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When talking of underappreciated and underrated action stars, Max Zhang (AKA Jin Zhang) is certainly one that comes to my mind. Zhang made his first case for action star status when he took on Donnie Yen in the classic third installment of the Ip Man franchise and has since delivered a load of serviceable actioners on both sides of the ocean. From Hong Kong films like The Brink, Invincible Dragon and most recently Wolf Pack to western pics like Pacific Rim: Uprising and Escape Plan: The Extractors where he starred opposite Sylvester Stallone and Dave Bautista, Zhang has demonstrated his martial arts action prowess countless times in dazzling set pieces of speed, precision and ferocity. He’s definitely become one of my favorite Asian Action Cinema go to actors.
Zhang is returning to the period action realm for his latest endeavor called The Wild Blade of Strangers and here, the unstoppable force is going to wield some bad ass sword clanging action when it hits on the Asian streaming service iQIYI in March. Scroll below to watch Zhang slice and dice his way through a gauntlet of blade wielding combatants!
Synopsis: During the chaotic period towards the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Prince of Liang usurped power and secretly eliminated the heir to the throne. Tian Anye, a humble charcoal seller, unintentionally gets entangled in this conspiracy. In a series of intense battles where allies and enemies become blurred, the secrets hidden within Tian Anye and the truth behind the sacrifice of the people in Liang City are unveiled. In the end, Tian Anye fights against the imperial soldiers, saving a mother and child and escaping from the city of Chang’an.
Zhang shares the screen with Xia Meng, Gang Le and Jiang Luxia who round out the cast. Li Wei helms the pic which looks like it could be a cut (pun intended) above other hit or miss iQIYI entries on the service. If you have access to the service, which is available on ROKU, by all means check out Zhang’s latest rapd fire period actioner along with other action titles that are available.
The Wild Blade of Strangers hits iQIYI on March 2nd!
