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An Empress and the Warriors

An Empress and the Warriors (2008)

February. 09,2008
|
5.8
| Adventure Action History

After the death of her father, a woman is forced to take over as empress and fight to save her kingdom.

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Matrixston
2008/02/09

Wow! Such a good movie.

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Evengyny
2008/02/10

Thanks for the memories!

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Wordiezett
2008/02/11

So much average

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Actuakers
2008/02/12

One of my all time favorites.

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Tweekums
2008/02/13

In ancient China the kingdom of Yan is at near constant war with its neighbours. In the latest battle the king is wounded and names Murong Xuehu, a man of lowly origins as his successor; the king's nephew, Wu Ba, can't take this and murders the wounded king in an attempt to usurp the throne. Things don't go as planned and the king's daughter; Yen Feier, finds herself being named Empress! Before she can be crowned she must undergo vigorous training as a warrior during which time her treacherous cousin makes another attempt on the crown; this time trying to make Feier disappear; the assassins he sends are thwarted by a hermit doctor, Duan Lanquan, who heals the injured Feier. They grow close but she returns to her country and leads them to victory over a neighbouring kingdom that was attempting to invade. She then abdicates and returns to the doctorÂ… although their peace will be sort lived as she must ultimately return and defeat her treacherous cousin to save her kingdom from constant warfare.This might not be the best Chinese action/romance but it passes ninety minutes rather nicely. As anybody who has seen a few films of this type will expect everything looks great; be it the impressively choreographed fight scenes, the lush landscapes or the impressive woodland home of Duan Lanquan. Kelly Chen makes a fine female lead in the role of Yen Feier in both the action and the more comic and romantic scenes between her and Duan Lanquan. The other leads are fine too. The story is fairly simple; the good characters are unambiguously good and the 'bad guy', Wu Ba, is treacherous from start to his inevitable demise; this isn't a problem though; not every film requires twists and shocking reveals! Overall an enjoyably way to pass an hour and a half.

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les6969
2008/02/14

This is not a great martial arts movie, it is a good story, well acted and directed with something for everyone. It is like a cross between 'House of Flying Daggers' and the Chinese warrior epics you may have seen. All the lead characters are believable, there is a good and evil story, a love story, a friendship story and an unrequited love story, oh and plenty of action. The fights are well choreographed, especially the larger battles with some scenes that look truly realistic, I don't know how they did some of them with no deaths ( makes the chariot scenes in Ben Hur look like Childs play ) I did get a bit bored with some of the lovely dovey stuff, but by the end of the film I knew I would watch this again. The end fight is worth waiting for, not just for the action but for the emotion shown by the actors.

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kosmasp
2008/02/15

Or in other words, neither action movie, nor romantic comedy/drama! And don't get fooled by Donnie Yens name in the cast list. Yes he has his action scenes, but don't watch this movie, expecting him to be the lead role. He shares that with another actor. Of course the main spot/role is reserved for a woman.Everything revolves around her (the Empress) and the movie starts off pretty good ... until it breaks up after the first act of the movie. The nice pace from the beginning is gone and we are treated to a sort of short-movie-in-the-movie. The sudden change doesn't feel right and it doesn't fit into the rest of the movie too. It's indecisiveness which genre it belongs to and a few other flaws really brings the movie down.

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hubertng
2008/02/16

There are so many bad things to talk about this show i don't even know where to start.The script is just so bad and there are so many western movie rip off. Come on, jousting in china?? War chariots with blades?I count - Gladiator, A knight's tale ( the training on the river + jousting), Predator ( They must have borrowed the same traps from Arnold).1. Gladiator rip off. - Snuffing of the emperor (when I saw this, I thought it was a coincidence) and the reasons.. ambitious, no talent, good for nothing .. Joaquin Phoenix, anyone? - war chariots with cutting blades on the wheels.. did Egypt share this technology with china? I never knew that exist in Chinese history. - use of shield to cause chariots to overturn the chariots - when did Chinese soldiers start to fight like Legions?? - The most annoying part - Russell Crowe used a sword to direct his gladiators to "single column" to one side and point his sword to another side commanding "single column" in the Colosseum - Donnie Yen did exactly the same thing except in some commands in Chinese I didn't catch because I was cringing with all my senses shut.2. The Characters are bad - Princess - Poor country loyalty vs Love. It seems she just want to ditch her country as soon as she has the chanceNo sense of duty. She could shut her love (scene where she feed the horse and telling Donnie she knew he was helping her) to flirting with Leon lai without care in the jungle. Its like watching 2 characters in play.. no duty vs love emotion conflict at all. She just switch it on and off. Leon Lai character - MacGyver in China? Hot air balloon? Not to mention another western movie rip off of Predator. Its so laughable about the traps and how the hooded men just walk into his traps when the jungle are so huge. They can jump straight into his log at just the right angle to be taken out...ALSO LEON LAI never even don that Armour in the show so why did the studio promote him wearing beside Donnie and Kelly in all the posters?3. The chasing scene - this is probably the most laughable part - The assassin could have blow the dart easily at the princess from the cliff judging from the way the blow the dart when chasing the princess on the horse - but they must execute a difficulty level of 10 dive to forewarn her and do a synchronize swim performance before chasing. They must be inspired by the fact that Olympics is coming to China. - OK, the princess managed to jump on the horse and ran from the bunch of assassins who bounce up and down without gravity (unlike the smooth wire lightness floating you see in crouching tiger). They stop to blow the dart.. while Kelly continues to ride.. They miss and continue the chase but hold on.. While they stop and Kelly ride, the didn't lose an inch, they are still on her tail seemingly.. You need a lot of suspending your disbelief to finish the show. If Yen kingdom had such magical and great assassins/warriors why cant they just enlist their help to defeat the enemy in the first place?The war scenes are bad.. I serious thought I was watching HBO's Rome. In the last scene where Donnie Yuen was fighting the soldiers.. Why did the horsemen in with flags riding round and round the hundreds of soldiers with only Donnie Yuen in the center? Some clockwise and some counterclockwise? Just to kick up sand?The characterization of the bad guy is also wrong. He was not warmongering.. he was just going for the throne. YOu would have thought the Princess declared peace with the enemy that you expect the bad guy to attack the enemy again just to contrast war and peace.. but all he did was to hunt the princess down. This is the second show after Speed 2 that I cannot bare myself to finish the DVD. The title is not appropriate at all. It should be a princess tale or something but not jiang shan mei ren. The princess character was not tout to be a beauty, just a princess. No mention of her beauty in the show except she is too feminine. I do not recommend this to anyone at all. Please save your money for Red Cliff later this year.Jiang Shan Mei Ren is a folkore about a pretty girl that a Ming emperor fell in love. Not about a princess.

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