Third Pair

The Warlords

Dir: Peter Ho-sun Chan
Co-dir: Raymond Yip
Action Dir: Ching Siu-tung
Scrs: Xu Lan, Chun Tin-nam, Aubrey Lam, Huang Jianxin, Jojo Hui, He Jiping, Guo Junli, James Yuen
Prod Cos: Media Asia, Morgan & Chan Films, China Film Group
Cast: Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Xu Jinglei
2007 | Colour | 35mm | Putonghua | Chi & Eng Subtitles | 127min

After Perhaps Love, Peter Ho-sun Chan stepped away from his forte of romantic dramas to remake the Shaw Brothers classic The Blood Brothers (1973) directed by Chang Cheh. Based on the ‘Four Strange Cases of Late Qing’, Qing general Pang Qingyun (Jet Li) survives a battlefield defeat and becomes blood brothers with bandits Zhao Erhu (Andy Lau) and Jiang Wuyang (Takeshi Kaneshiro). Pang leads Zhao and Jiang in a militia to join the imperial forces. Rising through the ranks, Pang’s growing ambition and affair with Zhao’s wife, Liansheng (Xu Jinglei) drive him to kill Zhao. The loyal and righteous Jiang resolves to assassinate Pang with their brotherhood ending in tragedy.

Peter Ho-sun Chan cited influences from All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Paths of Glory (1957). He worked with eight screenwriters to perfect the character development, capturing the wartime chaos of late Qing and shifting power struggles between the court and rival forces. Though new to period action films, Chan embraced the challenge of epic and brutally realistic battle scenes. He crafts Pang as a morally complex character who is neither hero nor villain, a sharp departure of Jet Li’s typical heroic persona. Ultimately, the trio are all tragic figures as loyalty and promises are readily sacrificed to political intrigue and self-interest. Chan creates a crumbling world of ambiguous morality, betrayed trust and lost integrity which serves as a metaphor for the modern age. The film also marked Chan’s first creative peak in the Chinese mainland.

Courtesy of Media Asia Film Distribution (HK) Limited

The contents of the programme do not represent the views of the presenter. The presenter reserves the right to change the programme should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.