Dynasty Warriors (2021)

Dynasty Warriors (2021)
Chinese Title: 真·三國無雙
Translation: Real Three Kingdoms Matchless

 

Starring: Wang Kai, Han Geng, Louis Koo Tin-Lok, Tony Yang Youning, Coulee Nazha, Ray Lui Leung-Wai, Mickey Yuan Wen-Kang, Philip Keung Hiu-Man, Yang Haoyu, Lam Suet, Justin Cheung Kin-Seng, Eddie Cheung Siu-Fai, Law Kar-Ying, Paul Chun Pui
Director: Roy Chow
Action Director: Dion Lam

 

We’ve gotten a handful of movies about the Three Kingdoms Era of China in the past 15 years, most notably the two-part epic Red Cliff by John Woo. That was a great pair of movies, let me just say right here. Anyway, we also got Daniel Lee’s a little more commercial Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon the same year the first RC came out—Lee employed more commercial actors, his own retinue plus beloved veterans like Yueh Hua and Ti Lung. The Lost Bladesman cast Donnie Yen in the role as the infamous Guan Yu, setting the story some time after the events of Red Cliff. The Assassins is set even later than that, with only Cao Cao being alive by that point. There have also been a couple of TV series about the subject in the meantime.

Before going on, I made a small spreadsheet of some common characters that are in this film that also appeared in the aforementioned movies, just so you know who has played who over the years. Check it out below. 

Dynasty Warriors is a big-budget adaptation of a popular video game series, of which I never played. The movie is basically Romance of the Three Kingdoms:  Year 0, set before the Han Dynasty splintered into rival kingdoms, with Cao Cao and his machinations trying to reunify China, albeit under his control. However, based on a video game in which I assume you play famous generals taking on enemy armies all by your lonesome, this takes the larger-than-life antics of John Woo’s Red Cliff movies and exaggerates them to MCU (or Kung Fu Hustle) proportions.

The movie begins in 184 A.D. with the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which was a sort of peasant rebellion led by a charismatic figure named Zhang Jiao (Phillip Keung, of Flirting Scholar and The Heroic Trio). The movie portrays Zhang as a powerful Maoshan sorcerer, who uses his powers to transform his army into rage zombies(!) to fight against the Han forces, led by General Dong Zhuo (Lam Suet, of Exiled and The Mission). Only the timely intervention of the three warriors Liu Bei (Taiwanese actor Tony Yang, of Cold War 2), Guan Yu (Han Geng, of A Chinese Odyssey: Part 3), and Zhang Fei (Justin Cheung, who’s been in Category III films like 3D Sex and Zen and 3DD Invader) save the army from annihilation. However, as the three men are “freelancers” and lack official rank, Dong Zhuo is less than grateful for their assistance.

Some time later, Dong Zhuo has risen to the rank of Chancellor and replaced the child emperor with his half brother, through whom he’s able to control the entire empire. He’s also helped himself to the late Emperor’s concubines while raping the now-deposed child emperor’s mother. And the man is just a general tyrant. However, all of the royal advisors and top-ranking officials are afraid of him, especially since he’s always flanked by Lü Bu (Louis Koo, of every HK film of the past 12 years), the most powerful martial artist in the kingdom. In this adaptation, Lü Bu wields a magical halberd and has Super Lightning Powers, making him the (evil) Thor of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei decide that they need to remove Dong Zhuo from power and put the original child emperor back on the throne. They go to a magic forest where they are transported to a secret level—what else can I call it?—and meet the Lady of the Sword Castle (Carina Lau, of Project A II and Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame). She gives them Super-Hyper-Duper Powerful Weapons (Liu Bei gets twin swords; Zhang Fei gets a spear; and Guan Yu gets his trust kwan do) and tells them that they need to join forces with Cao Cao. Cao Cao (Railroad Tigers’s Wang Kai, looking like a young Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), formerly Cao Mengde.

We learn that Cao Cao was a low-ranking military officer who nonetheless occupied a space at the Court. While all the other officials were content with sitting around and lamenting the state of the Empire, Cao Cao was willing to do something about it: he tried to assassinate Dong Zhuo. He failed and was injured by Lü Bu during his escape, but eventually was found and nursed back to health. He eventually used his family’s connections to raise a small army and join the rebel forces, led by Yuen Shao (Flash Point’s Ray Lui). Cao Cao lets Liu Bei and his cohorts join him, as Cao Cao can see the courage and loyalty in those three men. “Courage and loyalty” is repeated ad nauseam throughout the movie.

Dynasty Warriors is a strange example of a 4-act movie, which story-structure is not very common in film. The first act establishes our main heroes and villains. The second act is an extended flashback telling Cao Cao’s backstory, painting him as a somewhat cynical warrior and strategist who desires to unify China and keep the empire alive, even if it means that he’ll have to be a Major League Prick in order to do so. The third act revolves around the efforts of our three main warriors to ingratiate themselves with the Rebel Armies, which is ultimately accomplished thanks to Guan Yu’s Supreme Ass-Kicking Skills and a duel with a powerful warrior named Hua Xiong (Jin Song, of The Myth). The final act revolves around the Battle of Hulao Pass, which is an actual historic event (and presumably chapter in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms epic).

The dialog is mainly exposition and speechifying about “Courage” and “Loyalty” and all that sort of crap. I would have preferred a bit more explanation of the geography of Hulao, because the locale is described as a “choke point” (i.e. nobody gets to the capital without going through the pass), but there seems to be multiple ways through the pass. We needed more dialog about military strategy and less ruminations on heroism and heroic vs. selfish motivations. I think these conversations mainly set up the differences between Liu Bei (100% righteous) and Cao Cao (same general aims, but backed by a huge sense of personal ambition). There is also a number of interactions between Cao Cao and Guan Yu, which set up the “Bromance” between those two historical figures that was furthered explored in The Lost Bladesman.

While lots of money was spent on costumes and special effects, my general thoughts on the visuals is that they “occasionally impressive, but sometimes very chintzy.” The costumes are sometimes impressive, but sometimes look like glorified cosplay outfits. Zhang Fei (who gets the short shrift among the protagonists) looks like a man in a fat suit wearing black face; it’s really pretty sorry. Far-away shots of the actors’ doubles riding horses are fine, but a close-up of Guan Yu riding into battle is very obvious green screen nonsense. There are lots of CGI energy blasts, which are fine for CGI. But non-stop scenes of dozens of nameless soldiers being tossed into the air looks like the worst moments from the Matrix Reloaded infamous “Burly Brawl.” And did we really need a scene in which Liu Bei parts the river that runs through Hulao Pass, only for Louis Koo to ride his horse sideways across the water wall toward him?

The action was supervised by Dion Lam, who’s experience with traditional swordplay mixed with CGI goes all the way back to The Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero. He also assisted Corey Yuen in staging the battle sequences in the Red Cliff movies, which is quite evident here. The formations that Liu Bei’s men use against Lü Bu’s forces at the Battle of Hulao Pass are similar to those used in the first Red Cliff movie, but with less visceral impact because director Roy Chow would prefer to focus on Louis Koo playing Thor and electrocuting dozens of people with a single lightning bolt.

There are some more traditional weapons exchanges here, although most of them rely on heavy wire assistance. We get a friendly duel between Liu Bei and Cao Cao, which is very early 00s Ching Siu-Tung in its presentation (think Hero). Something similar happens with Guan Yu in his showdown with Hua Xiong. Those two fights are probably the best in the film, because they don’t rely on flaming crescent blasts and ground-splitting energy techniques. The few “realistic” moments of the battles are fun to watch, but unfortunately are quickly eclipsed by the CGI superpowers. In that case, you’re better off revisiting the Red Cliff movies (or Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon), for entertaining Three Kingdoms action.

Dynasty Warriors ends on a cliffhanger, with the small stub of a subplot involving Lü Bu falling for Diaochan, a young lady betrothed to the oversexed Dong Zhuo, promising to become a point of contention between the two men. Liu Bei and Cao Cao are now allies, but uncomfortable ones, given that the latter’s ambitions are growing by the year. Unfortunately, even if a sequel is made, I’m not all that excited at the prospect: I don’t need another two hours worth of pointless speeches about honour peppered with scenes of dozens of men flying into air a lá Kung Fu Hustle in my life.