Das Königreich der Yan

WELL WORTH THE WATCH!

Some may point out its flaws with reality, but that is not what the movie is about. It is an intense, well choreographed fantasy about feuding nations, betrayal, and the love story caught in the middle that almost all war movies have. The action scenes along with the amazing design details in the armor and weapons are what really makes the film. You will definitely not go wrong in watching this movie.

The major critique that I have is that the love story seemed a bit weak and disconnected from the rest of the plot. They did attempt to incorporate it within the background of the characters, but it just moved too quick to really convince me.

An Empress And The Warriors was one-in-a-thousand offerings of historical films that focused on the Warring States, much like The Myth, Red Cliff, Three Kingdoms and many more. While the film may not be as well scripted as many of its peers, it still pleases on many fronts such as the costume design, cinematography, performances, and of course, the action!

Under the watchful eye of the fantastic Tony Ching Siu Tung, and obviously having Donnie Yen in a lead role, you can be sure that any martial arts action on-screen is going to be worth watching. And there is definitely plenty of it going on! Ching gets straight to the action, with the more dramatic moments filtered in-between, showcasing some amazing wire-fu moments and beautifully choreographed combat. I must also note that the weapon (and set) design is amazing...

There is a real feel of a Robin Hood-esque inspired take throughout the film, and more so on the classic Kevin Costner version, Prince Of Thieves, with Leon Lai playing the Robin type character. It's not a bad thing of course, and lends itself to some of the films action sequences as well as more comedy based elements. Leon is also the last surviving member of the New Moon Warriors clan - ironically, looking extremely like Andy Lau's character from the amazing Moon Warriors film (as well as living in a build much like the latter's beach village), of which Ching Siu Tung was also an action director on.

I like An Empress And The Warriors. Although it has its flaws, the film has some beautiful scenes and some great action which is well worth watching for, although probably nothing you haven't seen before in the grand scheme of things given the amount of war-and-wire-fu films available. The love triangle between Kelly Chen, Yen and Lai passes and allows for some breathing moments between the war and action scenes!

The hot air balloon was something different though (and so is the Irish-inspired music over it), but I can't say I wasn't impressed. Ching Siu Tung has a habit of adding these bizarre moments to his self-directed films, so I wasn't that surprised to be honest...

At the end of the day, An Empress And The Warriors is a martial arts action film, and for that reason alone, it certainly does not disappoint. From the one-on-one fights to the epic finale (perhaps inspired by The Myth), Ching and Yen deliver and make this underrated wu xia war flick, worth the watch.

Overall: Think Jingle Ma's 'Mulan' meets Sammo Hung's 'Moon Warriors' and you'll enjoy what's on offer here!

This is one of those movies that you can tell is trying to be good but ends up being mediocre. There is a love story that is way out of place during a war between the Yan and the Zhao, a love triangle between Donnie Yen, and an ambitious Nephew who will seem to do anything to take over the throne. All of these stories could be well off on their own, but the director doesn't explore either to a satisfaction. Martial arts fans will see a duel between Leon Lai and Donnie Yen, but it feels like it was just placed there just for the sake of having them fight each other.

There is good stuff here, but it is rushed and clichéd to the point where it feels like you are buying one of those TV drama DVD sets.

Basically this movie has a plot typical a romance epic genre. But I don't care much about the story. My only reason watching this flick is because Donnie Yen. The direction seriously damaged by lack of exploration by the filmmaker. This is not movie quality direction rather much like a TV series quality. Very disappointing. The pace is inconsistent, the romantic scenes very immature and lame, there no intensity on the battle scenes at all. The characterization on the bad guys very cheaply done. It's like they are yelling at the audience, "I'm the bad guy, look at my evil expressions, very bad ain't it". Overall this flick is very disappointing. 4/10

I watched this movies because of Donnie Yen and Kelly Chen. I wasn't disappointed, they both did a good job. Donnie serious as ever, and Kelly's expressions were overcoming at times. The song while Kelly and Leon were flying in the balloon were good too. What impressed me most was the scene where Kelly were fighting back her tears while crying for Donnie towards the end of the movie. Bravo! I also felt for the character played by Donnie. He loves the princess but couldn't show his feelings probably waiting for the right time. It never came and then it's gone, how sad for him. It was very touching too when he went to warn Kelly of the danger and instead told Leon to take her far away. Which means that he may never see her again. A great love story along the line of "the myth".