The Warlords (2007 film)

[Official British and Irish “Two disc Collector’s Edition”]

Outstanding condition throughout.

Superior 2-disc Collector’s Edition, with a good selection of Special Features/Bonus Material.

Originally bought from a high street retailer.  Beware of fake DVDs!

[My ref: MTD5440 1]

Details

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No

Rated : Suitable for 15 years and over

Language : Mandarin Chinese

Package Dimensions : 18.8 x 13.8 x 1.6 cm; 106.59 Grams

Manufacturer reference : 5055002554407 / MTD5440 / VFD29115

Director : Peter Ho-Sun Chan

Media Format : PAL, Anamorphic, Widescreen, Subtitled, DTS Surround Sound

Run time : 1 hour and 48 minutes

Release date : 2 Mar. 2009

Actors : Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Xu Jinglei

Subtitles : English

Language : Mandarin Chinese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Mandarin Chinese (Dolby Digital 5.1), Mandarin Chinese (DTS 5.1)

Studio : Metrodome

Number of discs : 1

Best Sellers Rank: 1,268 in World Cinema (See Top 100 in DVD & Blu-ray)

1,442 in Portable DVD & Blu-ray Players

5,586 in Action & Adventure (DVD & Blu-ray)

Customer reviews: 4.3 out of 5 stars    (286 ratings)

Description

China, 1860s: Having his army slaughtered, General Qingyun joins 2 bandit leaders in raids on rebels and in blood oath. They form a Qing loyal army with eyes on rebel held Suzhou and Nanjing.

This heroic tale of three blood brothers and their struggle in the midst of war and political upheaval is based on "The Assassination of Ma," a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) story about the killing of general Ma Xinyi. The story was originally filmed by Zhang Che in 1973 as The Blood Brothers, which was going to be the title of this film.  However as this was not a straight remake, it was decided to change the title to The Warlords in order to avoid confusion.

Additional Info (copied from case)

From the action director of ‘Hero’ and ‘House Of Flying Daggers’

“A soaring, visually stunning blood and guts epic… a triumph” - Daily Mirror newspaper

“Jet Li is stunning ... the performance of his career” - Radio 5 Live

“Epic ... unrelenting ... supreme entertainment” - Time Out magazine

“Vicious and breathtaking” – London Film Festival

One of the most stunningly realized spectacles of all time is unleashed, pushing dazzling action and extraordinary scenes of combat to breathtaking limits rarely seen in modern cinema. This incredible story of the last great Warlords is the epic reborn!

Under the corrupt rule of the Qing dynasty, the lawlessness of the decade long civil war has ravaged a nation. From the chaos, three heroes will rise to unite armies and crush all who would seek to enslave them. But the cost of victory will shatter their brotherhood and unleash tragedy and bloodshed across the country.

Starring Jet Li, cinema's most acclaimed action legend, with Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, the stars of "House Of Flying Daggers" back on screen together for the first time and with action directed by the creative genius behind Oscar nominated smash hits "Hero" and "House Of Flying Daggers", "The Warlords" is an epic that redifines modern action cinema.

“Heartily recommended to connoisseurs of brutal battle scenes” - Empire

SPECIAL FEATURES / BONUS MATERIAL

DISC 1

- Stunning anamorphic widescreen feature transfer.  DTS soundtrack

DISC 2

- 117 Days: A Production Journal featurette

- Reflections on The Warlords featurette

- Deleted Scenes

- The History Behind The Warlords

- International Trailer

- UK Theatrical Trailer

Review(s)

5.0 out of 5 stars  “The Warlords”

Reviewed in Italy on 22 November 2011

Unlike some Hong Kong b-movies, this film is relatively high budget and the cast consists of Chinese stars. Jet Li stands out and manages to move away from the unsuccessful interpretations of films such as: The Legend of the Red Dragon and Meltdown.  In The Warlords he manages to thrill with his acting. The story is as captivating as the directing techniques, the film keeps glued to the armchair throughout the intertwining sections to the inevitable conclusion. Also good are Andi Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro. One of Jet Li's best films. Highly recommended.

2 people found this helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars  “An above average war/adventure movie, promising a lot in first 30 minutes but disappointing in the remaining time”

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 May 2014

I found this 2007 Chinese film watchable, but nothing more and it is a pity, because it had potential for so much more... Below, more of my impressions, with some spoilers.

This film tells the story of three very different men (one imperial general and two bandits) who meet and conclude a pact of brotherhood in the middle of the Taiping War (1850-1864), an incredibly violent and tragic conflict which caused quite possibly as much as 20 million dead - making it the second deadliest war in the whole history of humanity (only Second World War killed more people).

A big budget super production about such an enormous and destructive war was a great idea - but the result is not as good as could be expected. The film is long and there is not enough story to fill the 127 minutes. Battle scenes are disappointing and we can hardly see on the screen where the heck went the amount of money spend on making this film. Chinese armies of Taiping War were colourful and spectacular - and what we see on the screen is neither.

Because this is a Chinese story there is of course some elaborate intriguing, plotting and backstabbing, but we saw this kind of things already on the screen many times - and they were shown much better. It must also be said that Jet Li is not really an actor - he is a martial arts specialist, and when in a film he is not allowed to kick and scream, he seems as paralyzed as a bird staring at a snake... He got 15 million USD for this film - and in my modest opinion he didn't earn it...

That being said the film has also some merits. Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro are real actors and it shows on the screen. Xu Jinglei is a very attractive woman and even if her screen time is ultimately limited, it is a pleasure to watch her. This film also avoids - very wisely - showing idiotic kung fu which so badly damaged so many potentially good Asian films... And yes, there are some good scenes, although they become rare in the second half of the film.

Bottom line, this is an above average war/adventure film, watchable once and recommended for renting rather than buying. Sadly, a really good, epic film about the Taiping War still remains to be made (although this is probably the best yet).

6 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars “Shaving failures....”

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 July 2013

I like a good film, even foreign films, this one has everything I enjoy. The Chinese language spoken is splendid to listen to, the subtitles a tad too quick to read sometimes, but, the worst thing is the fact that as the three people age over a short span of time, they sometimes have a beard, or a different beard, clean shaven, unshaven, a moustache etc etc etc.... both my wife and I struggled to keep up with who was who a lot of the time. Having said that, a second or, third viewing may help that, but it certainly spoilt it on first showing....

I will still buy these films of course, it is that we do not understand Mandarin or whatever the language is, then to not recognize anyone, well.... !! A great film though