Kingdom III: Flame of Destiny (2023)

Kingdom III: Flame of Destiny (2023)
Aka: Kingdom 3
Original Title: キングダム3 運命の炎
Translation: Kingdom 3: Flame of Destiny

 

Starring: Kento Yamazaki, Ryô Yoshizawa, Kanna Hashimoto, Ken Aoki, Tomoya Arasawa, Yusuke Hirayama, Jun Kaname, Ainosuke Kataoka, Masaya Katô, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Takahiro Miura, Eri Murakawa, Amane Okayama, Takao Osawa, Hinako Sakurai, Kôichi Satô, Nana Seino, Mitsuomi Takahashi, Masahiro Takashima, Hiroshi Tamaki, Masami Nagasawa
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Action Director: Yuji Shimomura

 

When we last left Li Xin (Kento Yamazaki), he had just been promoted to 100-Man Commander following the battle of Dakan Plains. The second Kingdom film ended with Li Xin resolving to seek out General Wang Qi (Takado Osawa) and request his tutelage as a military officer. The subplot of Chancellor Ryo Fui (Koichi Sato) having ordered the assassination of the King of Qin (Ryo Yoshizawa) had been introduced, but left in limbo. Meanwhile, He Liao Diao (Kanna Hashimoto)—still wearing that darn owl costume—had decided to become a military strategist.

Kingdom III starts six months later. Li Xin has spent those past six months taming the plains of Qin, getting all of the smaller (and warring) tribes under control. The Kingdom of Qin is now facing a new menace in the form of the Kingdom of Zhao, which borders Qin to the Northeast. They have sent in a massive army, led by Generals Feng Ji (Ainosuke Kataoka, Kamen Rider Gaim) and Wan Ji (Yuki Yamada, of Godzilla Minus One), with Zhao Zhuang (Koji Yamamoto, of Shin Ultraman and The Last Ronin) as the Supreme Commander, to invade Qin. Theirs is not only a mission of conquest, but of vengeance for the massacre of 400,000 captured Zhao soldiers years before. General Wan Ji is especially pissed about that, having survived the bloodbath himself. They capture a border town and massacre its inhabitants, moving afterward toward the city of Bayou.

If the Zhao army takes Bayou, then they will have unlimited access to the rest of the Kingdom and they’re as good as gone. So, it’s time to fight back. Chancellor Ryofui nominates his own General Mobu (Yusuke Hirayama, of Princess Sakura: Forbidden Pleasures) to the position of Supreme Commander, as Duke Hyou is away on another campaign. Counselor Chang Wen Jun (Masahiro Takashima), however, opposes Mobu’s appointment on the grounds that this is a defensive action and Mobu talents lie in the offensive. Chang thus nominates General Wang Qi to the post, which surprises everybody at the court, considering that he’s retired. Both Wang Qi and Chang Wen Jun were involved in the Battle of Chohei, which resulted in the aforementioned massacre.

The movie then veers off into a lengthy flashback digression where we learn the “origins” of King Ying Zheng. Back to the actual plot, General Wang Qi and his forces draw the Zhao army away from the City of Bayou to a nearby valley located between a set of small ridges. Zhao Zhuang places the larger portion of his army in the center, with General Wang Ji’s army on his left flank and General Feng Ji and a smaller army set up in a smaller valley to his right. General Wang Qi has General Mobu lead the central assault, while Commanders Heki (Shinnosuke Mitsushima) and Kan-ou (Mitsuomi Takahashi, Gougou Sentai Boukenger, or “Power Rangers Operation Overdrive”) lead the smaller left flank against General Fen Ji. This is where the story sets in, as Li Xin is now commanding a 100-man unit (including some survivors of the Battle of Dakan Plains from the previous film). General Wang Qi baptizes them the Hi Shin Unit and gives them a mission: cut across the mountains and assassinate General Feng Ji while he’s busy with Heki and Kan-ou…

Viewers will recall that King Ying Zheng and He Liao Diao (and her stupid owl outfit) were pushed into the background for the majority of the previous film. Ying Zheng doesn’t join the action, but we do get to see his beginnings as a crown prince, which takes up much of the first half of the film. We learn that he was a “hostage” of the Zhao Kingdom and was left there until his father ascended to the throne, after which he was rescued by a black-market merchant named Shika (Anne Watanabe, of the Japanese remake of Cube). Meanwhile, He Liao Diao is working toward her goal of becoming a strategist, teaming up with Meng Yi, another up-and-coming strategist, to observe the battle. She doesn’t contribute anything to the story, but this part of her growth as a character in the manga.

Much of the movie is about both Li Xin and General Wang Qi, the latter of whom has up to this point been more of a “casually-amused” observer to the events of the past two films. We do learn more about Wang Qi, including his participation the previous battles against the Zhao. It is this part of his backstory that introduces a new character who will be the “villain to beat” in the next movie: Hou Ken, the One-Man General of the Zhao. He believes himself to be a War God and is insanely powerful—his inclusion pushes the film toward Dynasty Warriors territory. Hou Ken also killed Wang Qi’s fellow general Kyou years before, so Wang Qi wants another showdown. The Battle of Bayou also introduces—at the end—the character Ri Boku (or Li Mu), a talented Zhao strategist who will be a thorn in the characters’ sides later on.

Li Xin, now a commander, must not rely totally on his own bravado, since he is now responsible for the lives of his men. Since his mission requires him to scale and descend two large hills protected by enemy garrisons, plus the assassination itself, he has a lot on his platter. He is joined by Qiang Lei (Nana Seino), who is his vice-commander and still a bad-ass swordswoman. His mission accounts for the bulk of the second half of the film, with the fourth film meant to portray the second half of the Battle of Bayou.

The action, once more staged by Yuji Shimomura is once again more focused on epic battling than for individual displays of martial arts prowess. There isn’t quite so much fighting and sword-swinging as the previous film, with the lion’s share of the action pushed to the second hour. We get to see General Mobu briefly in action: he wields what appears to be a long-handled melon hammer as his weapon. Meanwhile, Li Xin and his cohorts fight with sword and spear, with Qiang Lei stealing the show with her awesome skills and loyalty to Li Xin. Once more, if you enjoy the battle scenes from films like Lord of the Rings and Red Cliff, you should enjoy the action on display here.

Kingdom III is a strong follow-up to the previous movie, which is still the best of the three—now four—movies. There is a sense of growth in Li Xin as a character and soldier, despite his uncouth attitude and frequent disregard for manners. King Ying Zheng is given a new dimension to his character, a break from the usual depiction of the Shi Huangdi as paranoid butcher. The conflict between the King and his Chancellor is placed on the backburner for this film, although I assume it will become important again if they make a fifth film. There is enough character, good production values and strong battle sequences to make this worth a view.