Directed by: Chen Jin
Starring: Sun Honglei, Jing Tian, Francis Ng, Kim Hee-sun, Kiichi Nakai, Jiang Wu
Cinematography Hyung-ku Kim
Distributed by China Lion Film Distribution
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running time: 130 minutes
Overall Score: 1.5 out of 5 stars
Usually when it comes to epic historical foreign films, I am all over it but this film simply failed to entertain me at all past the first 15 minutes. I found it to be very slow moving and the story jumped all over the place. When there was action scenes, they were decent but there were no where enough of them. The locations where the films were shot were definitely beautiful. Overall I would not recommended anyone waste their time on this one. There are plenty of great period foreign films. Check out “13 Assassins” for one of the best movies of the year. Sorry a Mandarin audio track with English subtitles is not considered a bonus feature, especially when it is the only audio track.
Premise from official site (since don’t ask me to explain it): Sun Bin (Sun Hong-Lei, Mongol), purported descendant of the Art of War author Sun Tzu, is a brilliant military strategist steadily advancing in the ranks of war during China’s Warring States Period (fifth to third centuries BC). He’s believed to have the knowledge to defeat any opponent in battle. Not to be outdone, Sun’s brother, Pang Juan (Francis Ng, Exiled), secures a powerful military general position for himself and, in a jealous twist, frames Sun for treason. Sun begins a long journey to prison and back, and again up the ranks of war, finally ending as a top strategist and peer with his brother. The Warring States” follows the rivalry of these two brothers to the end, where both meet again on the battlefield, leading armies against each other in a fight to the death.
