The Warlords (Tau Ming Chong) Review
By David Kempler
My Sweet Warlord
Jet Li is now 46, but his rocking days continue. From the very first frames of "The Warlords", co-directors Peter Chan and Wai Man Yip hammer into us that this not going to be a day of watching a simmer turn to a boil. It's already boiling furiously and blood is everywhere.
The setting is 19
th-century China, during the Taiping Rebellion, at the latter stages of the Qing Dynasty. China has fallen into near-total chaos, as warlords carve up their parcels of land.
Pang, a general (Jet Li), is the sole survivor of a battle that claimed all of his men. He is hurt badly but soon meets up with a bandit named Jiang (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Jiang takes Pang back to his village and introduces him to his brother, Zhao (Andy Lau), the leader of the bandits. A deal is struck and the three of them become blood brothers. They set out to find fame and fortune, but Pang wants more. He wants to bring everlasting stability to his country. The two brothers sometimes question Pang's methods but follow his lead.
Despite many long and bloody battles, there is also thoughtfulness about it all, courtesy of the mental abilities of Pang. Pang sees the big picture and he is dead-determined to bend everyone's will to what he views as the greater good.
The co-directors have done a very nice job of balancing action with moments of reflection and character interaction. The result makes for great satisfaction. If you're a pure action freak you may be slightly disappointed. If you, like me, enjoy breaks between the action that help propel the story, you will have a good old time. But don't you action-lovers worry, there is plenty of blood and guts to sate even the thirstiest among you.
