Dragon Blade (2015)

Plot summary (story synopsis): Huo An (Jackie Chan) is the leader of the Silk Road Protection Squad, keeping the peace along the fabled Silk Road trade route in ancient China.

He and his men are framed for gold smuggling and are banished to hard labor, repairing the remote Wild Geese Gate walled city in the middle of the desert. Wild Geese Gate is attacked by a large detachment of renegade Roman legionnaires, led by Lucius (John Cusack). The Romans are low on food and water and need medicine for their sickly young prince Publius (Jozef Waite).

Lucius attempts to take Wild Geese Gate by force but a huge sandstorm interrupts his duel with Huo An. Huo An offers Lucius and his men a truce and shelter inside Wild Geese Gate. The next day brings new orders - Wild Geese Gate is to be finished within 15 days or else everyone will be executed.

Lucius helps them meet the deadline with his knowledge of Roman engineering, while Huo An binds the prison hard-labor gang from 36 nations, into a single motivated team. 

Their victory is short-lived because Publius's evil brother Tiberius (Adrien Brody) catches up with Lucius, bringing 100 thousand Roman soldiers with him. 

***

Dragon Blade is darker than the normal Jackie Chan movie (closer to Police Story than Who Am I?) but has his normal multiracial muhibbah shtick (I'd swear he was brought up in Malaysia).

Jackie Chan's trademark comedic kung fu and acrobatics are minimal, mostly seen in the fight at the start of the movie with Cold Moon (Peng Lin) where he accidentally grabs her bewbs. 

What you do get lots of is goodie-two-shoes Huo An rallying the troops, turning foes into friends, and sacrificing himself for the sake of others. Which doesn't have to be too bad, only Jackie Chan pours on his normal treacly moralizing on top of it.

So yeah, standard Hong Kong melodrama, Jackie version.

The two Hollywood stars are pulled down to Jackie Chan's level. John Cusack gets the corniest lines and almost manages to sell them. Adrien Brody gets better lines but turns in an awful performance. It's not something you would expect from an Academy Award winner. 

On the positive side of the ledger, Jackie Chan swordfights John Cusack and Adrien Brody, but not at the same time. Okay, you've seen Adrien Brody fight Predators but have you seen Cusack do any hand-to-hand?

Come on, just for the curiosity factor, you know you want to watch this one. Decades from now, you will be able to tell your grandchildren - I was there when Adrien Brody and John Cusack destroyed their career.