The Warlords

Anchor Bay

R4 DVD

In Mandarin with sub-titles.

The Warlords is an epic Chinese historical drama, it brings together a truly momentous tale of war and ambition with a personal exploration of love, friendship and brotherhood. The sheer beauty of the cinematography is breathtaking and is only matched with what is probably one of the better soundtracks I have heard in quite a while. At the same time there is always a sense with Chinese historical epics that the “chief censor” has been watching and this makes some facets of the film seem unduly tame, even perhaps a little clichéd. I wonder what Warlords, for example, would be like if produced in a country where the film industry has true free creative license. This is not a criticism of the film per see; it is an entertaining film with an intense and powerful plot and superb vistas of soldiers and war, but simply a reflection of how much more this film could have been.

The Warlords takes place in Nineteenth century Imperial China, where Taiping rebels, have captured half of the country, operating from bases in Nanking and Suzhou. The major opposition is the Imperial Ching Army, but it is compromised by corruption. It has been defeated so many times that in an attempt to bolster ranks anyone can join and its ranks have swelled with criminals and thugs. One of the worst is General Ho who uses the war to create opportunities for himself and is not above sacrificing Ching soldiers if it is for his own benefit.

General Pang Qingyun has just survived a battle against the Taiping rebels, but all of his army have been killed due to the treachery of General Ho. Hiding among the corpses, he is able to make it to the next village and collapses in an abandoned house where a young beautiful lady, Lian cleans his wounds and offers him various forms of amorous nourishment to get him back on his feet. When Pang awakens she is gone and so he continues to the next village.

Soon he meets a group of bandits and after they are attacked by Ho’s men, he encourages them to join under him with the Ching army. Soon Er-Hu, Zhang and Pang take a blood oath of brotherhood and lead their bandit army into the Imperial Ching forces. To his discomfort he realizes that Lian is the wife of Er-Hu and the major romantic sub plot begins to unfold.

As the bandits join the Ching forces and go into to battle under Pang they soon learn what it is like to be real soldiers. Soon their loyalties are put to the test as the true cost of battle becomes all too obvious.

This is a complex and fascinating tale weaving romance, loyalty and betrayal into a historical war drama. The battle scenes are quite staggering and when matched with martial arts are really quite overwhelming. While CGI have been used in many scenes it is hard to see where special effects begin and live action ends and this is a impressive achievement. In many recent Chinese historical dramas the CGI has not been up to scratch, but here it is magnificent.

The Warlords is an amazing film, packed with action, drama, love and loss. It is big on the epic and while based on historical events has been packaged in a way to reach the largest possible market. This makes it enjoyable and entertaining, but I still feel it lacks texture and nuance. If I was to describe the sense I get from this film it would be in the word “safe”, it doesn’t break any new ground or take any risks. This does not make it unsuccessful, but simply means that it is less than it could be. I came away have enjoyed the spectacular but ultimately wishing for more substance.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.4 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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