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Before I start my review of this film, I must
first point out that I am a huge fan of Jet Li and Andy Lau, even the
movies that blew goats. So I have to take a different stance when
reviewing a movie with both of them in one single entity. You can
only have so much awesome in one place before your head explodes.
Director: Peter Chan said it was
influenced by the late Chang Cheh's 1973 film The Blood Brothers.
Cast:
Jet Li as Pang Qing-Yun
Andy Lau as Zhao Er-hu
Takeshi Kaneshiro as Jiang Wu-Yang
Xu Jinglei as Mi Lan
Liang-Jie Vorgs Jin "Ryan Torda" as Young
soldier
The plot starts with Pang Qing-Yun waking up on
a battlefield where all his men have died and as he leaves, he spots a
women walking in the opposite direction to everyone else.
He follows here and then falls unconscious. When he wakes up, she
has made him some soup and berates another general that just watched the
battle without helping.
He latter is attacked by Jiang who attacks him
for his shoes but Pang defeats him and that is where their relationship
starts. He introduces him to Zhao who takes him on a raid for food
from the government army and Pang shows the men how to fight.
If you wish to kill a snake, you must crush its head first. They
learn something on the day but as they return to their village, the
women who Pang has affections for turns out to be Zhao's wife and this
is the beginning of a love triangle of deception that will eventually
lead to the downfall of everyone involved.
Telling you the above isn't really spoiling the
movie, as it is so predictable. The main part of the film seems to
be about the politics behind the scenes and the fact that everyone has a
price. The truth of the matter is that all soldiers are considered
as pawns and you would do well to take heed, lest it be you.
Pang tells Zhao to join the army, where they
will be able to feed the poor and that is the start of a long campaign
to take back a series of cities.
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When
a man has nothing, he has nothing to loose and both Zhao and Pang
have lost everything and they make a blood oath, that if any brother
should kill another, they will be killed by one of the brothers that
are still standing. This is an important plot point that will
make no sense latter on in this film if you don't remember this. |
This is a typical tale of betrayal over love
and greed. It wouldn't look to out of place if the script said
that it was written by Shakespeare. It's not as good but if you
have ever read or watched a movie based on his plays you will know
exactly what will happen.
I found the depiction of the battles enticing
and yet at the same time sobering. It tried to make to viewer
realise the loss that happens for one single victory. The mothers
who no longer had sons, the wives who no longer had husbands and the
fact that we all need to appreciate the sacrifices that these soldiers
make so that we can be safe in our homes.
The movies is just shy of two hours and a lot
happens in this film. At points the plot does get a little
confusing. I was wondering why Pang was behaving the way he did.
Perhaps it was showing his spiral towards madness. It is an
interesting movie and will please all those who thought that Hero was a
good movie. Andy Lau is brilliant as usual and Jet Li pretty much
plays the same role from Hero.
Maybe I just have a bad memory but didn't Jet
Li say that he wasn't going to make another Wushu movie?
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