With Jet Li, Wu Jing, and real horses in a real desert, the legendary choreographer has made a film that honours the craft that defined an era
The Grandmaster Returns: Yuen Woo-ping on Practical Filmmaking and the Language of Wushu
When Yuen Woo-ping decided to make Blades of the Guardians, the veteran Hong Kong action director and choreographer made a decision that set him apart from almost every other filmmaker working in high-budget action cinema today. He used real horses. He shot in actual deserts. And he cast martial artists – specifically wushu champions – who could perform the physical action without relying on digital enhancement. In an exclusive interview with Variety published on February 19, 2026, Yuen explained his philosophy with characteristic directness. Getting shots in camera, he said, has always been his way of working.
A Career That Defined an Art Form
To understand why Blades of the Guardians matters, you need to understand who Yuen Woo-ping is. He choreographed the original Drunken Master, the film that made Jackie Chan a global star and established a template for action comedy that spread far beyond Hong Kong. He served as the martial arts choreographer for The Matrix trilogy, transforming how Hollywood conceived of fight sequences. He did the same for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the film that brought Chinese martial arts cinema to a global art-house audience. Film scholars globally have recognised the Woo-ping style as one of the most influential contributions any individual has made to the visual language of action cinema. That the master is now returning to a Hong Kong production, working with Hong Kong techniques and Hong Kong sensibilities, is significant beyond the commercial.
Jet Li and Wu Jing: A Meeting of Champions
The casting of Wu Jing and Jet Li in opposing roles is the film’s central dramatic and physical logic. Both men are wushu champions who trained in the rigorous Chinese martial arts competition tradition before moving into cinema. Yuen told Variety that casting Governor Chang required Jet Li specifically because Wu Jing’s Dao Ma needed a credible physical adversary, and only Li could provide it. All three leads, including Max Zhang, are wushu champions carrying between them, as Yuen noted, dozens of accumulated injuries from careers devoted to physical cinema. They gave their best every day, Yuen said, because it is rare to be able to work with performers of that calibre.
The Film’s Story and Structure
Based on Xu Xianzhe’s graphic novels, Blades of the Guardians is set during the Sui Dynasty under the oppressive Emperor Yang Guang. The protagonist, a mercenary named Biao Ren, navigates the harsh deserts of the Western Regions and becomes entangled in a complex scheme while undertaking what appears to be a routine escort mission. Yuen describes the film as a road movie in structure: a journey through varied locations and encounters that builds to an emotional as well as physical climax. The central storyline involving Dao Ma and Di Ting, former brothers in arms now pitted against each other, culminates in a fight sequence that Yuen describes as spectacular in physical terms but devastating in emotional ones. The final moments recontextualise the entire journey in a split second.
Fight Scenes as Dialogue
Yuen’s articulation of his choreographic philosophy is worth dwelling on. Fight scenes, he told Variety, are a kind of dialogue between characters. There is a back and forth and there are consequences with every movement. Any move that does not advance the story should be cut. This is the opposite of the approach that has dominated Hollywood action cinema for most of the past two decades, where fight sequences have become increasingly abstracted from character or narrative, existing purely as spectacle, often mediated by rapid cutting and digital augmentation that removes any sense of physical consequence.
Hong Kong Cinema’s Enduring Legacy
The Hong Kong action film tradition that Yuen represents emerged from specific material conditions: limited budgets, limited technology, but extraordinary physical talent and a willingness to attempt dangerous practical stunts that crews elsewhere would not. Wirework, the technique that became the signature visual vocabulary of Hong Kong action cinema, was invented out of necessity. Without visual effects, filmmakers had to find mechanical solutions to cinematic problems. The results were often more viscerally convincing and more artistically inventive than anything digital replication has produced since. Hong Kong Film Awards history is a catalogue of the action tradition’s finest achievements, from the early Jackie Chan films through to the John Woo gangster pictures and the martial arts epics of the 1990s. That tradition was developed by artists working at the intersection of extraordinary physical skill and genuine narrative craft.
Tony Leung Ka-fai and the Emotional Core
Not all of the film’s power resides in physical action. Tony Leung Ka-fai, cast as Chief Mo, is known for emotional weight and dramatic range rather than martial arts expertise. Yuen explicitly valued that complement to the physical performers, noting that Leung was able to provide the emotional core to a key storyline even while learning the physical requirements of the role. It is a reminder that the greatest action films are not simply showcases for athleticism but fully realised dramatic works in which physical action serves character and story.
A Film Hong Kong Needs Right Now
There is something important about Blades of the Guardians appearing in 2026, as Hong Kong cinema continues to navigate the severe restrictions on content imposed by the National Security Law and the effective end of the edgy, politically engaged filmmaking tradition that once distinguished Hong Kong cinema from its mainland counterpart. Yuen is making an unapologetically Hong Kong film, in the Hong Kong manner, drawing on Hong Kong techniques and Hong Kong talent, telling a story about loyalty, betrayal, and the human cost of power. That is not nothing. In a moment when Hong Kong’s cultural institutions are under extraordinary pressure, the persistence of genuine artistic ambition deserves recognition and support.
Tsz Yan
Environment & Public Policy Journalist, Apple Daily UK
Contact: tszyan@appledaily.uk
Tsz Yan is an environment and public policy journalist specializing in climate issues, urban planning, and environmental governance. She completed her journalism education at a top-tier UK journalism institution, where she trained in policy analysis, data-driven reporting, and environmental journalism ethics.
Her professional experience includes reporting for Apple Daily and other liberal Chinese publications on pollution control, infrastructure development, environmental regulation, and sustainability policy. Tsz Yan’s reporting integrates scientific data, regulatory documents, and interviews with experts and affected communities.
She has worked in newsroom settings where environmental reporting intersects with economic and political pressures, giving her practical experience in verification and balanced framing. Her stories are known for accurate interpretation of technical data and clear attribution.
Tsz Yan’s authority comes from consistent publication within reputable news organizations and adherence to transparency and correction protocols. At Apple Daily UK, she produces reliable environmental journalism grounded in evidence, professional training, and public-interest reporting.
