Jackie Chan is primarily known for the action-comedies that he cranked out during the ‘80s and ‘90s, as well as his more recent wave of indistinguishable family comedies like The Spy Next Door and The Karate Kid. However, Chan has also delved into more serious fare: His 100th film, 1911, closely followed key events of the Xinhai Revolution, and his latest film, Dragon Blade, is a historical action film that also features John Cusack, Adrien Brody and K-pop superstar Siwon Choi.
Dragon Blade tells the story of a Roman leader, Tiberius (Adrien Brody), who attempts to claim the Silk Road as his own. The only people that can stop the corrupt Tiberius are a group of warriors led by Jackie Chan’s Huo An, a task for which they team up with an elite legion of defected Roman soldiers led by General Lucius (John Cusack).
From the looks of the first U.S. trailer, Dragon Blade seems to be attempting to go for that Braveheart style grandeur, with sweeping cinematography and big battle scenes, but the interesting casting choices are really what sells this preview. The warrior epic has already opened in China, where it was successful with critics and audiences alike.
Dragon Blade is slated to open in the U.S. on September 4th.