Jetli

I was able to catch this movie at a test screening in California while i was on vacation and its not much of a film. Its the same story as the previous ones and most of the stuff in the movie were taken from them as well. I love Brendan Fraser but he didn't look happy to be there and with how the story was set up, you can't blame him for looking miserable. He has no chemistry with Maria Bello, who was just awful (She's no Rachel Weisz, that's for damn sure.) and he has even less chemistry with his own son played by Luke Ford, who has the charisma and the charm of a brick, not to mention the fact that he looks just as old as both Fraser and Bello. Fraser has more chemistry with John Hannah, who is a welcome distraction from the lousiness of the film. The movie itself is just a flat headed mess of bad visual effects with no soul. Jet Li lacks the menacing presence of Arnold Vosloo from the previous films but that problem is more than less on the shoulders of the director, who was in my opinion more concern with the style of the film than any substance it could have had and because of that, Jet Li and most of the cast got the short end of the stick and it shows.

They should have ended it with the second film but instead, we have a movie that manages to make even "The Scorpion King" look as good as Iron Man.

I read some of the comments including the one from the user named "AlecBaldwin". He left early because of graphics and too many myths. Another didn't like it because the English was hard to understand. Another said it was a kids movie and Chan/Li were out for the dollars only. I'll tell you that I went to the movie theater and sat back and let the movie go wherever it wanted. I was intending on enjoying it and I downright did. It is a great graphical movie with fantastic choreography and editing, and an acting masterpiece, as well as action packed. If you go into the movie theater and take the negative comments with you, you will not like it. You need to understand that this is a rare appearance by two masters who will probably never get together again. As for the English, don't fret on that. I have a lot of trouble with these kinds of movies. This was the ONLY one where I could understand the English. It's simple. Go to the movie with popcorn and soda in hand and an open mind. Get ready for some fast action and a good story line. And finally, ENJOY!

I read all the reviews here (there are only 21 by this time)and there were just 2 reviews that didn't come from Asia. Here is a third one. "The Warlords" is a great epic war movie based on historical events:the last decades of the Qing dynasty, in particular the years of the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) that cost the lives of 70 000 000 people (that's 10m more than World War II, but who's counting). I agree that this is the best Chinese movie 2007, though Ang Lee's "Lust.Caution" is very good too. The Warlords movie budget was $ 40 million(after seeing it you will ask yourself "How did they do that with so little money?!?")A production of the same caliber would cost in the US at least $ 100 million. But this movie is the proof that cheap stuff that comes form China isn't always bad.Same with the outstanding performance of Jet Li(out of the $40m budget he received $13m payment)who was worth the money.There is a lot of drama in the movie, but also a lot of action.If you like battle scenes like in "Braveheart" this movie will deliver.If you liked "Crouching Tiger, hidden dragon" and "Hero" you will like this one."The Warlords" though is not a fairytale like those two, it is very realistic and if you are expecting to see people flying around,kung fu fighting or something like that, you will be disappointed.There is none of this here.But the movie is good. ten stars.