One of my all time favorites.

hyped garbage

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Review: What an epic movie! I quite enjoyed this deep action movie about 3 warriors who join forces to fight against the Taiping Rebellion. There vow to each other is questioned after certain situations draw the brothers apart, during a time were they don't know who is there friend or there enemy. The storyline was very well put together, but the ending seemed a bit random and unexplainable. The action scenes were epic and very detailed and the backdrop of the whole film was impressive. All of the actors put in a believable performance, especially Jet Li who had some emotional scenes. On the downside, the political side to the movie was a bit confusing but I quite enjoy this big budget spectacular. Enjoyable!Round-Up: This is the second movie in my Jet Li series and I can definitely say that he is a versatile actor. Everyone is used to seeing Jet Li using his martial arts to take down his enemies, but this film is based around the war era, so it would have looked a bit odd if he was going around kicking people's butt. The chemistry between the 3 characters was brilliant and the seriousness on Jet Li's face throughout the movie made it intense, especially during the war scenes. I'm becoming a fan of Andy Lau, who starred in movies like the great Shaolin and House Of Flying Daggers and I also liked Takeshi Kaneshiro who plays the other guy in the brotherhood and also starred in House Of Flying Daggers. Anyway, I'm not one that usually likes reading subtitles whilst trying to watch a movie, but they really didn't spoil this well put together film.Budget: $40million Worldwide Gross: $130,000 (What A Flop!)I recommend this movie to people who are into their Jet Li movies about 3 friends who make a pact to protect each other whilst fighting against the Taiping Rebellion. 7/10

Set in the nineteenth century when civil war plagues China one man Pang Qingyun, survives an overwhelming rout after a supposedly allied army stands by and does nothing. After the battle he is taken to a bandit village which is soon attacked by the very army that stood by earlier. He persuades the village leader, Zhao Er-Hu, and his brother to join an army and fight for the people. At first things go well for them and they are successful; they also stand for justice; then they decide that the city of Suzhou must be taken before going on to take Nanking. They think it will take three years but it is five years before Suzhou falls and when it does they are low on food and a rival army is already heading towards Nanking. Pang orders the execution of four thousand captured soldiers even though Ur-Hu promised that they would be spared if the city surrendered. They continue and take Nanking but their friendship is over and Pang is given the governorship of the city by the Empress. The problem is other lords want him to get rid of Er-Hu first.I hadn't heard of this film before seeing it advertised on television; I decided to watch it as I assumed it would be similar to other Chinese films I'd seen such as 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' or 'Hero'; I was wrong about that as the action here was far more realistic; no running up walls or flying across the roof tops here. The battle scenes were still very dramatic though and there was a degree of stylised choreography in the fighting which added to the excitement. I thought actors Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro did good jobs although not speaking Mandarin I can't comment on their accents! While I wouldn't call this a must see film it wasn't bad and is worth watching on television.

Part martial arts movie, part historical epic, director Peter Chan's film 'The Warlords' recreates the Taiping rebellion in China. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a mess; both in terms of the movements in the action scenes, and in terms of the high politics, I found it very hard to follow who exactly was doing what to whom; but all too easy to get the general drift of a movie that was big on set pieces but low on subtlety. Most crucially, the film conveys no idea whatsoever of what the rebellion was actually about in its story of three "blood brothers" motivated solely by personal oath. The result: lots of blood, but not too much in the way of enlightenment.

I couldn't finish this film and perhaps, for that reason, you should take my review with a grain of salt. But I feel strongly enough about it to write something anyway.The production values on this film are quite good - cinematography, acting, sets, action scenes, are all well done. The problem is that the story makes no sense and the politics are bizarre, to say the least.A general gets up from the battlefield. He has survived a massacre by playing dead - a premise that is made less and less credible by his heroic performance later on. He joins a group of bandits, killing some poor prisoner whom he knows nothing about in order to prove his loyalty to the other chieftains. He convinces the bandits to join the Ching army to fight against the Taiping, who are in revolt against the government because they (the bandits) can get food and money that way. They ambush a Taiping supply convoy and then offers a deal to the government army. He will take a city for them from the Taiping if they give him half the spoils. So far, so good. A man with no morals joins the bandits and, with them, becomes a mercenary soldier for a corrupt government. He plans to take a city, sack it, loot it, and keep the profits. It doesn't fit the fairly decent image created for the hero, but at least it's consistent.But then the film makers try to make this man into a genuine hero. He leads his forces selflessly into battle against Taiping soldiers - portrayed not as the ragtag peasant revolutionaries fighting with farm implements and having a religious motivation, as they actually were, but as a disciplined army with uniforms, officers, and rifles. He prepares to sacrifice his life to fight them.By great heroics, he wins the battle, ignoring the spear that has thrust all the way through his chest, and takes the city. The spear has magically disappeared and our hero seems unaffected by the wound. Then, amazingly, he orders the execution of two soldiers in his own army for raping women in the city! He says he is serving a higher purpose and will not allow that kind of stuff to ever happen again.Huh? Where did these scruples come from? He's just massacred an army for no reason other than pay. He's just fought for a corrupt government that is subservient to foreign interests and the interests of the rich landlords in the regions. He has just taken a city and, presumably, sacked it. He leaves the city with chests full of silver coins.I don't know what the Chinese writers, directors, and censors were thinking when they made this film. One is tempted to conclude that, however coherent the story might have been when originally written, it was bowdlerized to support the government above all and pretend that supporting the government is a good thing for everyone, even if it's corrupt.It was hard to take. I couldn't take it. Mao must be rolling over in his grave.