Reviewed by Phil Wheat
Stars Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro | Written by Tin Nam Chun & Junli Guon
UK certification 15 | Blu-Ray £24.99 | Region 2 | Runtime 117 minutes | Directed by Peter Ho Sun Chan
The Warlords stars the legendary martial arts star Jet Li, alongside Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro (who both previously starred in the mega-hit House of Flying Daggers), as three "blood brothers" brought together by a need to help their people rise against the tyrannical Qing dynasty.
The film is based on the true story of General Pang Qing-Yun and his assasination prior to his governorial inauguration in 1870. Jet Li plays the army general Qing-Yun, who is the only survivor of of an epic massacre. After spending time wandering the landscape he follows a girl, Mi Lan, and ends up in a village where meets Wu-Yang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), who introduces him to Andy Lau's Er-Hu: the leader of a bandit army that regularly steals food to survive. Qing-Yun earn's their friendship after he helps raid a rebel military convoy. He is taken to the army's village where he finds Mi Lan again, who is revealed to be Er-Hu's wife, and they begin an affair. Qing-Yun convinces Er-Hu and Wu-Yang to join the Qing army, the finaly agree after the three swear a "Blood Oath" and become brothers for life waging war againgst all those that stand in their way.
Years of fighting and war causes a rift between the three blood brothers, most noticably between Er-Hu and Qing-Yun, who plots the assassination of his "brother" Er-Hu. In the meantime Wu-Yang discovers Qing-Yun's affair with Mi Lan and uncovers his plot against Er-Hu. Believing that Qing-Yun wants to kill Er-Hu because of his affair with Mi Lan, Wu-Yang murders her. Wu-Yang, following the brothers blood oath, goes to kill Qing-Yun at his inauguration ceremony. As the two brothers fight, a hidden attacker armed with a rifle shoots Qing-Yun in the back multiple times as Wu-Yang stabs him in the chest, killing him.
The Warlords shares some of the same production team that were behind Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Curse of the Golden Flower and like those films it follows the same story structure: brilliant fight scenes followed by long drawn out dramatic monologues that move the story forward. The fight scenes, when they do occur, are vicious and bloody - limbs chopped off, throats cut and rivers of blood; which belies the films 15 rating but works to convey the sense of determination in the brotherhood's actions. The look of The Warlords is very distinctive too: bleached out colours, with lots of browns and greys, which makes the film look very gritty and dirty, which ties in thematically with The Warlord's bleak subject matter.
What makes The Warlords rise above Hero, Flying Daggers and Golden Flower is one brilliant stand-out scene, which tremendously shows the brutality of war. In it, Qing-Yun and Wu-Yang agree that, following a shortage of food, all prisoners of war must be killed. This is against the wishes of Kaneshiro's character, Er-Hu, who is detained and chained up whilst the soldiers are ordered to kill. The soldiers duly comply but break down and cry as they carry out the command. When Er-Hu is set free he walks among the hundreds of dead bodies pilled up in the courtyard, it is a bleak and unsettling scene that really does show that... "Dying is easy, living is harder."
The Warlords is a stunning study of brotherhood, love and politics all set to the harsh backdrop of the brutalities of war. Recommended.
EXTRAS *** Consist of a Production Journal, "Reflections" on The Warlords, a textual history of the story behind The Warlords and obiligatory Trailers & Deleted Scenes