Set in 228 A.D when three Chinese kingdoms were battling for supremacy this film follows Zhao Zilong from the time he is recruited into the army of Liu Bei, through is rise to its top general until his final battle over thirty years later.
The film is effectively divided into two parts; in the first we see young Zhao Zilong and his new friend Luo Ping'an then see them going into battle where they perform well in a victory against a vastly superior force. Later Zhao rescues Liu Bei's infant son and battles through a hoard of enemy soldiers with the baby strapped to his back. After a succession of victories he returns to his home town a hero and falls in love with a girl who was performing in a puppet show about his exploits.
The action then jumps forward thirty or so years and Zhou is now the only surviving general from the previous campaign; a new campaign is about to begin and he insists that he is allowed to take part; this brings him into conflict with an army led by Cao Ying; granddaughter of a general he'd fought many years before.
I suspect that it helps if your knowledge of Chinese history is better than mine but even if you don't know anything about the era the film can be enjoyed. The battle scenes are somewhat stylised but they are still exciting, and rather bloody! Andy Lau does a fine job playing Zhao both as a young man and as the elderly general, Sammo Hung is rather fun as his friend Luo Ping'an and Maggie Q impresses as their enemy not a bad person; just a leader on the opposite side in a war. While the film succeeds in its action scenes it fails somewhat in the more personal scenes; after seeing Zhou meet a young woman and promise to return the action suddenly jumps forward thirty years and there is no further mention of her or what happened in the intervening years. While not essential to the enjoyment of the film it certainly helps that it looks good thanks to some impressive scenery. Overall though this is fairly exciting and worth watching if you enjoy historical action dramas.
The film is effectively divided into two parts; in the first we see young Zhao Zilong and his new friend Luo Ping'an then see them going into battle where they perform well in a victory against a vastly superior force. Later Zhao rescues Liu Bei's infant son and battles through a hoard of enemy soldiers with the baby strapped to his back. After a succession of victories he returns to his home town a hero and falls in love with a girl who was performing in a puppet show about his exploits.
The action then jumps forward thirty or so years and Zhou is now the only surviving general from the previous campaign; a new campaign is about to begin and he insists that he is allowed to take part; this brings him into conflict with an army led by Cao Ying; granddaughter of a general he'd fought many years before.
I suspect that it helps if your knowledge of Chinese history is better than mine but even if you don't know anything about the era the film can be enjoyed. The battle scenes are somewhat stylised but they are still exciting, and rather bloody! Andy Lau does a fine job playing Zhao both as a young man and as the elderly general, Sammo Hung is rather fun as his friend Luo Ping'an and Maggie Q impresses as their enemy not a bad person; just a leader on the opposite side in a war. While the film succeeds in its action scenes it fails somewhat in the more personal scenes; after seeing Zhou meet a young woman and promise to return the action suddenly jumps forward thirty years and there is no further mention of her or what happened in the intervening years. While not essential to the enjoyment of the film it certainly helps that it looks good thanks to some impressive scenery. Overall though this is fairly exciting and worth watching if you enjoy historical action dramas.