This movie was SO bad on SO many levels.
Don't you think?
I thought this movie was utterly disappointing. I was expecting something extraordinary due to the amazing cast...but this? This was such a letdown.
First of all, what's with the 'Lian' character? I don't think she was on-screen enough to be a subplot. But then she keeps popping up now and then so you can't ignore her. She gave such a stone-cold performance I was cringing every time she spoke. It was just...Urgh.
When I was leaving the cinema, I was thinking about her role in the movie. She did say she only wanted to act in this movie because of Andy Lau and etc etc...but now that I think about it, if all her scenes were cut, it would've not made any impact on the outcome of the movie. She was just an insignificant little pebble amongst the HUGE boulders surrounding her.
Secondly, the characters were a bit 'off'. Something was missing. I kept thinking that Jet Li was double-crossing his 'brothers' in some way, because he had chosen the cowardly way out of war by 'pretending' to die...and it made me think that he was a liar and a cheat. He should've died honourably within the first few minutes of the film so we would be spared of his 'heroic' dialogue for the rest of movie. Then there's Andy Lau. Oh dear. The only scene I liked was when he was chained and screaming for justice. That was pretty emotional. Other than that, oh dear he was such an embarassment to watch. OH and I've forgotten about Takeshi Kaneshiro. The little teenybopper who was screaming at an obviously-fake head. Sure it was mean to be an act of courage and a display of heroism but I don't think that he really pulled it off. Whenever he laughed/cried it all seemed the same to me. When there were those horrid close-ups, he would smile and cry at the same time. Normally when people do that, they resolve to either smile to cry, not both at the same time. He is a pretty boy, but he needs substance.
Finally, the plot was a mess. My mum loved the whole historic feel to it but later I told her that, "Yes, it has some sort of historic feel to it, but they could've explained it better, rather than skipping here and skipping there with the different armies and such." I think the script for this movie was a little on the skimpy side. I've got a feeling that chunks of dialogue had been taken out to make sure the movie was short and (probably) concise. A mess. A terrible mess. It was hard to keep up with what was happening.
But on the nicer (XD) side of things, the war strategies were great to watch. The men sacrificing themselves, the archers, the action shots. They were great. Oh and my mum LOVES those Steven-Seagul movies where 'justice is served' so she enjoyed it.
It just didn't meet my expectations. I was waiting for an epic, not this pile of ill-conceived crap.
My rating: 2.5/5 stars.
Let's burn it and SAY we dumped it in the sewer!