A movie depicting a 14 year civil war that claimed 70 million lives sounds hard work, but The Warlords’ biggest triumph is that its politics and misery are woven into a gripping human interest story, played with compelling fervour by the three leads.
Based on the true, unsolved murder recounted in The Assassination of Ma and filmed in 1973 by the legendary Shaw Brothers studio as Blood Brothers, this rejects the wirework fantasia of House of Flying Daggers or Jet Li’s Once Upon A Time In China movies for a grittier, ground-level view of warfare.
Li is Pang, a general who played dead and then fled a bloody battle, seeking refuge from his guilt with peasant woman Lian (Xu).
He is drafted into a bandit clan commanded by Zhao (Lau) and wide-eyed young idealist Jiang (Kaneshiro), but soon conscripts them and their peasant warriors into the rebel army, warring against the Qing power base on the promise of a regular wage for their families.
After early victories, Pang’s thirst for conquest fractures the blood brothers’ bond as their army becomes mired in a protracted siege for a key city, and Pang and the easily-led Jiang’s increasingly ruthless actions set them on a collision course with the upright Zhao.
Politics play out in the background (three gangster like lords using Li and co. as pawns to get their Empress on the throne), but hitherto lightweight directors Chan and Yip focus on the bloody struggle, making pointed comparisons to World Wars I and II, keeping costumes and photography dark, sombre and shadowy.
A decisive battle echoes the gore of Saving Private Ryan, human shield soldiers protecting archers from musket fire, body parts liberated en masse and a plucky grunt messily taking a cannonball to protect Pang, while the city siege places the army into wet, muddy Paths of Glory-style trenches.
Li brings the intensity previously seen in Fearless to his compromised General, while Lau is a noble savage, vying with Pang for Lian’s affection in the obligatory romantic subplot.
But, Kaneshiro impresses most as Pang’s deputy, ruled by his heart and head, facing his leader in a climax that proves no matter how strong the man, faceless government always wins.
Rob Daniel
