The Warlords
| The Warlords | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Traditional | 投名狀 |
| Simplified | 投名状 |
| Mandarin | Tóu Míng Zhuàng |
| Cantonese | Tau4 Ming4 Zong6 |
| Directed by | Peter Chan |
| Produced by | Peter Chan Andre Morgan |
| Written by | Xu Lan Chun Tin-nam Aubery Lam Huang Jianxin Jojo Hui He Jiping Guo Junli James Yuen |
| Starring |
Jet Li Andy Lau Takeshi Kaneshiro Xu Jinglei |
| Music by |
Chan Kwong-wing Peter Kam Chatchai Pongprapaphan Leon Ko |
| Cinematography | Arthur Wong |
| Edited by | Wenders Li |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Media Asia Distribution |
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Release date
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Running time
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127 minutes |
| Country | Hong Kong China |
| Language | Mandarin |
| Budget | US$40,000,000 |
| Box office | HK$27,495,779 (Hong Kong) |
The Warlords (Chinese: 投名狀), previously known as The Blood Brothers, is a 2007 epic action war drama film directed by Peter Chan and starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Xu Jinglei. The film was released on 13 December 2007 simultaneously in most of Asia, except Japan. The film is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty in China and centers on the sworn brotherhood of three men.
The film is set in China in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion. It is based on the assassination of Ma Xinyi in 1870. In the beginning, there is a battle between loyalists and rebels, during which all of the loyalists are killed except Qingyun, the general. Qingyun goes to a village nearby where the inhabitants engage in banditry, being led by two men, Erhu and Wuyang. He offers his assistance in executing a raid against a rebel convoy. However, a loyalist army assaults the village shortly afterward and seizes the spoils for themselves. Around this time, Qingyun begins an affair with Erhu's wife.
Since the villagers are poor and starving, Qingyun convinces them to fight the rebels as an independent loyalist war-band. Erhu and Wuyang are distrustful of Qingyun, so the three of them perform a blood ceremony where, under the pain of death, they promise to care for each other like brothers. The war-band wins a series of victories. Qingyun becomes ambitious and prepares to attack Suzhou and Nanjing. However, the government becomes fearful of Qingyun's growing influence, and decides to deny reinforcements and provisions. As a result, the attack on Suzhou becomes a year-long siege.
Erhu attempts to kill the enemy commander by sneaking into the city in disguise. He is quickly captured, but to his surprise, the enemy commander was already planning on surrendering, and allows Erhu to kill him in exchange for sparing his troops from execution. However, Qingyun refuses to honor the deal and has the prisoners massacred. Erhu considers desertion, but Qingyun convinces him that the attack on Nanjing will liberate millions of innocent lives.
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