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DVD Zhan Guo
 Run time: 126 min Rating: 4.7 Genres: Drama | War Director: Chen Jin Stars: Honglei Sun, Tian Jing, Hee-seon Kim |
| Storyline Rival Chinese military strategists Sun Bin (Sun Hong-lei) and Pang Juan (Francis Ng) clash in this historic war adventure set during the Era of Warring States. |
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| Details: Country: China Release Date: 12 April 2011 (China) |
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4 comments
Epic story of two military strategists both in love with the same woman.
Its an epic action/romance filled with lots of crashing armies, tons of computer generated images, freeze frame action sequences and a sense that that it was done on the cheap by TV people. I could be wrong of course simply because it just may have been done cheaply, but the feel seems to match TV drama at times.
The action sequences seem wildly scaled down despite being massively huge with the result that they are epic to look at but not particularly exciting (I won't go into the dullest chariot race I've ever seen with the chariots moving at different speeds in different shots) The other problem I have is that the film seems to be larger than the confines of the story. There were times when I had the sense that I was missing something.
Its not a bad film, but with all of the epic films coming from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan I'm forced to wonder how this film was chosen to get a release in the US- on the same day as its release in Asia
A lot of epic movies has been made in China in the last years, some good and some forgettable. This one falls into the second category. The story is about a strategist disputed between two Chinese kingdoms. Although intelligent, he is very naive. In one reign he falls in love with a girl, general of the army and destined to marry the emperor, in the other he is betrayed and imprisoned by his old friend, also a military strategist and in love with the same girl too. He succeeds to escape and lead the first reign to victory, but in the end he will kill himself. The movie seems to have been done in a hurry, sometimes things happen too fast and you feel like you're missing something in the plot. There's a lot of computer effects but they're not so good. The fighting scenes are intended to be epic but they often result confused and so not exciting. It's not a good movie, but not the worst of its kind. There's a plenty of better Chinese movies, so it remains a mystery why it was distributed in the West. Anyway, if you like the genre, you can take a look: surely you'll forget it soon after.
If you are looking for a Hollywood style movie, then this is probably not the one for you. It is a typical Chinese drama but with some interesting notations. Like many Asian stories, this movie is told in a circular fashion. Most China movies contain very silly comedic scenes and this one is no different, at least initially. The movie progresses through a time period and is based on true historical account, and from what I have read online, is pretty darn accurate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Bin's_Art_of_War I didn't care for the war scenes or excessive violence, but there were some deeper underlying principals and prelates that the movie is trying to convey. I suppose you need to decide for yourself if this truly happens. Towards the end, I couldn't help but take an interest in the fate of the characters, but there were no surprises here as how it turned out or how people acted; although human nature as portrayed by the main antagonist,Pang Juan, and the Qi's main general, is rather harsh and cruel. Half of the movie is sad and depressing as the main character betrayed by his "brother", tortured, lamed, and then suicidal, goes from a cheerful disposition to a serious, reflective personality and loses the naive innocence he has. He eventually ends his life so he will no longer be forced by either country to continue in developing strategies for war. What makes this movie watching for me is the historical significance as it is not just an imaginary plot set in this time period but real events that have taken place.
I disagree with one previous comment made for this movie saying it is a nightmare. Surely that is a comment of an ignorant, Hollywood movie junkie who does not understand biographic movies with a bit of dramatic touch to it. The director's effort to make the movie a bit dramatic is enough for a typical Hollywood movie junkie to understand that the director is trying to give you guys a vivid description of sun bin's life and sufferings. Naked, not sugar-coated reality, is the difference of oriental movies from typical sugar-coated Hollywood ones. If you are the type of person who is not into logical, non-fiction, oriental movies and you are always after happy endings (boring), this movie is not for you. Clearly, it's not for the teeny little brain of the other guy there who commented "it's a nightmare". Anyway, overall good movie. There are missed-out parts like the face branding etc and the additional dramatic suicide of sun bin but yep, it's there for the little-brained ones like that "nightmare" guy who needs his Hollywood fix.