Andy Lau's been making war movies like they're going out of style, but his latest is a long arrow shot off the almost-classic A Battle of Wits, the anti-war actioner with the humane moral we liked so much.
Three Kingdoms, which to its credit is at least somewhat historically accurate, is very much removed from anything to do with discouraging carnage. In fact, it's one of those patriotic affairs where the opening sequence (yet again) bemoans the land's splintering into hostile polities, and the need to consolidate.
Not only have we seen exactly this kind of rhetoric a million times before, we've seen it in what feels like a million better, more fun movies. This Three Kingdoms isn't about fun, it's a laborious film whose greatest achievement is squandering tremendous star power on trivialities and a formulaic story.
Just to make sure you know, it's got Andy Lau, Sammo Hung, Maggie Q (why can't she just be Margaret Quigley we don't know), our beloved Andy On, Ti Long AND Yu Rongguang. Even with all of these obviously talented and well-trained professionals on board, Three Kingdoms still ends up a disappointment. And we won't even go into this being a DANIEL LEE flick. Yes, one of our fave directors in HK and the guy that kindly gave us awesome fare like Black Mask and Dragon Squad.
OK, it's not all bad. The basic premise is entirely trite but could have worked had it been treated well. We have one Zhao Zilong (Andy Lau), a regular guy from Changsha who joins the army in defense of his kingdom, one of three main ones competing for primacy over the realm. Yes, it's the story straight out of the novel and previous iterations, more or less, with sort of the same characters. Zhao Zilong befriends senior troop Luo Pingan (Sammo Hung), who guides the younger man into combat, where Zhao promptly proves his mettle and proceeds to rise through the ranks until making it as a nigh on invincible hero general.
Along the way he meets a cast of warriors, including Andy On and Vanness Wu in supporting and ultimately unfulfilled roles (and some awkward hairwork on the part of makeup). On the opposing side, we find Maggie as warlordess Cao Ying, aided by her general Han.
None of these characters get sufficient room to breathe and grow, resulting in something more akin to Konami's Dynasty Warriors there's constant hacking and slashing, with protagonists hard to believe since they're so powerful but with no likable goal. The only motivation seems to be a jingoistic "unite the word by killing everyone", which is fair enough, but not enough to make a film good.
The battle sequences aren't the best, and you've sat through much more exciting ones very recently. There's some good CGI blood splattered all over the shop, which is an added bonus, but the inverse ninja law here simply isn't as amusing as it usually is the two Andies go through so many enemy black armors it's literally not funny anymore, proof positive that if you want to make a massive swordplay movie, either endow it with a strong, heartfelt message, or render it a la the insane wuxia of the early to mid '90's. As it stands, Three Kingdoms is like Zhang Yimou's Hero without the pretty, artistic visuals and buzz power, or like Musa without the visceral grit and cynicism.
On the plus side, Three Kingdoms ends by mentioning the Jin dynasty, one of history's less remembered mainland dynasties. Yes, we get to avoid another heralding of Qin Shihuang.
This isn't trying to go heavy-handed on the movie. I'm sure they worked hard and meant well, but the end result isn't satisfying not even close. For sure we'll be getting better stuff soon both from the director and his cast. Skip this one, you won't be missing much.
Three Kingdoms, which to its credit is at least somewhat historically accurate, is very much removed from anything to do with discouraging carnage. In fact, it's one of those patriotic affairs where the opening sequence (yet again) bemoans the land's splintering into hostile polities, and the need to consolidate.
Not only have we seen exactly this kind of rhetoric a million times before, we've seen it in what feels like a million better, more fun movies. This Three Kingdoms isn't about fun, it's a laborious film whose greatest achievement is squandering tremendous star power on trivialities and a formulaic story.
Just to make sure you know, it's got Andy Lau, Sammo Hung, Maggie Q (why can't she just be Margaret Quigley we don't know), our beloved Andy On, Ti Long AND Yu Rongguang. Even with all of these obviously talented and well-trained professionals on board, Three Kingdoms still ends up a disappointment. And we won't even go into this being a DANIEL LEE flick. Yes, one of our fave directors in HK and the guy that kindly gave us awesome fare like Black Mask and Dragon Squad.
OK, it's not all bad. The basic premise is entirely trite but could have worked had it been treated well. We have one Zhao Zilong (Andy Lau), a regular guy from Changsha who joins the army in defense of his kingdom, one of three main ones competing for primacy over the realm. Yes, it's the story straight out of the novel and previous iterations, more or less, with sort of the same characters. Zhao Zilong befriends senior troop Luo Pingan (Sammo Hung), who guides the younger man into combat, where Zhao promptly proves his mettle and proceeds to rise through the ranks until making it as a nigh on invincible hero general.
Along the way he meets a cast of warriors, including Andy On and Vanness Wu in supporting and ultimately unfulfilled roles (and some awkward hairwork on the part of makeup). On the opposing side, we find Maggie as warlordess Cao Ying, aided by her general Han.
None of these characters get sufficient room to breathe and grow, resulting in something more akin to Konami's Dynasty Warriors there's constant hacking and slashing, with protagonists hard to believe since they're so powerful but with no likable goal. The only motivation seems to be a jingoistic "unite the word by killing everyone", which is fair enough, but not enough to make a film good.
The battle sequences aren't the best, and you've sat through much more exciting ones very recently. There's some good CGI blood splattered all over the shop, which is an added bonus, but the inverse ninja law here simply isn't as amusing as it usually is the two Andies go through so many enemy black armors it's literally not funny anymore, proof positive that if you want to make a massive swordplay movie, either endow it with a strong, heartfelt message, or render it a la the insane wuxia of the early to mid '90's. As it stands, Three Kingdoms is like Zhang Yimou's Hero without the pretty, artistic visuals and buzz power, or like Musa without the visceral grit and cynicism.
On the plus side, Three Kingdoms ends by mentioning the Jin dynasty, one of history's less remembered mainland dynasties. Yes, we get to avoid another heralding of Qin Shihuang.
This isn't trying to go heavy-handed on the movie. I'm sure they worked hard and meant well, but the end result isn't satisfying not even close. For sure we'll be getting better stuff soon both from the director and his cast. Skip this one, you won't be missing much.