I’ll be honest. This is a typical Wuxia film. Indeed, most are indistinguishable from one another. There’s the highly stylized action scenes in lush, gorgeous natural scenery. There’s the bombastic sermons about honor and duty. There’s the love scenes accompanied by some cheesy cello melody. These are but some of many marks of distinction (or perhaps, non-distinction) that make The Warlords “just another Wuxia film.” Its tone and technique is identical to that of Red Cliff, the epic John Woo flick that sought to make itself the end-all of Wuxia films.

Don’t get me wrong, though. These are all reasons to see the film. The Wuxia film is really the spaghetti western of the East: a genre film with a canonized set of idioms that appears in every film in the most important moments. And for some reason, these idioms work every time. Perhaps it’s Jet Li’s impassioned performance or the spectacularly executed battle scenes. Whatever it is, it works. You’ll know what to expect, but that won’t make it any less worth watching.

The annual Hong Kong Film Awards has been in existence since 1982. The awards are located in Hong Kong around the middle of April. The Warlords was nominated in 13 categories, including Best Screenplay, Best Original Film Score, Best Film Editing, Best Actor and Best Action Choreography. It was nominated and won for the categories of Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Design, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Costume Design and Makeup Design, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Actor.

Hong Kong is also the host city to the Asian Film awards. These awards annually recognize excellence in Asian cinema. The Warlords was nominated for six awards and won one of them. The win came for Best Visual Effects, and the other nominations were for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Editor, Best Director and Best Cinematographer.

The Warlords was also given the Jury Award for Best Visual Effect at the Beijing Student Film Festival, The Golden Horse Award for Best Director as well as Best Film at the Golden Horse Film Festival, Film of Merit and Shanghai Film Critics Award for Best Picture and Film of Merit at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards. The film was nominated for the Best Actor by the Hundred Flowers Awards.

Most of his early work were assistant jobs in production and set management. Including work on three Jackie Chan films that were big hits in Hong Kong. He got his first chance to sit in the director’s chair in in 1991 for the film, Alan and Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye. That debut movie earned him best film honors by the Hong Kong Film Directors Guild.Check out this link here.

He would continue on as a director for a dozen more films over the years. While many of them were only famous in Asia, there were some that caught some international recognition. Those movies put Chan on a select list of sought after film directors. the 2005 film Perhaps Love earned him an Academy Award nomination.

He moved on from there to work with Jet Li in the Warlords. Their work in retelling the story of Taiping Rebellion was one of the highest grossing films of 2007. And earned him even more movie awards.

The love triangle in this film is interesting to say the least. Even though love triangles are quite common in movies these days, this one takes an interesting turn. During the movie, a soldier is nursed back to health by a woman. This woman turns out to be his future brother in arms wife.

Political deceit though has many different concepts to it. This film in particular portrays a general who makes history by defying his government. By attacking a city that was forbidden, the general and his men disobey their orders from the Chinese government.

These being the basic concepts in many movies, The Warlords portray it in an intriguing light. The film’s love triangle can leave one to imagine how it could not be seen. The deceit in the movie brings out some concepts that can predict a countries future throughout the centuries.

The men struggle to protect the people they care about as their country is thrown into turmoil and they are ensnared in political plots.Check out this link < a href=’http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-22/louis-vuitton-bags-defeating-jet-li-heros-in-hong-kong.html’>here. Wuyang simply wants to help the people around him who have no food or shelter due to the war. Qingyun has similar motives. He wishes to bring peace to his country and his people. He is also interested in a mysterious woman named Lian, who nursed him back to health after an exhausting battle. Unfortunately, Erhu is also interested in Lian, causing tension between these men who have sworn to be brothers to each other.

“The Warlords” was filmed in China, primarily in Beijing and Shanghai. The Chinese setting is mimicked in the real life filming, making this movie both beautiful and honest. Viewers will certainly get a feel for Chinese history, as well as the beauty of the landscape.

Set during China’s Taiping Rebellion, The Warlords was ambitious in scope, combining drama and epic action scenes. One notable ten-minute battle sequence involved thousands of extras, with a high level of blood-letting, and impeccable fight choreography. The sword sequences are dazzling and the costumes lend a rich authenticity to the film. The Warlords earned best cinematography, best visual effects, and best costume and makeup at both the 27th Hong Kong Awards, and the 45th Golden Horse Awards. Director Chan drew on early roots and influences in 1980’s Hong Kong cinema, to bring out themes of conflict and comradeship.