The Warlords 2007

vertex parašė atsiliepimą apie The Warlords (2007)

Strike the Head and the Body Will Fall

I am not exactly a fan of Asian cinema but every now and then, when Hollywood fails to offer enough decent movies I turn towards east. The Warlords is a big budget (according to HK standards) war movie with some of the Asia’s most famous actors.

The story of Warlords is set in somewhere in the 19th century China. Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro portray bandits who make a pledge to join the army, stay together, and fight for freedom. The Warlords is essentially a historical war movie and it depicts the times of war very well. There are grand battles and vast battlefields full of rotting bodies. The colors of the whole movie seem to be unsaturated to enhance the gloominess of war. The Battle scenes are well executed, they look gorgeous and for the most part they look real. However there were a few distracting factors. In my opinion the canons didn’t do enough damage and at times Jet Li’s fighting looked super natural :)

There are three soldiers in the leading roles but Jet Li’s role is the one that feels the most prominent. He is believable in his role and he is the one whose emotions are the easiest to interpret. From the very beginning Jet Li’s character proves to be a wise and righteous leader who sees the big picture in difficult situations. It’s easy to like his character but for some reason it’s not easy to enter into his world.

Even though The Warlords is a war movie there are other elements as well. Between the battles the story deals with human characteristics such as loyalty and betrayal and there is even forbidden love. On paper the movie sounds better than it is. It’s hard to say what’s wrong with the movie but it just doesn’t elevate to the heights that this kind of story should. I think there is just too much stuff in a two hour package. To me The Warlords is just a little better than mediocre.