The Warlords (2009)

Set in China in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion. Loosely based on three real warlords, who raised an army to fight against this rebellion and in the process restored the rule of the Qing Dynasty.Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro play the leads here as the three warlords, who come from different walks of life, but who through the atrocities of war are brought together and end up swearing a blood oath of brotherhood, to stick together and end the war on their terms. The movie very heavily rests on their shoulders and they do not disappoint. The best scenes in this film are those where all three of them face one another, either in unison or in conflict.Unfortunately the script is somewhat lacking. These three actors could handle heavier stuff, but the dialogue they're given, especially in these situations they're set in, don't quite reach the level of greatness they perhaps could.The film also looks oddly drab. I guess they wanted to go for a more realistic style, compared to more usual outlandish Chinese historical films, but it still comes off as planned because now everyone is dressed universally in black, which looks outlandish as well, just in a very different way.To the film's credit, I say that the group battle scenes are really good looking. Some of the best I've seen in years. Although, on the flip side, the individual battles are jerky messes. Especially considering that you had Jet Li as the main character!Still, it is definitely a film worth checking out if you're into Chinese period war films.

The war sequence is amazing. It's full of brute force and shows the desperation of the soldiers. It is very realistic, just more dramatic. There are a lots lots of extras. Perhaps it's the first time I had seen that the war sequence represents the numbers of casualties mentioned. The war and fight is fast, it doesn't look choreographed. Instead, it looks violent and brutal.Jet Li gives decent acting here. Andy Lau got great role he deserved unlike in "House of Flying Daggers." Any Lau fans could tell he gave different performance this time. With all the blood, violence, brotherhood, man pride, and politics, I could say, a very "masculine" film.

THE WARLORDS is a typically overblown historical epic, full of pomposity and grandeur, a film of heroism, murder and larger than life characters. Such films have been very popular in Asia in recent years, with notable highlights including wushu flick HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and the quite wonderful CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER. THE WARLORDS never equals the heights of those two films, but it is a good effort, a fine display of historical spectacle mixed with a three-hander character drama.My main complaint with the film is that it doesn't really know what it wants to be. It starts off as an action flick, but there's only really one notable fight scene in the whole movie. This involves a ferocious battle between two armies, with Jet Li taking to the field and cutting down swathes of the enemy. Extremely tight editing and a refreshing emphasis on the nastiness of warfare makes this scene one of the highlights of the year, but the rest of the film doesn't match it. Soon we move into a more thoughtful, character-led drama that somehow doesn't ring quite true to me. The acting is very good, and the scenes are all well shot with great proficiency in the technical details, but there's a hollowness here that just left me detached from what was going on. It may be that the story is overly familiar, or that some elements – the character of Lian and her relationships with the leads – are glossed over and feel false.I'd say that this is a film that could have been so much more. It marks an admirable move away from the outrageous 'flying' and gravity-defying situations found in the wushu genre, moving towards gritty realism and grimy authenticity. There are a handful of truly great moments, involving some wonderful acting, like the situation with the four thousand prisoners. But the way the film gradually moves away from greatness down to the climax between two individuals is disappointing and feels rushed. Jet Li shines with some of his best acting ever in a couple of places, and Takeshi Kaneshiro is the kind of amiable guy the crowd loves: good looking, fair and just. Andy Lau is also great, but used too little. Overall, it's a case of 'what could have been' rather than 'what is'; nice film, but no classic.

Ever since Hollywood fumbled several golden opportunities to capitalize on the success of Gladiator and revive the fortunes of the historical epic in the West, it's good to see Asian cinema taking up the ball and running with it so effectively. And it's a testament to the scope of what's on offer these days that a film like The Warlords is in the middle of the pack.There are several things The Warlords does right: 1. It restricts the scope of its story, keeping a tight focus on the three heroes, their struggles with circumstance and with enemies that include the conniving Mandarins of the Qing court and the soldiers-of-fortune they favor. The Warlords doesn't try to deliver a history lesson on the incredibly complex topic of the Taiping Rebellion, and establishes the Taipings themselves in subtle, minimal strokes; it's nice if you know the history behind their long locks and crucifixes, but you don't need to know it to understand the flow of the film. What's in frame is what we need to know: the desperation that drove many to take up arms in the China of the day, the shocking straits the Imperial forces had been reduced to, and the kind of inspiration, improvisation and daring it took on the battlefield to bring the Dynasty back from the brink of oblivion.2. It keeps the action varied. No wire-work, thank God, and the battle scenes are gritty, dirty and bloody. We do get treated to some awe-inspiring set pieces, a couple of classic Jet Li throwdowns, and a surprisingly vivid and memorable death scene by a Taiping general that sets the stage for a fatal breach among the trio of sworn brothers. War can become mind-numbing and repetitive, but the film doesn't.3. It doesn't get schmaltzy. There's a romantic subplot, but the filmmakers resist the temptation to let it take over the proceedings and play it out subtly in a succession of guilty glances and stolen moments. The focus is, as it should be, on the the three brothers and especially General Pang as they struggle to adapt to chaotic events and stay afloat in the stormy waters of war and court politics. And when the love triangle does come into play, it does so in an unexpected way.The Warlord's plot is serviceable and engaging, if nothing fancy. That the three brothers are headed for a falling-out is obvious even before they take their blood oath, but the path of that falling-out isn't predictable. In terms of dialogue, there's nothing mind-blowing and nothing intolerably bad. Performances are excellent, and in particular all three of the leading actors deliver in spades. It makes for worthwhile and enjoyable viewing.