I’m a big fan of Asian cinema, so that may have factored into my decision to side with The Warlords finer faults. Director Peter Chan has crafted a capable picture that depicts the uglier side of the Taiping Rebellion. He has the right cast in place, and the film successfully showcases that Jet Li does have actual acting chops (although Hero is still his best work.) Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro are also solid in their supporting roles, so the acting isn’t to fault for why this film doesn’t reach its potential. What really hurts the film may not be anyone’s direct fault, but just that the film is too set in its ways.
Chan’s biggest fault is how poorly he handles the narration. Perhaps the script should be blamed for that, but ultimately it’s the director’s show. The narration crops up when it doesn’t need to, and not only falls into the trap of explaining the plot, but trying hard to emulate even the best noir pictures. In addition, Chan over-exposes the narration, littering it in places he doesn’t need to put it.
He’s also fatal at filming action sequences. Understandably, this isn’t an Asian action epic, but at the very least the camera could have been backed up a bit to get a sense of what’s taking place in the fight sequences. There are some pretty cool moments in the more exciting pieces of the picture, but sadly they’re too few, far, and between to really give Chan a pass when it comes to these sequences. He also tries to make Li’s Qingyun something of a hero, when anyone who delves into the history of these events know that’s not the case. In that regard, Chan has no one to blame but himself.
Partially, it’s a shame because he nails just about everything else. He gets solid performances from all of his actors, with neither of the leads outshining the other. For as much as he can be faulted for the action scenes, Chan does an exceptional job at building the characters and having us decently invested in their journeys. Of course it’s going to end terribly for all the participants, but Chan makes sure that we don’t want it too, except for maybe one of the leads. He may not blow minds with his direction, but he answers the call well enough.
The screenplay is also at fault as well, not only because of the shoddy narration but also the horrid way it handles a forced love triangle between Lau, Li and Lingsheung, played by Xu Jinglei. This is a central driving force to events later in the film, but the movie only comes back to it when it feels the need to bore us with it. It’s like that kid in high school who was a party killer screaming for attention. Not helping this asinine subplot is that neither Lau nor Li have any good chemistry with Jinglei. It’s sort of sad, seeing as how otherwise these actors are good at everything else, but they miss the mark completely here.
All of this said, I still found it hard to hate the film. It wasn’t particularly mindblowing, and even with it’s sympathies toward Qingyun, it was still somewhat heartbreaking to see a really broken man just destroy himself even further. Cinema may have better examples of this, but few delve into Chinese history akin to The Warlords. For interested parties, it’s worth a look, if only because the acting is pretty strong from the leads. Otherwise, proceed with caution.
7 out of 10