The Warlords Review

The mysterious assassination of Qing Dynasty General Ma Xinyi is one of China's most prominent political fables. The crime, left unsolved since 1870, serves as the springboard for this big budget exploration of brotherhood and brutality. The Warlords is set against the Taiping Rebellion that threatened the stability of the Chinese Empire in the late 19th Century.

From the moment a wizened looking Jet Li crawls out from beneath a pile of his fellow soldiers, the tone is set. This is a grimy, gritty, and gruesome look at war, both on the battlefield and the destruction it leaves behind. That, however, is really only half the story. Director Peter Chan is an experienced master of romantic cinema, and his predilection for the emotional makes itself plain from the off. Having stumbled from the battlefield Jet Li's Qing-Yun falls into the arms of a woman, weeping and cursing the horrors of war. From then on a heady mix of brutality and compassion form an uneasy alliance in this competent, if not spectacular, war epic.

Li's disgraced general soon teams up with bandit war-chiefs Wu-Yang (Takashi Keneshiro) and Er-Hu (Andy Lau), the three forming a bond of brotherhood which serves as the emotional foil for the remainder of the picture. Leading their men into battle against impossible odds the three carve their way through the the Taiping rebels.

Scenes of battle are sparse but expertly executed. The first real conflict, as the bandits ambush a supply train passing through a canyon, is a thrilling mix of Asian grace and realistic carnage. The second, a more traditional stand-off between two standing armies, is less visceral but manages to convey a real sense of military tactics often lost in portrayals of such grand encounters.

In this battle we begin see the first signs of the cracks in the brotherhood that form the emotional core of the work. Three very different actors bring to life three very different men, with three polished and accomplished performances. Jet Li blows apart the notion that he is no more than an martial arts punching bag, lending his stoic general a real sense of inner conflict. Andy Lau is clearly the most experienced and competent of the trio; Er-Hu is vibrant and stubborn character, and Lau makes good use of the considerable dramatic impetus the narrative provides him. Keneshiro contributes a wide eyed innocence which adds some welcome variety to the dynamic.

In the end though, for all its well crafted battle sequences and subtle performances, The Warlords fails to reach the heights you feel it was aiming for. The central relationships never really ignite and although there is a palpable tension between the three leads, it rarely boils over into anything truly absorbing. A weirdly underplayed romantic subplot is passable, but seems a little pointless, and the enjoyable battle sequences are too orchestrated to be truly realistic. The Warlords was nearly fantastic, but it's disparate elements failed to properly mesh, mixing together into a pleasant but ultimately frustrating film.

Written by Joseph Ewens...