productions that were poorly edited (the theatrical release of "King Arthur" - at least the DVD put back some of the scenes that gave context to the story), poorly edited and/or directed (Oliver Stone's "Alexander" - slightly improved in the Ultimate Director's Cut but still too slow in the intro. I wish they'd release film clips of it for people to remix - I bet one of us could come up with something far more exciting by simply rearranging the scenes), or miscast ("The Last Legion" - I'm sorry Colin Firth but you just don't have the commanding presence of a Russell Crowe and John Hannah you're just not the villain type). I must admit, though, that I love historical epics so much I still have these films, despite their shortcomings, in my collection and King Arthur on DVD has actually become one of my favorites, although I must admit a heroic Clive Owen is definitely a big part of the reason! Maybe that's all Hollywood cares about.

The Eagle of the Ninth is being adapted for a Hollywood film, one of two productions examining the failure of the Roman army to crush the Picts in Scotland in the second century AD.

Both are intended as allegories of recent American experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kevin Macdonald, the director of The Last King of Scotland and State of Play, is directing the adaptation of Rosemary Sutcliffe's 1954 novel The Eagle of the Ninth. It tells of a disillusioned young Roman soldier who travels to Scotland to find out what happened to his father who fought there.

The Romans will be made to resemble American GIs in the film in a clear attempt to draw parallels between past and present, said Macdonald.

Christian Colson, who produced Slumdog Millionaire, said Centurion told the story of how the Ninth Legion was destroyed by a group of rabble-rousing Picts who kept targeting Rome's most northerly garrisons.

He told The Times: "It is their biggest and best and most famous legion and they get massacred. Seven or eight hundred are then stuck hundreds of miles behind enemy lines and have to get home. It's a chase movie and an action movie and a violent, gory war movie with heads being lopped off and limbs going missing." - More: Telegraph.co.uk

Update: I see William Napier, author of an Attila The Hun trilogy, wrote quite a rousing summary of the history of the ninth legion in the UK's Daily Mail. He mentioned a rather poignant find in York that demonstrates these battle-hardened warriors has a tender side:

"A tiny tombstone was found at York recently, set up by one of those hardbitten, grim-faced legionaries, in memory of his little daughter.

It reads: 'To the Gods, the Shades. For Simplicia Forentiana, a Most Innocent Being, Who Lived Ten Months. Her father, Felicius Simplex, made this.'"

He also paints a vivid picture of the Picts, The Painted People of early Scotland who, legend says, wreaked the ultimate vengeance on the Ninth:

"The tribesmen of Caledonia were fine specimens of men, with reddish hair and huge limbs. They called themselves 'the last men on earth, the last of the free'.

In even the coldest weather they wore nothing but primitive kilts of homespun wool, their bare chests and arms covered in tattoos depicting terrifying emblems of severed heads, shining suns, intertwined serpents and crossed daggers dripping blood.

In time of war, though, they painted blood-red stripes across their faces, clad themselves in animal pelts, wolf skins and bear skins, clasped with brooches of red Hibernian gold, and decorated their spears with blue-grey herons' feathers.

As they rushed into battle, their shaman priests, called the Druithyn in the ancient Celtic tongue, wearing deer's antlers on their heads, stood on nearby hillsides and raised their arms to heaven to summon the spirits of the dead.

They gashed themselves with knives, beat monstrous drums, burnt huge bonfires and howled in fury." - More: MailOnline

Napier apparently supports the view that the Ninth disappeared in Scotland and does not mention reports that remnants of the Ninth are said to have served later in Palestine.

[Image Above Left: Illustration by Roman Pisarev for the Folio Society's edition of "Eagle of the Ninth"]

Note: When I was searching for an appropriate graphic for this post, I found a reference to the Folio Society's beautifully illustrated edition of "Eagle of the Ninth" illustrated by Russian artist Roman Pisarev. Roman Pisarev was born in Leningrad in 1963. He graduated from Muhin's Institute of Industrial Decorative Arts in Saint Petersburg and lives and works in Saint Petersburg and Edinburgh. He is a member of the Royal Association of Illustrators, the Association of Britain Ex-librists, and member of the Russian Artists Union. He has collaborated on a number of titles for British publisher “The Folio Society”. He has also illustrated "The Hobbit" for Vita Nova Publishers of St. Petersburg, Russia. If you visit the Folio Society link, you can view more of his wonderful illustrations from "The Eagle of the Ninth".

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