Jet Li has released a new movie, and this time he forms a brotherhood with Takeshi Kaneshiro (Chunking Express, House of Flying Daggers) and Andy Lau (House Of Flying Daggers, Infernal Affairs) in The War Lords.
The Warlords is set during the corrupt rule of the Qing Dynasty in China. Because of oppression suffered by Chinese people due to corruption, a group of rebels formed the Taiping Rebellion to fight for the rights of the people. Jet Li (Brother Pang) is a defeated army general fighting the rebels when they were betrayed by their ally and left for dead. Brother Pang barely survived and was saved by a group of bandits, whom he convinces to join the Chinese army to be able to take care of his family. They agree, but he must join their brotherhood. They form a brotherhood and make a pact to free all Chinese people from oppression. However, as they succeed more and more, Brother Pang becomes hungry for more power and eventually puts their brotherhood in jeopardy.
As with any good action and war movie, the setting is very fast-paced and rarely gets boring. It was direct to the point and always exciting. It was an attempt by Peter Chan to make a beautiful movie about an ugly truth. And it did work. The movie was about two hours long, and there were times when I had to go back and wonder what had just happened. But otherwise, it was a good movie that touches on brotherhood, love and commitment. It’s not a movie that excels technically since everything was so simple, but it’s a movie that borders on good and excellent because it attempts to strike a chord in people’s hearts.
Watch The Warlords, not for the action it shows, but for the message it portrays.
