Battle of Kingdoms – Festung der Helden (2006)

Battle of Kingdoms – Festung der Helden: Directed by Chi Leung ‘Jacob’ Cheung. With Andy Lau, Sung-Ki Ahn, Zhiwen Wang, Bingbing Fan. Story centers on a battle during China’s Warring States Period, a series of civil wars, which spanned from the 5th to the 3rd century B.C. Based on a popular Japanese manga, which was in turn based a Japanese novel inspired by Warring States history in China.

“**NO SPOILERS** In all aspects of film making, and by any standard, this is an epic production that works at transporting us back to 4th Century feudal China. Iu0026#39;m a late comer to Asian films having seen few more than the Bruce Lee, Sonny Chiba films of the seventies, and the few odd Jet Li and Jackie Chan movies of the eighties and nineties. That is until picking up on Quentin Tarantinou0026#39;s passion around twenty years ago. The more I explore the more I find to my liking. I now own a fair number of Asian DVDu0026#39;s ranging from some Bollywood Classics, Shaw Brothers standards and a variety of Japanese movies, new and old, including every Kurosawa film. Lately, I find myself looking at the Asian market films before Hollywoodu0026#39;s latest comic book hero offerings. And, if you have read this far you are probably saying, who cares, and I have to admit you would be justified in thinking that way. But give an old movie lover a break because at my age it takes a minute to get the brain to focus- speaking wishfully, of course. u0026quot;Battle of the Warriorsu0026quot; has already been expertly described by a few of the other critics here so Iu0026#39;ll just tell you what I liked, or didnu0026#39;t like about it. What I didnu0026#39;t like first. One glaring goof-up is all I can come up with- they put a terrible wig on one of the minor/co-stars- thatu0026#39;s it! Everything else falls on the positive side. Story, script, plot, pacing, acting, casting, directing, cinematography, production design, costumes, music/soundtrack, action, special effects are all two thumbs up and quite exceptional. Andy Lau plays the philosophical voice of reason quite well. All supporting actors are equally believable in their parts. The fighting and battle scenes are impressive, intriguing and innervating. I canu0026#39;t wait to watch it again with the commentary track provided by Bey Logan, HK film expert/critic. I rated the movie an 8, but if fractions or tenths were available a rating of 8.5 would be more accurate. I enjoyed this movie so much, I personally guarantee you will find watching it an enjoyable experience, or your money back…”