[I know, I know, three updates in two days? But at last this is a good one, courtesy of the fine folks over at Mtime.谢谢!]

Although the only piece of video related to Daniel Lee's upcoming actioner 錦衣衛 (14 Blades) is that camcorder clip of the trailer we posted months ago, stills from the film were released yesterday, and they're indeed pretteh.

If you're wondering whether this film is some sort of unofficial remake of the Shaw Brothers 1984 wuxia 錦衣衛 (Secret Service of the Imperial Court) the answer is... no. The confusion would instantly be explained by taking a look at the Chinese title: 錦衣衛 (or 锦衣卫 in simplified Chinese). That is, Jinyiwei (brocade-clad army), the Ming emperors' own version of the CIA. The organization was set up in the late 14th century by Ming dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang (Emperor Hongwu), first as his own personal guards numbering in the hundreds, and later gaining many more other responsibilities (including intelligence, of course), reaching their apex in the 16th century with a total force around the low six figures. Sure enough, Jinyiwei was also the Chinese title of the Shaw Brothers flick starring Leung Kar-Yan, not to mention a 2006 CCTV series, so while we're indeed dealing with the same secret service, it doesn't mean it will be the same story, as this Sina article confirms.

Anyhow, we're here for stills, right?