On Saturday night, I went out to see Warlords with Kath Dob, the latest Jet Li film showing at the cinemas. Here I was, thinking it would be another action packed kung fu extravaganza. Instead it told the sad and tragic tale of the end of a blood oath between a set of bandits and a madly driven general of the Ching army.

We saw it at the Covent Garden Odean theatre and although I can’t remember the last time I’ve been the cinemas, it really struck me how many console game advertisements they played as it seemed like they had more game advertisements than they had trailers for other films.

Before seeing this movie, I’d read about people comparing it to other well known films like Hero and the House of Flying Daggers. Don’t expect the same richness in colour, the same vibrancy, and the same emphasis on close up hand to hand combat. In fact, this movie really doesn’t deserved to be compared to all of them because I found it so different. Most of the movie seemed to focus on the estranged relationships between the main characters, and the struggle between the bandits needs to feed their families and the need to please their new general.

I’m not sure if I would recommend this movie for other people, though I’d suggest watching it at home. Sure there are some magnificent battle scenes and a complex, constantly interweaving storyline even including some elements of Romeo and Juliet.

TheKua.com Rating: 5 out of 10