Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Warlords Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 27, 2009

Top martial-arts star Jet Li teams up with Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro in Peter Chan’s epic extravaganza “Tau ming chong" a.k.a “The Warlords” (2007). Winner of four Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Peter Chan), Best Actor (Jet Li) and Best Cinematography (Arthur Wong), the film delivers on promises of spectacular battle scenes and impressive period decors. Courtesy of UK-based distributors Metrodome Video. Region-Free.

Jet Li as Pang Qingyun

The Taiping Rebellion. A gruesome 14-year old civil war has claimed the lives of over 70 million people. Army general Pang Qingyun (Jet Li, Once Upon a Time in China) has miraculously survived the extermination of his men - the Qui army, once a powerful and trustworthy ally, has betrayed him. Barely able to walk, Pang Qingyun collapses a nearby village where a peasant (Xu Jinglei, A Letter from an Unknown Woman) helps him recover. Soon after, he encounters the leaders of a local gang of warriors - Zhao Erhu (Andy Lau, A Battle of Wits) and his protégé Jiang Wuyang (Takeshi Kaneshiro, House of Flying Daggers) - who are forced to steal and rob in order to feed their clan, and joins them. During a deadly raid, Pang Qingyun saves Zhao Erhu’s live and the three men pledge to always look after each other. They become blood brothers.

Servants of the Qui army reappear and confiscate the loot the blood brothers have brought to their village. Pang Qingyun tells Zhao Erhu and Jiang Wuyang that the only way to stop the harassment of their oppressors is to join the government forces; they do, and immediately after that attack the lucrative Shi City. The news of their success reaches the rulers of the local kingdom, and Pang Qingyun and his men are redirected towards the much more affluent and formidable Suzhou City. After a long and deadly blockade, Suzhou City falls, but not before general Pang is confronted by Zhao Erhu. The blood brotherhood is challenged.

Granting the three main characters in The Warlords a sufficient amount of time to define their strengths and weaknesses, director Peter Chan succeeds in presenting a realistic story where even the heroes appear surprisingly vulnerable. For example, a controversial mass killing of captured soldiers during the first half of The Warlords introduces a different side of Jet Li’s character where we see him torn between following the rules of war and succumbing to his desire to be forgiving. Later on, the enormous transformation he undergoes is so powerful that it single-handedly elevates The Warlords above practically every other recent, similarly-themed, period production where warfare is used to send a universal message.

Best known in America for his highly-decorated sensual love story Perhaps Love (2005), Peter Chan maintains a steady tempo for The Warlords. Even the slightly awkward rendezvous between Pang Qingyun and Zhao Erhu’s wife does not detract much from the overall tight execution of the script. As a result, The Warlords gradually builds up until the final, fittingly dramatic scene where resolution is achieved.

Finally, Anthony Wong’s (2000 AD) preferred color scheme - a period mix of gray, yellow and black - enhances the film's dramatic overtones exceptionally well. Also, the impressively choreographed fights are neither excessive nor tedious; they simply serve the story without degrading the grandiose and genuinely epic visuals.

The Warlords Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Peter Chan's The Warlords arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of UK-based distributors Metrodome Video.

There are quite a few differences between the UK and HK releases of The Warlords. First, the color-scheme on the UK disc looks a bit more natural (take a look at capture #12 and then compare it with capture #4 from the HK review). The grays, greens and yellows are also notably richer, while the blacks are better saturated. However, there seems to be some mild contrast boosting on the UK release that isn't plaguing the HK disc. Second, a lot of the panoramic vistas from the first half of the film are also far more detailed on the UK disc. When I first viewed the HK disc, I assumed that some of the haziness its transfer revealed was intentional, but now, having tested the UK disc, I am unsure what to make of it. Finally, the two releases look equally healthy – there are no scratches, debris, or specks to report. (Note: Even though the UK disc is marketed as Region-B "locked", it is in fact Region-Free. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

The Warlords Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The HK release of The Warlords contains the following audio tracks: Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Mandarin Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 EX. The UK release contains only a Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Mandarin PCM 2.0 tracks. As you could see, the UK disc lacks the Mandarin Dolby True HD 7.1 track, the Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 EX track and the Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 EX dub. The original Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track has been downgraded slightly to a Mandarin Dolby Digital Master Audio 5.1 track (the UK disc also get s a basic Mandarin PCM 2.0 track).

To make a long story short, I am perfectly content with the Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track as I could hardly notice a difference between the Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 and Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks -- the bass on the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is equally potent, the rear channels very active and the high-frequencies not unnecessarily sharpened. Also, balance has been handled quite well, and you certainly won't have to reach for your remote control every fifteen or so minutes in order to adjust the volume. This being said, the dialog is crystal clear and very easy to follow. For the record, while the HK disc contains optional English, Chinese Traditional and Chinese Simplified subtitles, the UK disc has only optional English subtitles. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The Warlords Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The UK release of the The Warlords contains the following supplemental features (please note that all of them are in standard-def PAL. Therefore, unless your TV sets can support native PAL, or you have a player that automatically converts PAL to NTSC, you won't be able to view them on your US TV set):

117 Days: A Production Journal - an informative featurette following the production history of the film, from the moment it is announced (there's a bit of raw footage here from the initial press-conference where Peter Chan and his cast answer questions for the Chinese press) to its premiere. Also, there are a number of comments that address the technical difficulties the crew had to overcome.

Reflections on The Warlords - a second featurette where cast and crew members talk about the film's message, their commitment to the project as well as the terrible weather conditions they were forced to endure.

Deleted Scenes – as far as I could tell, all of the extended and deleted scenes that are available on the HK disc have been ported to the UK disc. They are presented with LPCM sound and imposed English subtitles.

The History Behind the Warlords - a text-format essay exploring the key events the film recreates.

UK theatrical trailer-

The Warlords Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you have not yet seen Peter Chan's The Warlords, you should try to do so as soon as possible. I personally liked this film a lot more than John Woo's Red Cliff. The UK disc herein reviewed, courtesy of Metrodome Video, presents a few very interesting dilemmas. I liked its color-scheme better, especially the rich blacks, but I noticed a bit of mild contrast boosting, which may or may not bother some of you. As far as the audio treatment is concerned, I really could not hear much of a difference between the two Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio tracks, but I am sure that some of you would prefer to have the HK disc precisely because of its DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track.