Has a heart of gold, but too manic for its own good

If you happened upon any 2-3 minutes of this film you’d automatically think that it was a very worthy adventure flick with great production values.

Unfortunately, it’s too manic for its own good. I tried to adapt to its hyper tone and did so until just past the halfway mark when the overkill action style pretty much lost me. I endured to the end, but it was difficult. It seriously needed to slow down and cultivate depth (but at least it tries to at times).

“Dragon Blade” lacks the confident poise of the excellent “Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan” (2007) and instead shoots for overKILL. Consider the frenzied pace of the 2011 version of “Conan the Barbarian,” but up the ante a couple of notches. That’s this movie.