Sakra (2023) Review

“Sakra” Theatrical Poster

Director: Donnie Yen
Cast: Donnie Yen, Yuqi Chen, Cya Liu Ya-Se, Kara Hui, Wu Yue, Eddie Cheung Siu-fai, Ray Lui, Tsui Siu-Ming, Yuen Cheung-Yan, Du Yu-Ming, Michelle Hu Ran
Running Time: 130 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Out of the many famous wuxia novels out there, its Jin Yong’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils that takes the award for the one that’s been adapted for the screen the most. On the small screen alone there’s been 6 adaptations over the last 40 years, and on the big screen it was the Shaw Brothers studio that first took the plunge in 1977 with The Battle Wizard, which wisely chose to adapt only a part of the sprawling tale. Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils followed in 1982 as a quick cash-in on the popular TVB series from the same year, and in 1994 it was given the new wave wire-fu treatment with The Dragon Chronicles: The Maidens of Heavenly Mountain. Even Jackie Chan was announced to be starring in an adaptation in the mid-90’s, which sadly never got off the ground. Now in 2023, a 4^th feature length production has arrived in the form of Sakra.

Also marking the 4^th time for Donnie Yen to take on both director and leading man duties, it’s taken a long time for Asia’s biggest action star to return to the director’s chair since his resurgence close to 20 years ago with 2005’s Sha Po Lang. While he took a co-director credit on the awful 2004 Twins (remember them?) vehicle Protégé de la Rose Noire, when most people think of Yen’s directorial output it’ll be his trilogy of starring turns made across 1997 and 1998, comprising of Legend of the Wolf, Ballistic Kiss, and Shanghai Affairs. As a director Yen proved to be a divisive talent, his fondness for brooding antiheroes and hyper undercranked action scenes being admired by some, and ridiculed by others. Whichever side you fell on, what couldn’t be denied is that Yen the director had a distinctive style, and even though it’s taken 25 years, I was excited at the prospect of seeing how that style had developed since the late 90’s.

Outside of his double-hit of contemporary actioners helmed by Wilson Yip with the aforementioned Sha Po Lang and Flash Point (which followed in 2007), some of my favorite roles from Yen in the last 2 decades have been his ventures into wuxia territory. 14 Blades, Wu Xia, and The Lost Bladesman were all solid entries that updated the genre for the 2010’s, and in the case of the latter 2, gave Yen the opportunity to incorporate his wide-ranging choreography skills to a genre that usually favored soft and flowing over intricate and high impact. 

That high impact aesthetic is carried over to Sakra, and is only matched by the complexity of the tale Yen attempts to tell. In fairness, any time a feature length production attempts to adapt a significant portion of Jin Yong’s novel within a 2-hour timeframe, things tend to get messy. Both 1982’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils and 1994’s The Dragon Chronicles: The Maidens of Heavenly Mountain quickly become exercises in incomprehensibility, leaving anyone who isn’t familiar with the source material scratching their heads as to what’s going on and why. Sakra clocks in at 130 minutes, however rather than utilising the runtime to give breathing space to a certain section of the novel (similar to The Battle Wizard approach), Yen attempts to cram in far too much, resulting in both tonal and pacing issues at several points. 

As with many a wuxia, providing even a concise synopsis could take up the rest of the review, so I’ll boil it down to this – Yen was part of a clan whose parents were murdered when he was still a baby, and has been raised to become the chief of the Beggar’s Sect thanks to his powerful kung-fu. When the deputy chief is found murdered in the present, Yen is framed, and his origins revealed to be that of a rival clan from those who’ve raised him. Outcast as both a traitor and an outsider, he swears to uncover the truth behind, well, everything. Who murdered his parents? Who murdered the deputy chief and framed him? Why can’t all of the clans just get along? All of these are standard questions when it comes to the wuxia genre, and to his credit Yen has opted for an approach which feels like a 2023 take on the many new wave wuxia flicks that Hong Kong cranked out in the early to mid-1990’s.

For Sakra Yen finds himself at a point in his career where he has his own action team who, much like Jackie Chan in the 80’s and 90’s, perfectly understand his style of choreography and how to cater to it onscreen. So while Yen himself isn’t on choreography duty on his latest production, if the action was going to go to anyone else, you couldn’t ask for better than Kenji Tanigaki (Enter the Fat Dragon, Raging Fire) and Yan Hua (Special ID, Iceman 3D). With able support from the Donnie Yen Action Team, together the action in Sakra is easily its biggest strength, seamlessly blending Yen’s dynamic power, wire-fu, and CGI in such a way that it feels both fresh and familiar at the same time. Despite being on the brink of 60 Yen makes for a commanding presence, and I’d challenge anyone not to smile when, during an epic throwdown against a whole hall of attackers out for blood, he openly challenges them to “Come at me all together.”

I considered the Yen versus Wu Yue fight in Ip Man 4: The Finale to be one of the best in the series, so to see Yue return here as the villain, offering up a final fight against Yen, was a wish come true. Tanigaki’s influential swordplay choreography from the Rurouni Kenshin series comes through in this scene (namely the running along the floor almost horizontally), and the fact that it offers up styles like the Eighteen Subduing Dragons Palm going up against the Star Shifting technique makes it an explosively fun face off. Yen had said during the production of Sakra that he was approaching it as the wuxia equivalent of a Marvel movie, which admittedly sent a shiver down my spine considering Gordon Chan’s The Four trilogy sold itself on the same premise, but thankfully the approach isn’t a detriment. There may be some who don’t enjoy Yen’s frequent palm blasts of energy, but they fit in with the tone of the story being told.

Outside of the action things fare less well, with any dramatic moments relying more on the frequently soaring score than any emoting or dialogue from the cast, with Yen’s love interest Yuqi Chen in particular failing to convince. Other times the narrative structure works against itself, such as the fact Yen keeps on turning up as the first on scene to other murders one after the other resulting in him becoming a multi-murder suspect, an editing choice that ends up feeling unintentionally comedic more than anything else. 

What should be a tension mounting build-up to an epic mid-point fight scene is also squandered by Yen’s odd pacing decisions. Asking for anyone that wants to kill him to share a shot of wine together, the scene spends an inordinate amount of time watching Yen converse one on one with each character who comes forward, sapping it of any sense of anticipation. The only plus side is that the fight scene that eventually breaks out thankfully lasts longer than the inane dialogue that precedes it. That, and it also offers up an amusing cameo for the legendary Tsui Siu-Ming (Mirage, Bury Me High).

Indeed for the kung-fu cinema fan Yen has crammed the cast with talent, from Yuen Cheung-Yan (A Heroic Fight, Taoism Drunkard), to Kara Hui (My Young Auntie, Rosa), to Du Yu-Ming (Slaughter in Xian, Ninja in Ancient China). The nostalgia of seeing such legends of the jade screen share it again in 2023 could be enough to outweigh the negatives, although Yen’s reasons for casting them may be dubious. At one point a character refers to the time period of 30 years passing since Yen was rescued as a baby, indicating that his character is supposed to be barely over 30, which frankly, is about as believable as me mastering the Eighteen Subduing Dragons Palm. Luckily, the action convinces in spades, showing once more why Yen is considered a master of his craft. Sakra is ultimately too flawed to be enjoyed by everyone, but if you loved the new-wave wuxia era of the 90’s, then chances are you’ll find plenty to enjoy here.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10