The grunting, glorious battle scenes in the 19th-century China fightfest The Warlords go on and on, but the moment that may take the proverbial cake is when Jet Li, as a renegade general, finds himself encircled by a troop of blade-slinging enemy soldiers. The Asian action star takes his long spear and swiftly runs it low through the calves of the surrounding throng. Defeat takes on a new meaning - and a new spelling - for the instantly amputated men.
Thundering Chinese war epic offers plenty of blade-slinging
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Directed in thumping, thundering fashion by Peter Ho-Sun Chan, The Warlords, with Takeshi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau fighting alongside Li, is the latest in a line of historical war epics (see Red Cliff, also with Kaneshiro) to explore the tumultuous conflicts that left millions of Chinese dead over the course of centuries. To see these films, one would think that the only activities of note since the Han Dynasty were crazed cavalry charges, rains of deadly arrows, cannon fusillades, and the propelling of fireballs.
OK, perhaps there was a pause or two along the way for dalliances with a tragic courtesan; the beautiful Wu Jing-Lei has the assignment in Warlords.
A tale of noble brotherhood compromised by self-interest and a messy love triangle, The Warlords, ultimately, tries to speak to the futility of war - but it does so by staging one gargantuan dustup after another.
Contact movie critic Steven Rea at 215-854- 5629 or srea@phillynews.com. Read his blog at www.philly.com/philly/blogs/onmovies.
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