Dragon Blade
Lionsgate Premiere | Release Date: September 4, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
4
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
VarietyMaggie LeeJun 27, 2015
The writer-director has overcome his tendency to weave florid plots that quickly run out of steam, here forging a coherent narrative that’s strong on physical and emotional drive. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickSep 2, 2015
Daniel Lee’s elaborate Chinese historical action epic Dragon Blade certainly gets points for creative casting, as well as its gorgeous widescreen visuals. Read full review
70
Screen DailyJames MarshJun 27, 2015
Committed performances, a hefty budget and assured hands behind the camera ensure that Dragon Blade delivers on its promise of sprawling battle scenes, intriguing culture clashes and budding bromances, where its giddily high concept and unlikely casting may so easily have seen it fail. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterClarence TsuiJun 27, 2015
Exerting significant control over the film – from a screenplay filled with modern resonance to very effective production design – Lee just barely manages to overcome the jarring problem posed by its (mugging) American cast. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMark DujsikSep 4, 2015
There are alliances and betrayals aplenty, but writer/director Daniel Lee seems more concerned with establishing and maintaining an epic look and feel than in providing cohesion to the narrative. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskySep 2, 2015
Whether it’s introducing random flashes of white screen or slowing down shots to a stuttered chop, Dragon Blade seems to be going out of its way to make sure the action never rises above the level of “watchable enough.” Read full review
50
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekSep 1, 2015
The picture never quite finds its tone: It's neither go-for-broke outrageous enough to be consistently funny, nor energetic enough to be viscerally entertaining. It's neither as bad as you might fear, nor as much fun as you might hope. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinSep 3, 2015
The movie's grandiose emotional quotient never feels any more real than its ham-fisted dialogue, dubious accents, strained "Kumbaya" moments or eclectic hairdos. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonSep 3, 2015
As Tiberius, who seems not to have been based on any Tiberius of history, Mr. Brody brings to the film a combination of heroin-chic and Basil Rathbone. Also, an extraordinary level of sadistic cruelty. People are burned alive, crushed like insects, hurled from rooftops. They may not deserve all this. But neither do we. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 3, 2015
Dragon Blade is the kind of nutsy maximalist entertainment that isn’t content merely to tap a handful of influences. Instead, it stuffs an entire encyclopedia of dicey ideas (visual, narrative, political) into a blender to create a wacky, eyeball-popping and -glazing extravaganza. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsStephen WhittySep 3, 2015
An epic in China, it’s been trimmed here in the States. But this movie didn’t need a cut, it needed a beheading. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineChuck BowenAug 31, 2015
Slacker and even less involving than the similarly terrible global kill-fest Last Knights, but easier to watch for the inadvertent camp value of two of the prominent performances. Read full review
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