Film 

The best way to describe The Warlords would be to imagine a cross between a marital arts film and The Longest Day or the opening 18 minutes or so of Saving Private Ryan.

The film is set in China during the 1860′s and stars Jet Li as General Pang whose troops were victims of a massacre during the Taiping Rebellion. General Pang escaped death during the massacre by playing dead under the bodies of some of his less than fortunate troops. He pulls himself out from under his dead soldiers after the battle and comes upon a group of passing bandits lead by Er Hu (Andy Lau) and Wu Yang (Takeshi Kaneshiro).

After Pang helps Er Hu and Wu Yang defend a helpless village that is under attack from the forces of General Ho, the three take an oath as blood brothers, pledging loyalty to each other until the death. At Pang’s urging, Er Hu and Wu Yang as well as other members of the group join the army to lead what Pang describes as a more honorable life. The three lead an army during the rebellion that has remarkable success.

The film is filled with some rather gruesome and realistic battle sequences featuring plenty of blood, gore, decapitations and some marital arts. At the end, the three blood brothers are done in by some intrigue involving political ambitions on the part of Pang as well as Pang and Er Hu’s desires for a beautiful woman. Despite the unnecessary gore, I found The Warlords to be an interesting film, providing a glimpse into Chinese history that I knew little about.

While I enjoyed the film, I found its pacing to be a bit slower that I desired. I also can’t imagine sitting down and watching this film more than once. Accordingly, while I enjoyed the film and feel that it is definitely worth a look, I would suggest that you do so on the basis of a rental only.

Video 

After having watched a bit of this film on HD Net, I can say that the Blu-ray release offers a significant upgrade over the TV experience as the Blu-ray does not possess the MPEG-2 motion artifacts that were visible on the cable version I saw. The film is not exactly a bright and colorful film. Most of the color palette of the film consists of varying shades of brown, black and gray. The film itself is very gritty looking with occasional pops of color, especially bright red blood which is seen far too often for my tastes.

I found detail, especially facial detail and clothing textures to be quite impressive with excellent blacks. Overall clarity is very good as well as is shadow detail. I was not able to detect any evidence of the application of significant levels of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement as the film clearly retains the gritty look and feel of the film I saw originally on HD Net. All in all, the Blu-ray release of The Warlords represents a significant upgrade over the prior cable release of the film and is one that should please fans of the film.

Audio 

The release of The Warlords on Blu-ray includes two lossless tracks, Mandarin and English. While the dialogue track on the English version sounded better, I preferred watching the film in the original Mandarin with English subtitles. There is just something about dubbed films I just don’t like. Maybe its the dialogue that continues once the lips stop moving that freaks me out. It is great that this release gives you the choice of two lossless tracks so you can decide which one best appeals to you.

If there is one thing I can state without hesitation, is that this film has some of the deepest bass I have yet to experience at home. Normally I would take the position that too much bass is just about right. However, in the case of this film, I found the bass to be a tad excessive and at times, unrelenting. From thundering horses to massive cannon blasts which just about knocked pictures off the walls in my room, this film is a bass junkies’ dream. Unfortunately, all this bass comes at the cost of nearly overwhelming the rest of the sound mix and at times does.

As for the rest of the sound, I found it to be a bit on the thin side, lacking a bit too unnatural, lacking the smoothness and depth of the better sounding tracks I heard. I wouldn’t describe the sound as harsh as it isn’t. It just lacks the fullness of the better sounding tracks, especially the dialogue and musical score which I would describe as sounding a tad shallow. The dubbed English dialogue sounds much better than the original Mandarin. The surrounds, as one would expect from an action film, are quite active throughout most of the film, creating a nice immersive sound field, especially during the battle sequences. If you are fan of unrelenting bass this release may just be for you. Just make sure that you take the pictures off the wall in your room before you screen the film.

Special Features 

The Blu-ray release of The Warlords contains many extras, most of which are in Mandarin with English subtitles. As such, it can get a bit tedious going through them all, especially all the brief featurettes detailing many aspects of the making of the film.

The extras include the usual deleted scenes as well as a Making of Featurette where numerous aspects of the making of the film are detailed, from the use of horses to battle sequences. It appears that no aspect of the making of the film is too small to be included in the featurette. Also included is a the featurette “The Warlords 117 Days: A Production Journal which I found to be very tough to follow as well as a Behind the Scenes special and HDNet: A Look at The Warlords featurette. Also included is the international trailer for the film.

If I had to choose, I would suggest that you check out the Behinds the Scenes Special as well as the HDNet special if you felt compelled to delve into the extras included with this release as I found them to be the most accessible.

Final Thoughts 

The Warlords is without a doubt a gritty and at times gruesome look at the subject of war. While the premise and execution of the film is interesting, I can’t say it is the type of film that I would want to watch more than once. While it surely deserves a look, I would suggest that you check it out on the basis of a rental only.

Lately many Hollywood films have either partially or completely drawn from foreign film, and can you really blame the Hollywood execs? My experience with foreign films has been nothing but positive, from German and Spanish all the way to Japanese and Chinese, with Chungking Express falling into the ladder category (Hong Kong to be more specific). With the odd exception, I have found myself craving some originality in the films I’ve been watching, hoping for some complexity and stylistic visuals. Everything I’ve heard about Chungking Express points in the positive direction, and fourteen years after its release I will finally get the chance to make that determination for myself.

Written and Directed by the innovative Kar Wai Wong (2046, Fallen Angels) Chungking Express is a pulsating look into what it means to be love struck. The film is actually told in two distinct narratives, one after another. The two stories mesh together nicely but other than a few character reoccurrences are completely unrelated, yet the narratives are coincident and ultimately akin.

The first story pertains too He Qiwu (Takesi Kaneshiro) also known as Cop 223, a Hong Kong police officer dealing with the aftermath of a painful breakup. May (Qiwu’s girlfriend) broke up with him on the first of April, and he decides to wait until his birthday on May 1^st for her to either come back to him, or he will have lost her forever. Interestingly enough, this is represented by him buying a can of Pineapples every day with the expiration date of May 1^st. The month passes by and May hasn’t returned and desperate to fall back into love Qiwu meets a mysterious woman in a blonde wig, who we learn has deep ties to the drug underworld. As their relationship plays out the characters are met with emotions, decisions, and the inevitability of life moving forward.  The story concludes without much resolution, which is only fitting and surprisingly sits well. With the introduction of Faye, a new staff member at a convenience store, the second story begins.

The second story concerns Cop 663 (Tony Leung) who is likewise having troubles moving on after a tough breakup. He soon after meets Faye at the convenience store, who ambiguously falls for him, made clear by her breaking into his apartment and redecorating things. Over time her antics begin to cheer Cop 663 up, to the point where her intentions become clear and he sets up a date with her. From here the two have to decide what is really important for them in life, and where their relationship really stands. This story ends with slightly more closure, but only in implication.

I have to say that I was extremely impressed with this film, Wong’s visionary look into the heart, had some really intense and savoury visually experiences. The cinematography was really astonishing to me; the film is carefully distorted giving it a dizzying, almost hallucinatory effect, which is perfect for film noir.

The story has a feeling of sincerity to it, and a dose of reality; two men dealing with incomplete love and the need for closure. What really appealed to me was the sincerity and emotion; these aren’t over the top love stories, just everyday people dealing with the hardships of love or lack thereof. Adding to my likeability is that things never get too heavy; there are appropriate amounts of humour in just the right places. To compliment the deep storylines is an extremely strong soundtrack which really runs on its own, and deserves an honourable mention.

In the end I was very pleased with this film; it is very invigorating and representative of love in modern life.  The blend of humour and representation of the desire in our hearts controlling our actions is extremely compelling to viewers who can appreciate a film that actually has a story and isn’t effect or gimmick driven.  On top of it all the cast was perfectly put together and all do extremely convincing jobs in their unique roles. Easily a must see movie for fans of the genre, and those looking to branch their tastes, I don’t know why it took me over a decade to check this one out, but at least now I can fully appreciate it.

Video

Chungking Express is beautifully presented in 1080p 1.66:1 aspect ratio.  The transfer was supervised by director Wong Kar-Wai himself and he succeeds in giving the film a realistic look.  The color palette used looks very realistic while maintaining a sharp and vibrant with no visible bleeding.  Detail is surprisingly crisp and clear, with subtle detail like hair and wrinkles clearly visible; Brigitte Lin and Tony Wai both look great in HD.

I was extremely pleased to see the print free of any issues like edge enhancement or compression artifacts.  Some might knock the lack of 3D-pop, but when you have perfect looking color and detail, it is hard to complain.  Fans of the film should pick this one up for the upgrade in picture quality alone, kudos to Criterion.

Audio

Presented in 5.1 DTS-HD Cantonese Chungking Express comes to Blu-ray with some great sounding results.  The front channels release crisp and clear sound, never sounding muffled or out of balance. Rear and sub support are equally impressive, enhancing the dialogue with realistic and engaging ambient noise.

Compared to the DVD copy the Blu-ray version offers a big improvement in the sound department.

Special Features

We are given a handful of some.  The interview piece is extremely interesting; unfortunately it is presented in standard definition.

• Collectors Booklet — A 14 page essay by critic Amy Taubin which discusses the themes found throughout the movie.

• Audio Commentary – An audio commentary with Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns.

• Interviews – An interview with director Wong Kar-Wai and cinematographer Christopher Doyale.  The 12 minute interview is a must watch as it provides some insight into the films creation.

• U.S. theatrical trailer

Final Thoughts

Chungking Express is a film about the sadder side of love, and without the traditional Hollywood ending. The film is unique in all ways, shapes, and forms. The story plays out without the clichés of a Hollywood film, and ends appropriately with you wanting more, but having seen enough (if that makes sense). All elements of this film play off each other beautifully, the acting is inspiring, the direction is nonpareil, and the strong soundtrack could almost tell the stories itself. I recommend the movie itself to any fans of foreign, romance (or even romantic comedies), and dramatic films, which is sure to leave a lasting impression. The Blu ray is easily recommendable as a purchase; Criterion has truly run with this one, producing an extremely impressive picture along with superb audio and a decent batch of features. A must buy for fans of the movie, and a great overall release.