The Warlords

The Warlords, previously known as The Blood Brothers (traditional Chinese: 投名狀; simplified Chinese: 投名状; pinyin: tóu míng zhuàng; Jyutping: tau4 ming4 zong6), is a 2007 award-winning Hong Kong/Chinese epic war film directed by Peter Chan and starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Xu Jinglei. The film was released on December 13, 2007 simultaneously in most of Asia, except Japan. The film is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty in China and centers on the sworn brotherhood of three men.

Plot

The film is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty in China. The story, based on an unresolved crime in 1870, tells of three sworn blood brothers who eventually turn against one another due to the harsh realities of war and political intrigue.

The story begins with a vicious battle, after which Qingyun (Jet Li), a Qing Army General, is the only survivor of his entire army. He is defeated because promised reinforcements from a rival General Ho are deliberately withheld. In his aimless wanderings he encounters a girl named Liansheng (Xu Jinglei), who nurses him back to health. Once he regains his strength, Qingyun soon meets Wuyang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), and later Erhu (Andy Lau); leaders of a bandit army that regularly steals food to survive. During a raid on a rebel military convoy, Qingyun wins the engagement by killing the enemy leader and demoralizing their troops. This earns Qingyun friendship and admiration from the bandits, who take him to their village. There he finds Liansheng again, who is revealed to be Erhu's wife, and they begin an illicit affair.

However, the Qing military learns of the raid and retake the stolen goods, plunging the village once again into famine. Qingyun thus convinces the bandits to join the Qing army to earn money and security to feed their families; Erhu and Wuyang are hesitant at first, and only agree after the three brothers swear a "Blood Oath", with which they affirm their fraternity to one another under pain of death. Qingyun then goes on to meet his old superiors, who are reluctant at first to reinstate him, but upon allowing him the task of conquering a major city, he proves his worth in a victorious battle against a numerically superior force. In this battle, the tide is turned when Wuyang sneaks through the enemy lines and chops off the head of the enemy general. Qingyun's subsequent promotion and increased support from the Qing lords spurs him to lead the brothers and his armies through a long but successful campaign against the rebels. His victories cause him to become ambitious in the process, during which he reveals his plan to quickly take Suzhou and Nanjing, the principal power bases of the Taiping rebels, and his dream of ridding the world of oppression.

Fearing Qing-yun's growing power and influence, the Qing lords decide to deny Qingyun valuable reinforcements and provisions; without their support, Qingyun's prompt attack on Suzhou devolves into a year long siege, with both sides suffering from starvation. Desperate, Qingyun negotiates with his longtime rival and nemesis, General Ho, offering him half of the spoils of Nanking in return for supplies. Meanwhile Erhu sneaks into the city disguised as an opium dealer, hoping to assassinate the Taiping general ruling Suzhou and thus end the siege. The general surprises Erhu by revealing that he already knows of his plot and says that despite starvation, his troops and people will never surrender due to their loyalty. In an ensuing duel, the general allows Erhu to kill him anyway, saying that as long as he is alive his people will never be free of the siege. His dying wish is that his soldiers and citizens be spared. Moved by the official's sacrifice, Erhu agrees to the terms, but a returning Qingyun feels differently: even with the new provisions, food remains critically short, the rebels cannot be conscripted or released, and the Nanjing expedition would be jeopardized. Instead, he orders the prisoners to be executed, enraging Erhu into considering desertion over the death of innocent thousands. But Qingyun manages to convince him to stay and rejoin the cause by arguing that there are millions of innocents to save in Nanjing.

The Nanjing campaign becomes a grand success, and Qingyun is appointed as a provincial governor by the Empress for his services. He even gets the Empress to agree to his request for a 3 year moratorium on taxes in Nanjing so that the peasants can recover from years of war. Nonetheless, the war has caused a rift between the three brothers, most prominently with Erhu, who quietly defies Qingyun's orders by doling out soldier's pay from the imperial coffers; his offenses and popularity become known to the Qing lords, who cajole Qingyun into arranging his assassination. Erhu is fed false information of a plot by General Ho to assassinate Qingyun and he rides off to warn him only to get ambushed. Meanwhile, Wuyang discovers Qingyun's affair with Liansheng and catches wind of the plot against Erhu. Believing that Qingyun wants Erhu killed over Liansheng, Wuyang murders her, but Erhu is already dead before Qingyun hears of Liansheng's death. Wuyang therefore strives to fulfill the blood oath and goes to kill Qingyun at his inauguration ceremony. As the two brothers fight, a hidden attacker armed with a rifle shoots Qingyun in the back multiple times as Wuyang stabs him in the chest, killing him.

Now alone, Wuyang reminisces upon the words of the oath that was taken long ago.

Cast

• Jet Li as Pang Qing-yun
• Andy Lau as Zhao Er-hu
• Takeshi Kaneshiro as Jiang Wu-yang
• Xu Jinglei as Lian Sheng

Production

From left, director Peter Chan and stars Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, and Jet Li at the premiere of The Warlords at SF World Cinema, CentralWorld, Bangkok.

The film was originally titled The Blood Brothers (simplified Chinese: 刺马; traditional Chinese: 刺馬). Director Peter Chan said it was influenced by the late Chang Cheh's 1973 film The Blood Brothers, which is itself based on a famous high profile assassination of a local governor in 1870, but denied that it is a remake. He also decided to change the title to The Warlords in order to avoid confusion. (Note that there is another Chinese film with the English title Blood Brothers released in mid-2007.)

When asked why he chose to move away from his familiar turf of romance films, Chan said that The Warlords is actually not a martial arts film at its heart, though it contains elements of the martial arts. He added that he had made a wish to make a film depicting men's affections after watching John Woo's 1986 film A Better Tomorrow over twenty years ago, and has now finally gotten the chance. His goal is thus to "lead [his] audience to reclaim [the same kind of passion]" as in A Better Tomorrow, which he said is lacking in recent films.

Shooting began in early December 2006 in Beijing. Many outdoor scenes were shot in Beijing, Shanghai and the town of Hengdian in Zhejiang province.

The film ran into copyright troubles on 19 March 2007 when Chinese artist Wang Kewei filed a lawsuit against the film company for using his work in the promotional artworks without his consent. Wang claimed that in a short promotional video shown during a press conference held on 11 December 2006 in Beijing, the film company used ten pieces of his work with minor alterations. The film company has not given an official response.

Production of The Warlords officially wrapped up on 28 March 2007. Post-production work was divided among Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Bangkok.

Jet Li received US$15 million, while Andy Lau received US$6 million and Takeshi Kaneshiro received US$2 million for the film. The film had a budget of US$40 million. The producers explained the huge salary for Jet Li (over a third of the film's budget) by saying Jet Li's participation ensures an international distribution for the film.

Reception

The film has an aggregated score of 63% based on 35 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes.

Perry Lam of Muse has given the film a generally positive review, praising it for taking 'a clear-eyed but sympathetic look at its flawed heroes.'

Awards and nominations

27th Hong Kong Film Awards

• Won: Best Film
• Won: Best Director (Peter Chan)
• Won: Best Actor (Jet Li)
• Won: Best Cinematography (Arthur Wong)
• Won: Best Art Direction (Yee Chung-Man, Yi Zheng-Zhou, Pater Wong)
• Won: Best Costume and Makeup Design (Yee Chung-Man, Jessie Dai, Lee Pik-Kwan)
• Won: Best Sound Design (Sunit Asvinikul, Nakorn Kositpaisal)
• Won: Best Visual Effects (Ng Yuen-Fai)
• Nominated: Best Actor (Andy Lau)
• Nominated: Best Original Film Score (Chan Kwong-Wing, Peter Kam, Chatchai Pongprapaphan, Leon Ko)
• Nominated: Best Film Editing (Wenders Li)
• Nominated: Best Action Choreography (Ching Siu-Tung)

45th Golden Horse Awards

• Won: Best Film
• Won: Best Director (Peter Chan)
• Won: Best Visual Effects (Eddy Wong, Victor Wong, Ken Law)
• Won: Best 800 Bandits (Bandit 1, Bandit 2, etc.)
• Nominated: Best Actor (Jet Li)
• Nominated: Best Original Screenplay (Xu Lan, Chun Tin Nam, Aubrey Lam, Huang Jian-Xin, Jojo Hui, He Ji Ping, Guo Jun Li, James Yuen)
• Nominated: Best Cinematography (Arthur Wong)
• Nominated: Best Film Editing (Wenders Li)
• Nominated: Best Art Direction (Yee Chung -Man, Yi Zheng-Zhou, Pater Wong)
• Nominated: Best Makeup & Costume Design (Yee Chung -Man, Jessie Dai, Lee Pik-Kwan)
• Nominated: Best Action Choreography (Ching Siu-Tung)
• Nominated: Best Sound Effects (Sunit Asvinikul, Nakorn Kositpaisal)
• Nominated: Best Original Film Score (Chan Kwong-Wing, Peter Kam, Chatchai Pongprapaphan, Leon Ko)

2nd Asian Film Awards

• Won: Best Visual Effects (Ng Yuen Fai)
• Nominated: Best Film
• Nominated: Best Director (Peter Chan)
• Nominated: Best Actor (Jet Li)
• Nominated: Best Cinematographer (Arthur Wong)
• Nominated: Best Editor (Wenders Li)

See also

• List of historical drama films of Asia

External links

• Official Film Trailer with English subtitles
• Official website
• The Warlords at IMDb
• The Warlords at AllMovie