It’s hard to square martial arts main man Donnie Yen’s increasing entanglement with the Chinese Communist party with the concern for China’s ethnic minorities on show in his first directorial effort for 20 years. Playing Qiao Feng, top dog of the ragamuffin Beggars’ Gang during the Song dynasty, he finds out that his parents were in fact hairy Khitan nomads from the steppes. With the scenes of Khitan refugees being mistreated by callous military goons, you can’t help but think of the plight of the Uyghurs.
Things don’t look good for Qiao when he is framed for four murders in succession: the deputy leader of the gang, his adoptive parents and his old Shaolin master. (The Oscar Wilde misfortune/carelessness adage would seem to apply here.) Forced out by his fellow brigands, the only person who believes he is innocent is chance companion Azhu (Chen Yuqi), a thief he bumps into who is trying to nick a sacred Shaolin scroll. She has a vested interest in backing him: he’s carting her off to legendary healer Xue (Yuen Cheung-yan, brother of Matrix choreographer Yuen Woo-ping) after being wounded in the heist.
