The Warlords

The Warlords

A2007 award-winning Hong Kong/Chinese epic war film directed by Peter Chan and starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Xu Jinglei. The film was released on December 13, 2007 simultaneously in most of Asia, except Japan. The film is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty in China and centers on the sworn brotherhood of three men.

The film was originally titled The Blood Brothers (simplified Chinese: 刺马; traditional Chinese: 刺馬). Director Peter Chan said it was influenced by the late Chang Cheh's 1973 film The Blood Brothers, which is itself based on a famous high profile assassination of a local governor in 1870, but denied that it is a remake. He also decided to change the title to The Warlords in order to avoid confusion. (Note that there is another Chinese film with the English title Blood Brothers released in mid-2007.)

When asked why he chose to move away from his familiar turf of romance films, Chan said that The Warlords is actually not a martial arts film at its heart, though it contains elements of the martial arts. He added that he had made a wish to make a film depicting men's affections after watching John Woo's 1986 film A Better Tomorrow over twenty years ago, and has now finally gotten the chance. His goal is thus to "lead [his] audience to reclaim [the same kind of passion]" as in A Better Tomorrow, which he said is lacking in recent films.

Shooting began in early December 2006 in Beijing. Many outdoor scenes were shot in Beijing, Shanghai and the town of Hengdian in Zhejiang province.

The film ran into copyright troubles on 19 March 2007 when Chinese artist Wang Kewei filed a lawsuit against the film company for using his work in the promotional artworks without his consent. Wang claimed that in a short promotional video shown during a press conference held on 11 December 2006 in Beijing, the film company used ten pieces of his work with minor alterations. The film company has not given an official response.

Production of The Warlords officially wrapped up on 28 March 2007. Post-production work was divided among Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Bangkok.

Jet Li received US$15 million, while Andy Lau received US$6 million and Takeshi Kaneshiro received US$2 million for the film. The film had a budget of US$40 million. The producers explained the huge salary for Jet Li (over a third of the film's budget) by saying Jet Li's participation ensures an international distribution for the film.

The film is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty in China. The story, based on an unresolved crime in 1870, tells of three sworn brothers (played by Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) who are forced to turn against one another due to the harsh realities of war and political intrigue.

The story begins with a vicious battle, after which Qing-Yun (Jet Li), a Qing Army General, is the only survivor of his entire army. In his aimless wanderings he encounters a girl named Lian Sheng [莲生] (Xu Jinglei), who nurses him back to health. Once he regains his strength, Qing-Yun soon meets Wu-Yang (Takeshi Kaneshiro), and later Er-Hu (Andy Lau); leaders of a bandit army that regularly steals food to survive — his participation in a successful raid on a rebel military convoy immediately earns Qing-Yun their friendship, who take him to their village. There he finds Lian Sheng again, who is revealed to be Er-Hu's wife, and they begin an illicit affair.