Well GO USA
Yuen Woo-ping’s Blades of the Guardians is ready to strike this Chinese New Year, and it’s worth examining why this adaptation carries so much anticipation. Originally titled Biao Ren (鏢人), the series was created by Xu Xianzhe and began serialization in 2015. The story remains ongoing.
The series quickly distinguished itself through its painterly art style and its grounding in historical context. Set during the waning years of the Sui Dynasty, the narrative unfolds against a backdrop of famine, rebellion, and a government losing its grip on authority. As of 2024, twelve collected volumes have been published. English editions have been slow to materialize, but for viewers curious about an on-screen interpretation, a donghua adaptation is already available.
The story centres on Dao Ma (Jing Wu), a hardened warrior hired to protect travellers from the ruthlessness of feudal China. Banditry is widespread, and that danger is likely where the film will place much of its early focus. He accepts a contract to escort a living piece of cargo, a child who must be delivered safely to the city of Chang’an. The simplicity of that mission quickly erodes. Assassins, political agents, and rival forces converge on the convoy, each carrying their own agenda regarding the child’s fate. What begins as paid protection gradually reveals itself to be entangled in imperial succession, prophecy, and the unstable future of the empire itself.
In the manhua, the opening volumes establish these stakes carefully. No one fully understands why the child is important, but as the caravan pushes through the Western Regions, survival becomes as much environmental as political. Dao Ma’s commitment to completing the job is repeatedly tested. With his own son, Xiao Qi, travelling alongside him, the mission also becomes a lesson in honour, reputation, and perhaps fatherhood too.
To abandon the contract would not only risk the child’s life, it would tarnish his reputation.
Whether the film concludes with the convoy reaching Chang’an remains uncertain, and may depend on whether the production is designed as a self-contained story or the foundation of a larger series. The child actors in this work have yet to be identified, and if more films are indeed planned, keeping those actors around will require planning.
Also, according to the source material, the journey does not end upon delivery. Ma’s attachment will no doubt keep him around, especially after the child is destined for greater things. Both he and the audience will have to wonder why a lot of magistrates are interested in “the welfare” of the child. Could he be The Golden Child?
Another thought concerns how similar this narrative is to Lone Wolf and Cub. Both works follow lethal warriors guiding children through a world where violence is everywhere. To keep them safe is tough. Blades of the Guardians appears ready to translate that same intensity to the screen, with an emphasis on grounded combat and physical realism rather than spectacle-driven CGI. What’s emphasized is to show true grit over everything else.
With Yuen Woo-ping directing, expectations for the action are understandably high. The cast includes superstars such as Jet Li (Hero), Wu Jing (The Wandering Earth), Nicholas Tse (Raging Fire), and Max Zhang (The Grandmaster). Veteran performers Tony Leung Ka-fai (Election) and Kara Wai (My Young Auntie) also appear.
As this work is slated for simultaneous release in both China and America, fans of wuxia will no doubt be excited. Not only do we have a stellar cast, but we also have the following to marvel at:
From one corner of the world to another, 
This isn’t necessarily a time travel film, but it plays with time the way memory does. Past, present, and future overlap as three lives cross paths in ways humans can’t fully grasp.
The 2026 Victoria Film Festival is ready to roll from February 6 to 15. For its 32nd year, this local event continues to celebrate bold, quirky storytelling from 
Not every recent film will hit the mark in what winter frost means when it comes to survival horror. It’s merely decoration with Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire, but with Frankenstein, as revealed in part one, it’s about the heart and how to deal. In part two of our Winter Cinema Survival Guide, just how people deal comes to the fore with the most well known marking the end. No 
The frozen planet in Nolan’s cosmic odyssey is anything but serene. Its calm surface hides betrayal beneath the ice. Dust coats not just the land, but the truth itself. Sometimes the coldest places provide perfect cover for the warmest lies, and in the silence of space, that absence of warmth becomes deafening. Just how anyone can survive depends on matters of the heart, and surviving entering a black hole!
With winter in full swing and some cities either buried under snow or still digging out, in cinema, things can often become far worse. No, this isn’t about the usual wave of disaster movies where the weather goes feral. Those dominate lists easily enough. Instead, this Winter Cinema Survival Guide focuses on films where the environment itself becomes a player, a tool, or a symbol wielded by heroes and villains alike. Snow and ice aren’t just scenery here, they’re characters in their own right.
Antarctica as a gladiatorial cage? Absolutely. A hidden pyramid buried beneath centuries of ice becomes the battleground where two apex hunters collide, with humans reduced to witnesses rather than participants. The cold isn’t mute here, it’s a referee. You’re either prepared for it, or you freeze in place.
Passion Pictures