Three Kingdoms: Ressurection of the Dragon

[bubblesM]

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THREE KINGDOMS: Resurrection Of The Dragon - Un-Epic Effort
Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 4)

WELL, THE BIG DEAL is that the fears of Asian movie watchers had about this production seem to have come true: Daniel Lee is not the guy to direct such an epic as 'Three Kingdoms'. And even if he has not really botched up the job, he certainly was not inspired enough to engage his viewers and get them involved in the story. Despite the stylish sets and artistic photography, the touted action sequences are a blurry letdown.


WHAT'S IT ABOUT? The war epic, set in the era of the Three Kingdoms (AD 220), is the story of commoner Zhao Zilong (Andy Lau) whose courage in battle transforms him into a hero and an army general who dreams of uniting the three kingdoms. Twenty years and more victorious battles later, Zhao, one of the five Tiger Generals of Shu kingdom, still finds his dreams unfulfilled. However, he has made an enemy of Cao Ying (Maggie Q), granddaughter of Cao Cao, one of the warlords he had defeated. Now she is ready for a showdown with the elderly Zhao. Zilong's exploits are juxtaposed against those of his former mentor Luo Pingan (Sammo Hung), a career soldier who is somehow jealous of Zhao's successes.


HITS & MISSES: When a movie relies so heavily on voice-over narrative as this one (mostly by Pingan), it usually means that the director is at a loss over how to tell the story properly. No doubt the biography of Zhao is expansive but Lee fails to delve deeper into Zhao's love life with a village beauty or give us insights into Zhao's life away from the battlefield. Indeed, the movie sorely lacks the emotional thread that links us to the characters.
Lee delights in showing off his huge cast of veteran stars like Ti Lung and Yueh Hua and young heart-throbs like Vanness Wu. Sure, the film boasts of thousands of extras that colour the battle scenes but the fighting sequences are pretty much a blur of movement. The much-touted action choreography by Hung looks pretty tame and confusing. Like many directors before him, Lee engages his characters in posturing and making pretty poses. Maggie Q's Cao Ying goes to battle playing the pippa, supposedly trying to bore her enemies to death! Anyway, Maggie's pan-Asian looks make her seem out-of-place in a movie about old China.


As for the acting, the main cast acquit themselves reasonably well, with Hung stealing many scenes. Also it is a treat for the older generation to see Shaw Brothers icons like Ti Lung and Yueh Hua back in action on the screen.

THE LOWDOWN: Another disappointment by Lee, spending so much effort and money to make an 'epic' that is so devoid of emotion connection and audience involvement.

@ The Movies With Lim Chang Moh

[bubblesM]

***SPOILERS***

THREE KINGDOMS -A REVIEW

Recently there’s quite a few Hollywood interests in the Chinese or Asian cultures, with mega-budget films like Battle For Red Cliffs, Forbidden Kingdom and Geisha hitting the big screen. Well okay, Battle for Red Cliffs isn’t exactly from Hollywood, and Forbidden Kingdom isn’t really about Chinese culture, but for generalization’s sake and my own dignity as an amateur movie reviewer let’s not be too anal on those facts shall we?

I recently watched the movie Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon - which isn’t exactly accurate seeing that the literal translation of the title suggests a dying dragon rather than a resurrected one - and found that while it is an enjoyable movie set in one of my most favorite eras of Chinese history, it is a horribly written albeit well executed piece that probably will be forgotten as one of those films that could have made it big but didn’t.


This movie is a feature film about a legendary Chinese hero by the name of Zhao Yun (played by Andy Lau), or Zhao Zi Long if you are good friends with him. Zhao Yun is a general in Liu Bei’s army during the Three Kingdoms period, and he is portrayed by history as a glimmering example ancient Chinese traditional ideals - brave, smart, good looking, loyal and has powderful kung fu. Like the Legolas of the Three Kingdoms, except he’s more proficient with a spear than a bow and arrow. And he rides horses. And he has a beard.

Anyway the entire movie is presented from the point of view of a fictional character by the name of Luo Ping An, played by Sammo Hung. He narrates Zhao Zi Long’s rise from a lowly soldier to a fearsome general whose name strikes fear to those who dare oppose his trample.

It starts in a camp somewhere in Qing Shan (Green Hill), where Luo is the lieutenant of the outpost garrison there. Zhao signs up in the army, and then wins the first fight after being advised by Zhu Ge Liang, and then… WHOA. Back up a little. If you have any knowledge of the Three Kingdoms, you’d realize that there’s some serious historical inaccuracies here.

Zhao did not meet Zhuge Liang before he met Liu Bei. In fact, he and Liu Bei have a long history before them, even before the fall of the Han dynasty. They were close friends before that, and he joined Liu Bei much earlier than Zhuge Liang, so it’s impossible that Zhuge Liang would be Liu Bei’s military adviser at the time the Qing Shan outpost was assaulted by Cao cao’s troops.

Which brings me to this film’s ultimate weakness - historical inaccuracies. I am alright with movie producers taking creative license to modify history for scripting purposes, but to completely screw up the timelines is totally unacceptable. This is like saying the A-bomb was dropped on Japan before D-day happened - totally ridiculous!

Then, as far as I can remember cavalries do not ride in stirrups, not until the Ming dynasty. And explosives weren’t invented during the Three Kingdoms yet! Oh my, what a load of… garrrrr!!!!

The rest of the movie is pretty well executed, mainly due to the main casts’ incredible acting. Maggie Q is the weak link here however, in her portrayal of Cao Ying, Cao cao’s supposed brilliant daughter. She just doesn’t seem to be that dangerous and manipulative. Rather, she comes across as a naive commander, in comparison to Andy Lau’s portrayal of Zhao Yun.

The betrayal of the narrator Luo Ping An was also executed poorly, and sounds more like a Deus Ex Machina than an actual plot point. I mean come on, betraying Zhao just because of jealousy? Way too shallow and too amateurish in this era. The twist doesn’t make sense, nor does it serve any purpose at all, other than being the ultimate instrument of Zhao’s downfall in Feng Min Shan.

Conclusion

This movie has a solid cast, and well executed scenes (some fighting scene leave much to be desired though), hampered by a shitty and shallow script, while the glaring historical errors put the nail in its coffin. I would definitely not recommend this movie to anybody at all - there are much better movies out there worth your RM10, but for those who enjoy this sort of movie (war, medieval China, the Three Kingdoms era), well, watch it and forget about it.

source: rendervault

[Jeneshii]

Part of the movie leaked online
http://you.video.sina.com.cn/b/12122992-1062762264.html

[bubblesM]

AHHHHHH THANKK YOUUU yeah see, maggie's acting was really good in it! better than zhang ziyi's portrayals in ancient flicks i think

[NextNoName]

The director did a good job pick-and-choose costumes so that what actually appear in the movie is fitting with the overall feel. The fighting choreography, music, etc. whether duels or big battles are very well done. The acting is good.

Not all scenes are well done. For example a scene in the last battle when Zhao Zilong's army was halted. To repel the onslaught a type of ballistae appeared but the scene was done in blurry fashion. This is jarring in a big-budget movie.

Overall I give 4 stars out of 5 to this movie.

[NextNoName]

vaness wu is bad, but no where near as bad as maggie Q... they might as well have jessica alba take her role, as least she is much prettier

im not trying to be racist here but when u do a movie about ancient china, u just cant have some1 like maggie Q in there where she doesnt even have a slight asian look in her.

wtf... ^^

I don't feel she is out of place, in fact I do feel she fits very well with ancient China. Our looks converge to black hair brown eyes because those characteristics are of dominant genes. 2000 years ago Chinese looks were more diverse than our present day Chinese. For example Sun Quan had purple hair and beard.

[arachidonic]

Just watched it yesterday; I thought it was pretty good. Not as good as Warlords though; the single battle of ZY with CC's army is really messy though I'm not sure whether the cinema in my country cut any of the footage. Overall, it's not outstanding, but I like it.

I think the director meant to make Cao Ying into a female Cao Cao. She's really manipulative by sending those corpses back to ZY to lower his army's morale.. and then playing that sad music. Moreover, she managed to con her general to willingly sacrifice for her. It's not shown, but if the director is, as I said, aiming to turn her into a female CC, then the words she said and tears she shown were all fake; that's why her character is brilliant. IMO btw.

This movie was to honor ZY, I suppose, and I really like the way they presented how chivalrous he was, although it's doesn't really follow the history.

[Lieselle]

I'm sure there are alot of moviegoers who did like the movie but most critics hated it.

Unfortunately, I didn't like the movie too. Not that I expected to; I was just hoping for a pleasant surprise and got a confirmation that it was crap.
There's one thing I wasn't prepared for -boredom.
I thought it'd be all entertainment and no substance. Instead, I got no entertainment AND no substance. Shame!
By the way, that was an awful ending, and for such a historical figure too. Tsk tsk. The dubbing was TERRIBLE, the characterization was shocking, and the storyline just didn't fall into place nicely at all (particularly with all the time frame skipping). Not the smoothest film I can guarantee you. The best thing about the movie was Hung Kam-Bo. His acting was impressive and very real. Very heartfelt. You could understand him on a very humane level and it tears at you a little bit. They should've extended his role; for me, he's what saved the film a little bit. But because there wasn't enough of him, nothing much could be done which is really just too bad (and if you get around to watching this sad sad film -not that I recommend it - you'll really feel for him towards the end in particular).
It's kind of ironic if you think about it. All this promotion of Andy Lau and Maggie Q and not so much of Hung, yet if you really look at their acting on a critical view, the promotion should have been reversed. Still, all the hype is probably going to surround Andy and Maggie in these next coming days or weeks. Sad how commercialism works in some ways.
I don't have much to say about Andy because really, he's no different from how he usually acts. Same guy, same expression, even some role (close enough -all those heroic sorts he plays)!

On to Maggie since everyone is discussing her.

I notice people often comment on her action scenes or physical appearance (which I have to say is not at all convincing as a Chinese). I'm here to mainly discuss whether she did justice to her role.
Let's put aside the blatant historical inaccuracies, & have a look at what kind of character she's meant to portray.
In the film (and I'll quote from the official website to make it easier), Cao Ying is meant to have "martial prowess on the battlefield equaled by a strategic artfulness that matches Zhao's". She's also meant to be "wise beyond her years". With this in mind, I think Maggie presented a very superficial portrayal of Cao Ying. She succeeded in demonstrating a 'cold' character and combined with the action choreography given, she's able to 'fight' well enough (which isn't a surprise judging from her action resume -I read that she's a natural athlete too) but I did not ONCE get a feeling that she was a cunning strategist. She didn't represent any traits that Cao Cao was supposed to have. Instead, she came across on screen as apathetic but also very hot tempered at random moments. Her acting was very inconsistent. I could actually liken her portrayal to a 'pissed off spoilt little kid who tries to act all self-assured until he doesn't get his way and throws a tantrum'.
Instead of being "wise", I felt she was inexperienced and even naive (despite her harshness) during various scenes. And even though her actions were meant to illustrate her 'intelligence' and wide 'knowledge' for tactics, (such as when she sacrificed that one guy), Maggie's portrayal made me think she was irrational. There just too much of either a cold, straight face or, too much snarling and expressions that can be best described as looks of annoyance. I don't know, Maggie gave me mixed feelings about the character. On one hand, I know she's supposed to represent a brilliant military genius of some kind, but on the other hand, the acting left me entirely unconvinced. I felt that yes okay, she was ruthless (BECAUSE of her immoral deeds)and cold hearted, but nothing more, and nothing less. Oh yes, and I never felt any inner conflict that she was meant to have felt towards Zhao Zilong. To me, there was too much posing and not enough acting (or in those few scenes where she actually twitches her face, overacting). And all that instrumental (pipa) playing in the midst of war didn't bring anything to the character other than it was just for show -to make her appear 'so very cool'. But I blame that on the director/scriptwriter.

And yes, she was dubbed which in the film appeared pretty comedic and unrealistic.

[Jeneshii]

wtf... ^^

I don't feel she is out of place, in fact I do feel she fits very well with ancient China. Our looks converge to black hair brown eyes because those characteristics are of dominant genes. 2000 years ago Chinese looks were more diverse than our present day Chinese. For example Sun Quan had purple hair and beard.

I think the 'wtf' should be directed at your comment on her "fitting very well into ancient China"

[expression]

To me, there was too much posing and not enough acting (or in those few scenes where she actually twitches her face, overacting).

Love that comment.

[mich]

So the story is really about Sammo and Andy boring us to death and how they wasted away until maggie q comes along for us to wake up and criticise her from head to toe.

A very nice touch indeed.

[expression]

Nah, they're more considerate than that la. They made poor Andy and Sammo wear party helmets and armour for us to literally criticize from head to toe before introducing Maggie.

[remember_Cedric]

When I first saw the poster of this movie, I wonder why is there Wonder woman in this movie. (Wonder Woman (appearance at a glance = Maggie Q)

[Lieselle]

Love that comment.

It's true. I can't understand why there are people here claiming she acted extremely well in Three Kingdoms. To be fair, her action scenes were relatively good but I find that there's no range in her acting -she's essentially the same character in Die Hard 4.0 but in Chinese costume. She's a cold, pissed off b!tch. Hello? Nothing new here.
There's a scene where she loses a fight with Zhao Zilong (Andy) and her anger was so exaggerated. She kind of threw herself at them in defeat -she needs to learn subtlety. To me, there was nothing in her facial and body language that spoke 'military and strategic genius'.

So the story is really about Sammo and Andy boring us to death and how they wasted away until maggie q comes along for us to wake up and criticise her from head to toe.

A very nice touch indeed.

The story bored me definitely but there were people who enjoyed it, so you might too. The Hung Kam-Bo scenes were really quality to me though. Even Andy bored me. Maggie's scenes weren't boring. There wasn't quality acting from her but it was clear that director Daniel Lee gave Maggie all the hair-raising, dramatic scenes. Unfortunately, those scenes might have been so much more had he casted a better actress.

[expression]

Is this in theatres now? How come there's no entry in rottentomatoes?

[remember_Cedric]

Is this in theatres now? How come there's no entry in rottentomatoes?

I like your sense of quick-witted humour

The reason for missing entry in Rotten Tomatoes, should be due to one of the followings:-

1) Yet to be screened in most threatres

2) Hardly anyone interested to watch

3) Audiences of this movie think it's too good to enter into Rotten Tomatoes (which is unlikely)

4) It's so crappy that people who watched it went speechless and can't be bothered to enter in Rotten Tomatoes.

[Guo Xiang]

I like your sense of quick-witted humour

The reason for missing entry in Rotten Tomatoes, should be due to one of the followings:-

1) Yet to be screened in most threatres

2) Hardly anyone interested to watch

3) Audiences of this movie think it's too good to enter into Rotten Tomatoes (which is unlikely)

4) It's so crappy that people who watched it went speechless and can't be bothered to enter in Rotten Tomatoes.

Looks like only number one is plausible.

[expression]

Seriously, even The Forbidden Kingdom has an entry (no reviews yet). Where did the above reviews come from? Was it premiered in Asia first??

[remember_Cedric]

Expression, the above reviews are my part of random nonsenses. The possibilities that has yet to come true, actually.

[expression]

LOL, I mean the reviews posted by people who have seen the movie. Surely it is out in theatres already??