Kingdom of War: Le royaume des guerriers

Someone will point out the plot has some flaws, yet it doesn't matter for me to enjoy one of the most exciting two hours in my life! The movie is full of bold imagination, amazing depiction of ancient wars and the great actions of superhero. Donnie Yen in the last scene is just the Mars and there have never been a character in the cinematic history as heroic as him! You will be touched to cry when Leon Lai and Kelly Chen ride the fire balloon to watch such a splendid landscape of beautiful China! The scene that Leon Lai is going to fly with his fire balloon and Kelly Chen hurried to catch up with him, with the accompany of the Orphean strains of the theme song, will become one of the most romantic scenes in Chinese cinematic history! Believe me, take your beloved to watch this movie at weekend and you will love each other more!

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".

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

This is not a great martial arts movie, it is a good story, well acted and directed with something for everyone. It is like a cross between 'House of Flying Daggers' and the Chinese warrior epics you may have seen. All the lead characters are believable, there is a good and evil story, a love story, a friendship story and an unrequited love story, oh and plenty of action. The fights are well choreographed, especially the larger battles with some scenes that look truly realistic, I don't know how they did some of them with no deaths ( makes the chariot scenes in Ben Hur look like Childs play ) I did get a bit bored with some of the lovely dovey stuff, but by the end of the film I knew I would watch this again. The end fight is worth waiting for, not just for the action but for the emotion shown by the actors.

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.