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The Warlords

Play trailer Poster for The Warlords R Released Apr 2, 2010 2h 6m Action History Drama War Play Trailer Watchlist
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62% Tomatometer 53 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
China is torn apart by civil war, and in the chaos three men emerge who might bring the country back from the brink: Gen. Pang (Jet Li) and a pair of bandits (Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau). Pang is the only survivor from a violent clash with rebels and -- after being taken in by a beautiful woman (Jinglei Xu) -- saves the life of one of the bandits. Soon the three men are blood brothers, and they embark on a quest to rid their land of rebels once and for all.
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The Warlords

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Critics Consensus

Slightly stodgy historical Chinese epic with impressive battles.

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Critics Reviews

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Ed Koch The Atlantic I think it is worth seeing but not one that must be seen. Jan 13, 2018 Full Review Tom Long Detroit News Doesn't break ground; in fact, it carries on a tradition. But it does so with both flair and passion. Rated: B Jul 1, 2010 Full Review Steven Rea Philadelphia Inquirer A tale of noble brotherhood compromised by self-interest and a messy love triangle, The Warlords, ultimately, tries to speak to the futility of war - but it does so by staging one gargantuan dustup after another. Rated: 3/4 Apr 15, 2010 Full Review David Harris Spectrum Culture Yet another Jet Li-driven, Chinese historical drama is full of sweeping montages, dramatic battle scenes and rhetorical blood oaths, but...its dramatic gravitas is lost among a convoluted plot and a weak love triangle. Rated: 2/5 Oct 24, 2019 Full Review Kevin Carr 7M Pictures This film has real scope, showing fantastic battle sequences that rival Hollywood films like Braveheart. Rated: 3/5 Jul 31, 2012 Full Review Sean Axmaker Seanax.com ... a muscular character piece set against a massive war and the power relationships behind the battles (as well as more severed limbs than I've seen in a single film). Jul 1, 2010 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Oliver M Band of blood brothers which goes horribly wrong. Great tone and pacing. Third act has the Shakespeare tragedy about it and the brutality to go with it. A well grounded epic. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/28/23 Full Review Justin T It looked messy for me, maybe a bad DVD. Even though I thought it had a really drab colour pallet and uninspiring images. It didn't look bad but it didn't look good either. It was just a bit dull. I hated the dubbing. It was distractingly bad. I wish that it was a subtitled movie. The sound design was fine otherwise. Again could be an issue with the DVD. I understood the story but also I didn't. Hard to explain. It was really boring though with unexciting action and dull story like in Braveheart (1995). So the technical issues with my DVD are a bit irrelevant if the film isn't worth watching in the first place. Far too boring to be enjoyable. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/25/23 Full Review Liam D A very powerful film This war is a underrated movie and worth watching Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/23/21 Full Review Audience Member The warlords is an OK Chinese film that starts off OK but the film got a little more confusing as it went on. The action scenes are OK but they seem toned down even with R rating. It’s an OK Chinese martial arts film I’ve seen better but I’ve seen worse. It’s just wish the plot was easier to follow. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/15/21 Full Review cinema s Bloody and full of philosophical brilliance, Li adds another stirring performance to his epical repertoire. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Watched it thinking it's a Historical War Epic, felt like it's a mixture of drama with little silent type romance thrown in with no consideration given on storytelling, flow and pace of the movie. It was like watching random scenes with little sense to them, might be the dubbing was lacking. There is very little action, the only sequence there is, is badly choreographed. Got no complains on the acting side, it seemed solid just the direction & editing was a let-down. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis China is torn apart by civil war, and in the chaos three men emerge who might bring the country back from the brink: Gen. Pang (Jet Li) and a pair of bandits (Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau). Pang is the only survivor from a violent clash with rebels and -- after being taken in by a beautiful woman (Jinglei Xu) -- saves the life of one of the bandits. Soon the three men are blood brothers, and they embark on a quest to rid their land of rebels once and for all.
Director
Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Wai Man Yip
Producer
Peter Ho-Sun Chan
Screenwriter
Tin Nam Chun, Junli Guo, Jiping He, Jianxin Huang, Oi Wah Lam
Distributor
Magnolia Pictures
Production Co
Beijing Poly-bona Film Publishing Company, Media Asia Films Ltd. [hk], Applause Pictures, China Film Group Corp.
Rating
R (Sequences of Strong Violence)
Genre
Action, History, Drama, War
Original Language
Chinese
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 2, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$129.0K
Runtime
2h 6m
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