The Warlords, previously known as The Blood Brothers (Ci Ma) is a martial art film directed by Peter Chan and starring Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro. The film was influenced by the late Chang Cheh’s 1973 film The Blood Brothers but it’s not a remake. The film is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty in China. The story tells a tale of three sworn blood brothers.
SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.
In the 1860s, during the late Qing Dynasty, as one of the darkest periods of Chinese history, the country is suffering under the rule of the corrupt Manchus who invaded China from the North and established the country’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing. Natural disasters are wreaking havoc in the countryside, and in the midst of this chaos, the Taiping Kingdom, one of the strongest rebel groups ever to rise up in China, is overrunning the country and staging battles with the Qing army threatening the throne.
Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro in The Warlords
In a war between the Qing army led by General Ma Xinyi (Jet Li) and the Taiping Kingdom, General Ma’s army is overpowered by the rebels as Ma’s allies back out in the last minute causing a slaughter of Ma’s army. Every army of Ma’s is dead except General Ma, himself as he has feigned death. Though he is able to escape from the masses of dead bodies, he faints in the middle of nowhere due to hunger. There, Lian (Xu Jinglei) has saved him and brought him to a deserted house. She cooks porridge for him in order to revive him. Ma gobbles the porridge before he breaks out and tells Lian about the slaughter of his army. Lian consoles him and before long, they both ends up in the bed.
Later on, while resting in a village after having his armors and weapons sold in order to buy food, the village is attacked by bandits led by Cao Erhu (Andy Lau) and his trusted Lieutenant Zhang Wenxiang (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Zhang quickly tests the ability of Ma after he sees Ma still wears boots that only the ranks of General wears them. Ma easily fends off Zhang’s attack and Zhang straightaway recommends Ma to join the bandits.
When Ma saves Cao in a furious battle, the three swear blood brotherhood. When Lian returns home after running away from Cao, Ma realizes that Lian is Cao’s wife but what already happened has happened.
Besides Lian, Ma’s dream is to get rid of the rebels and the corrupted Qing officials and he manages to convince both Cao and Zhang and their troop of bandits to join Qing army instead of robbing to survive. Easily fooled by the cunningness of Ma, Cao and his men join Ma and many dangerous battles are engaged. Ma’s become more and more ambitious as he wins every battle despite having less men than the enemies. Ma soon became obsessed with power.
The complication between the blood brothers and Lian have worked out in favor of Qing’s ruthless Empress and her highly ranked officials. In the end, the assassination of Ma takes place during the day he is supposed to be sworn as The Governor.
Overall, The Warlords show a more ruthless side of Jet Li as he plays his role well to his USD $13 million paycheck while Andy Lau plays a tragic hero torn between different factions. Takeshi Kaneshiro, meanwhile, plays a second fiddle to both these actors with his innocence overshadows the elements of being a bandit but his years of acting his Hong Kong movies have somewhat improved. The talented Xu Jinglei plays the beautiful Lian well to every bit, as Cao’s wife and even better as Ma’s woman.
Note: In Malaysia’s version, General Ma is known as General Pang, Cao Erhu is known as Zhao Erhu, and Zhang is known as Jiang.
My ratings: 7 out of 10, could be 8 out of 10 if only Lian shows more flesh.
Popularity: 3%
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[...] first, warlords. had no idea what the movie was about. just saw the preview and i was all “ooooooooh… lets watch..” i dunno if it was based on a real story but it seem historically correct. its about 3 strangers (i think), in the 1800s, who made a blood oath to be brothers and protect each other. if you wanna know the full details, click here. [...]
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