Battle of Wits (2006)

Battle of Wits (2006)
Aka: Battle of the Warriors
Chinese Title: 墨攻
Translation: Mohist Attack

 

Starring: Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Wang Zhiwen, Fan Bingbing, Nicky Wu Chi-Lung, An Seong-gi, Chin Siu-Ho, Wu Ma, Sammy Hung Tin-Chiu, Choe Shi-won, Yu Chenghui
Director: Jacob Cheung
Action Director: Stephen Tung Wai

 

The Zhou Dynasty of China is the second dynasty for which we have definitive archaeological evidence for—the supposed Xia Dynasty is to have predated the Shang Dynasty, and shows up in literature from that period, but there is no real evidence for its existence. The Zhou Dynasty was founded in 1046 B.C. and ran for some 789 years, ending with its absorption into the Qin Kingdom in 256 B.C. The Qin Kingdom, founded during the famed Warring States Period (481 – 221 B.C.), eventually conquered all of the states and formed the Qin Dynasty, led by Shi Huangdi, China’s first emperor.

As it goes with most dynasties, a period of artistic and technological advancement is eventually followed a period of decline, as the Powers That Be grow increasingly corrupt and focused on their own pleasures, and less concerned about running a large kingdom (or empire). The complacent central government—the dynasty—becomes weak as local warlords grow in power in their respective provinces or territories, ultimately leading to the fragmentation of the kingdom (or empire). Sometimes the fragmentation is temporary, but in the case of the Zhou Dynasty, it lasted more than 250 years.

During the Warring States Period, seven major states were formed, with the Zhou royal family just hanging out in the capitol, unable to do much about anything. There were a handful of smaller states—in the case of Battle of Wits, the focus will be on the small kingdom of Liang—that just existed until they were ultimately overcome by any of the bigger kingdoms.

This film is set in 370 B.C. That puts it about 110 years after the death of Confucius and 100 years after the birth of Mozi. Just who is Mozi? Well, he is credited as the founder of Mohism, one of the lesser-known of the major philosophies—Taoism, Confucianism, and Legalism—that was founded during the Zhou Dynasty. The philosophy preached a “universal love” and were largely pacificists, albeit semi-practical ones. They came to be during a period of perpetual war between the neighboring kingdoms, so they were more about helping those cities that were on the defensive during those troubled times. They became the best military strategists of their time, trying to defend their client’s cities while losing (and killing) as few people as possible.

We open with an intertitle informing us that the Kingdom of Zhao (in northern China) has sent a ginormous army to the neighboring kingdom of Yan (in northeastern China/southern Manchuria). The army will pass through the mini-state of Liang on their way and will most likely conquer it without any effort. The King (Wang Zhiwen, of The Storm Riders and The Emperor and the Assassin) has sent for a Mohist strategist to assist them, although it has taken a bit too long for him to arrive and the Zhao army is already on their doorstep. So, the King hastily sends General Niu (Chin Siu-Ho, of Fist of Legend and Legend of the Fox) to sign a non-aggression pact with the lead Zhao general, Xiang Yanzhong (Musa the Warrior’s An Seong-gi).

While that is going on, Mohist strategist Ge Li (Andy Lau, of A Moment of Romance and Firestorm) arrives at the city gates. They let him in and he quickly convinces the townspeople that they need to defend themselves, on the logic that a non-aggression pact won’t stop the Zhao army from executing most of the ministers, raping the locals and pillaging the city. He heroically fires an arrow at the Zhao frontline General Gao (Sammy Hung, son of Sammo) to show them he means business. The Zhao army retreats to confer with General Xiang on how to proceed.

The worthless King is initially too drunk to receive Ge Li, but the next day he questions and tests him and ultimately decides to give him command over the city’s armys, much to the dismay of the Royal Tutor (Wu Ma, of 14 Blades and Swordsman). General Niu is also surprised to see his power usurped by a new guy, although he keeps it to himself for now. Ge Li’s first item of business is to dismantle one of the walls from the palace to build a fortress around the exposed southern gate of the city, as the other sides are protected by mountainous terrain. He also promotes talented archer Zi Tuen (Nicky Wu, of Love in the Time of Twilight and The Valiant Ones New) to the rank of general over the archery division. All this time he is closely accompanied by Crown Prince Liang Shi (Choe Shi-won, of Dragon Blade and Helios), who comes to admire Ge Li’s wisdom. Also admiring his wisdom—initially from afar—is Cavalry Captain Yi Yue (Fan Bing-bing, of The Shinjuku Incident and The League of Gods).

The Zhao army eventually decides to attack the city of Liang, but thanks to Ge Li’s tactics, they are able to repel the invaders. And this despite an internal mutiny by condemned criminals being forced to fight in exchange for freedom. They even manage to kill General Gao and wound General Xiang. Following the battle, more people start to trust Ge Li, including Yi Yue, who just flat-out falls in love with him—can’t have a post-2000s period piece without an unrequited love subplot. Ge Li and Yi Yue discover that the Zhao Army is planning to invade the city via a series of tunnels, but the former sets up a series of traps and is able to capture the tunnel brigade—most of them, the rest are burned to death inside the tunnel or presumably are able to flee.

At this point, Ge Li has become a hero among the populace. Everybody praises him, except for the Royal Tutor and the King, that lazy good-for-nothing lay-about. In fact, the King is so jealous that he convinces himself that Ge Li is planning a rebellion with the intent of putting himself on the throne of that rickety little state. This is very similar to the story of David and Goliath. David slays Goliath, repelling the Philistine army. People eventually start singing David’s praises, boasting of his killing ten of thousands while King Saul only kills thousands. And then King Saul gets jealous and turns on David. Same story here. So, the King will charge General Niu with quelling a non-existent rebellion. Not only does that guarantee that innocent people will die, but the entire state of Liang will not have the competent people in charge when the Zhao come-a-knockin’ a third time…

The film is based on (and shares the same title as) a Japanese manga known as Bokkou (“Mohist Attack” in Japanese), which was written by Hideki Mori and first published in 1992. Apparently, the manga was popular and ran for about four years, when the story was concluded. The manga was based on a novel of the same name, written by Ken’ichi Sakemi and published the year before the manga was written. Reading the synopses of both the manga and the novel on Wikipedia, they seem to be more or less identical to what happens in the film, although the size of the Zhao army seems to be off by a factor of ten. The manga and novel tell of a Zhao army of 10,000 soldiers, while the Portuguese subtitles in the version I watched said 100,000 soldiers. If the number was indeed 10,000, then the 5000 casualties that General Xiang talks about in his final confrontation with Ge Li means that not only did he lose half of his army, but he also lost his ability to attack the Yan Kingdom as planned.

One aspect that the film makes a certain ado about is the fact that Ge Li was not formally sent by the Mohist clan to take up the Liang’s cause. He comes on his own. He never explicitly states why, but the Wikipedia synopsis of the Bokkou novel states that the Mohist clan had already grown corrupt in its third generation of leadership. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that they probably started asking for gifts and monetary compensation, something that Andy Lau’s character is adamant in not receiving throughout the film. As they say (or misquote), every good cause becomes a movement, then a business, and finally a racket.

There are a lot of pontifications about the effectiveness of Mohism as a philosophy throughout the film. Universal Love is good. Fighting in self-defense is acceptable and perhaps even to be lauded. Trying to kill a few people as possible in an armed conflict would be great when possible—just see Sergeant York. I guess Mohism is really limited by the context in which it grew: the Warring States Era. Whether it was border conflicts, expansionist designs, or a race to see who could conquer their neighbors and establish a new dynasty first, the Warring States Era was simply not going to end by itself. And by simply going from one invaded state to the next—even if job #2 had previously been the aggressor in job #1—they were more or less perpetuating the war by not taking a definitive side. People like Shi Huangdi and Cao Cao/Cao Pi are often considered villains in history, but they were the ones who united China at different moments, even if they resorted to butchery to do so.

The battle scenes were staged by Stephen Tung Wai, for which he received two nominations for Best Action Choreography—at the Hong Kong Film Award and Taiwan Golden Horse Awards. He lost out to Yuen Woo-Ping’s Fearless, however. And I understand that. Battle of Wits is not Red Cliff (or even Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon), so don’t go in expecting that. As we have a very small army taking on a much larger one, the key to success is a lot more dependent on strategy, trickery, traps and long-range archery than on powerful generals taking out dozens of soldiers with a single swing of their guandao. So be prepared for hidden gates, creative uses of fire, and even a fun use of underground water sources. The relative realism of these battles may be a breath of fresh air to some, but those looking for weapons choreography in a mass battle scenario will surely be disappointed.

Beyond that, the film benefits from good performances, fine art direction, great cinematography, nice costumes and is just a great-looking production all around. It was a co-production involving Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan and South Korea. Most of the Japanese influence was behind the scenes: Yoshinao Sakamoto (Tsui Hark’s Missing) was the director of photography; Yoshi Kawai, whose credits include the Ip Man films, Seven Swords, the ”When They Cry” anime, and the “Ghost in the Shell” sequels and Hollywood adaptation, did the music; and Yoshimitsu Yoshitsuru, whose credits include the Kuchisaki-Onna films and the Sex & Chopsticks movies, helped produce. I’m sure the Koreans contributed money and their actors, including Choe Shi-won, whose first film this was. If you want a good historical film, look no further than Battle of Wits. If you want something like Red Cliff, stick with Red Cliff.