The Warlords (aka Tou Ming Chong) (2007) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

China, Hong Kong 2007
Director: Peter Chan
Cast: Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Xu Jinglei, Gu Bao-ming, Xiaodong Guo, Dong Dong Wang
Rating: R (USA); Cat IIB (Hong Kong)
Language: Mandarin
Release Date: 12 Dec 2007 (China); 14 Dec 2007 (Indo); 23 May 2009 (USA)
Running Time: 2 hours 6 minutes

The Movie Review

The Warlords film still 1


The WARLORDS (Tou Ming Chong)
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

You came into your favorite cinema, looking for a nice movie to spend the evening, and suddenly you see a poster titled 'The Warlords' with names like Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro written on it? Oh yes sir! One ticket please! If you're fond historical movies or epic films fans, you just can't skip The Warlords. And as predicted, it's an awesome movie indeed.

Set in the mid 19th century in China, under the rule of the corrupt Qing Dynasty, it's the time when life is hard and death is easy. Famine is everywhere igniting the rise of The Taiping Rebels. The movie revolves around an ex-army general named Pang Qing-Yun (Jet Li). Qing-Yun survived the last battle by hiding beneath the corpses of his fellow soldiers. He's eventually helped by a woman, Lian (Xu Jinglei) who tends his wound back to health. While looking for food, Jiang Wu-Yang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) asks Qing-Yun to join the band of desperate robbers led by Zhao Er-hu (Andy Lau) who rob the government food stock to give it to the villagers.

After an incident at the village, Qing-Yun, Wu-Yang and Er-Hu swear a blood oath to become brothers and to help each other no matter what. Afterwards they take the villagers to join the army with noble intentions to feed the villagers and to bring peace. However, with the intricate political plays, starvation, death and long journey could these brothers stay true to their oath?

There's something mesmerizing about Ancient Chinese War Strategy. And they have been depicted in numerous forms ranging from comic books, manga, Sun Tzu literatures, even to Age of Empires PC game. Their costumes, the way they position and formating themselves, their flags, the battle cries, it's all magnificent. And this epic movie here has a bit of them in the story, intrigues, strategies, persuasion, general's wisdom and charm, everything. From the soft skills of war to the clever use of long/middle/short weapons. The Warlords is a movie with brain, it's not just some high-budgeted movie using wildly random epical elements, or making the costumes as fancy/glittery as possible. And don't worry, the film is far from being soft, the battle scenes are spectacular. The type of scenes that ancient war movie fans would love. Furthermore, as it often happens in Asian movies, every supporting actor and even the extras are capable of doing martial arts! Which means more and more intense war! The camerawork needs improvement, but it'd easily be overlooked when the audience is presented with the intensity of the flying dust, spurting blood and clinging weapons. Remember guys, there's Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro in the middle of those wars. However, Kung Fu is not the main focus in this film.

-- Start of Spoiler Possibility Alert --
It turns out, that Tou Ming Chong (The Warlords' Mandarin title), is based on a sad true story. In 1870, a massacre took place, around 10,000 Qing's prisoners of war (the Taiping rebels) were butchered in a closed space after being tricked that their life would have been spared. Although still comparatively little to the total toll number from wars during the Qing Dynasty of 70 million people. And this is probably that differs the drama in The Warlords from other similar movies.
-- End of Spoiler Possibility Alert --

There's the drama in this Chinese epic film, with the performance of Andy Lau, Jet Li and Takeshi Kaneshiro are good, but arguably this is not their best. And the romantic side fails big time. If you're looking for a good combination of war and drama, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon is a much better option. But thankfully, the ending is great, dramatic and memorable. Simply put, The Warlords is one of the best epic movies in 2007, get a hold of it if you're an epic flick fans. And this movie would also be a good company in this holy fasting month of Ramadhan :)

For other pairs of these masters: Jet Li and Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008); Andy Lau and Sammo Hung in Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon (2008).

Learn Asian history the fun way: Kazakhstan's Nomad (2005) and Thailand's Queen of Langkasuka (2008).

© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com
posted: Saturday, 6 Aug 2011 05:41 am

The Warlords (Tou Ming Chong)