/kloc-in the autumn of 0/870, the eldest brother Pang Qingyun (played by Jet Li) was dressed in official clothes and overlooked his inauguration stage at the top of the city wall; Full of ideals and lofty aspirations, if he didn't take this road of no return, he would probably become one of the new China revolutionaries who overthrew the corrupt Qing court and went down in history. Unfortunately, two robbers and a woman changed his life, leading to his success and ultimate destruction.
These two robbers are sworn brothers who swear to die with him: second brother Zhao Erhu (played by Andy Lau) and third brother Jiang Wuyang (played by him), and that woman is second brother's wife Lian Sheng (played by Xu).
Zhao Erhu became a robber in troubled times and took hundreds of people to plunder everywhere. He is a thief and has a good idea. Even if he robbed, he was "robbing seven and leaving three", leaving a way for the robbed villagers. The points of robbery were given to the good people who lived in a mountain village with him, thus winning the hearts of all. Zhao Erhu loved two people most in his life, one was his wife Lian Sheng, and the other was his third brother Jiang Wuyang, who became a robber with him at the age of thirteen.
Since the battle to grab the Taiping military grain truck, Pang Qingyun, a stranger of the eldest brother, was injured and blocked an arrow for Jiang Wuyang, which made Jiang Wuyang deeply feel the grace of saving his life. So Jiang Wuyang worships Pang Qingyun more than Zhao Erhu.
Zhao Erhu and others' mountain villages were looted by the Qing army. After heavy casualties, Jiang Wuyang urged the three of them to become brothers, and their eldest brother Pang Qingyun led them to join the Qing court. Zhao Erhu didn't want to disappoint the third brother, and he didn't care about personal gains and losses, so he gave the position of leader to Pang Qingyun.
In order to realize the ideal of a peaceful and prosperous world without war, Pang Qingyun, with the help of a group of brothers headed by Zhao Erhu and Jiang Wuyang, set up a "mountain camp" to temporarily serve the Qing court. It turned out that he wanted to gather military strength by attacking the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. But with his ruling, Pang Qingyun became more and more ambitious, which made him clear all obstacles.
He did not hesitate to break with Zhao Erhu and slaughter the Taiping rebels who were persuaded by Zhao Erhu, just for fear of rebellion. He used Jiang Wuyang's fanatical personality to persuade him to stand on his side. Originally, Pang Qingyun was only one step away from success, but his behavior hurt Jiang Wuyang who admired him. At the inauguration ceremony, at the most glorious moment of power, Pang Qingyun died unexpectedly at the hands of an assassin.
Film evaluation
Although the translated name of Warlord is "God of War", it actually spares no effort to publicize the anti-war theme. Therefore, in the war scene of the film, Chen Kexin's approach is quite different from Zhang Yimou's violent aesthetics. Instead of spreading dazzling colors, he chose blue-gray tones to try his best to contrast the cruelty and terror of war. In action design, instead of flying around and beautifying the force into a dance, we strive to be true, not avoid blood, intuitively show the glare and horror of violence, and make people instinctively hate violence.
The Warlords completely subverts the pattern of ancient costume films in its attitude towards war and violence, and cast a skeptical eye on war and violence from the perspective of human nature for the first time. China audiences are used to beautiful lies. It is admirable that Chen Kexin can continue his humanistic care in such a costume blockbuster and honestly face history and humanity.
Of course, the subversion of "warlords" does not stop there. It is even more courageous to challenge the "brotherhood" theme of China's martial arts films. In warlords, desire triumphs over commitment, and lofty ideals are just a dirty conspiracy. The slogan of "not seeking symbiosis, but seeking common death" is pale and ridiculous in the face of the fact that either you die or I die. In this way, the "Jianghu Utopia" created by martial arts films collapsed in the melee of warlords (comment on Du Zice).