A Good Film…
This is an epic Asian war film, not too unlike Red Cliff or The Warlords. Expect large scale battles with lots of bladed weapons, horse riding, and bow and arrow. The action is good, and both Donnie Yen’s character and that of Kelly Chen are very much involved in it. Kelly Chen’s character, Yen Feier, also plays a largely dramatic and romantic role, too.
But before I get ahead of myself, I should mention that the film centers around a continuous battle between the Yan and the Zhao. For decades, these two kingdoms have been at each other’s throats, with thousands of deaths left in their wake. The movie opens up with another such battle, and sees Feier’s father get struck with an arrow. He is mortally wounded, but brought in to safety. As he nears death, he passes the thrown on to his daughter, Yen Feier, and not his nephew, Hu Ba (played by Xiaodong Guo). His nephew is angered and quietly kills Yen’s father, without anyone knowing.
The next portion of the film has Yen training with her friend Muyong Xuehu (Donnie Yen) who is also a powerful and skilled general in the Yan army. Yen manages to get separated from her kingdom during a battle. She is injured, but found by Duan Lanquan (played by Leon Lai) in the forest. A former warrior himself, and current peace advocate (and doctor), he is able to heal Yen. The two fall in love, but, with Hu Ba meddling with the state of the Yan Kingdom, Yen must leave this life of peace and re-enter the fray.
Overall, the film is a blend of epic war action, drama, romance, and more drama. It’s not overly dramatic, but it did remind me of Curse of the Golden Flowers — powerful characters, excellent sets and costumes, great acting, some good action, and some very heavy character relationships. Additionally, it’s a tragedy — which for me, make a film harder to want to watch again because the drama is so thick.
That said, it’s well worth a view, and at only one and a half hours, it doesn’t require the ‘commitment’ of some of the ‘larger’ epic war films in the genre.
The Blu-ray
On Blu-ray, An Empress And The Warriors looks, and sounds, very good. I had some concerns when the film first started though, as there was considerable grain. That seemed to fade away within a few minutes however, and I was left with a crisp image. The gorgeous outdoor environments and finely detailed costumes made for a pleasant viewing experience. Mandarin and English 5.1 audio tracks are included along with subtitles in English. The audio experience is a good one, although the music during some of the scenes (the balloon scene) seemed a little forced.
As for extra features, there are only two:
-Audio Commentary with Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan
-Making of (24m, SD) – A straight-forward making of feature that includes a lot of cast and crew interviews and plenty of behind the scenes and production footage.
With that, let’s get to the summary…