The film is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty in China. The story, based on an unresolved crime, tells of three sworn brothers (played by Andy Lau, Jet Li and Takeshi Kaneshiro) who turn on one another over a beautiful woman (Xu Jinglei).

Arguably, "The Warlords" is what acclaimed director Zhang Yimou must have tried to do with his 2002 "Hero" - and failed. Director Peter Chan has apparently learnt from Zhang's mistakes and concentrated on the storyline, grounding his film on realistic warfare instead of fanciful stunts and 'wire-fu' gimmicks. "The Warlords" may not have the box-office lure for Westerners but it should give blockbusters like "300" a run for the money, especially with Asian crowds.

The movie, adapted from a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) tale about the "Assassination of Ma Xinyi", deals with three 'blood brothers' during the Taiping Rebellion of the 1860s. When the movie opens, we see General Pang (Jet Li as the legendary General Ma) emerging from a pile of corpses in the battlefield. Pang has played dead while his army is massacred after being betrayed by the Kiu forces. Pang is rescued by a runaway courtesan Lian (Wu Jing-Lei), and he joins a band of bandits led by Er Hu (Andy Lau) and Wu Yang (Takeshi Kaneshiro).

When soldiers attack the village, Pang suggests to Er Hu and Wu Yang that they join the Qing army and fight for a cause instead. The three then take an oath to become 'blood brothers', pledging loyalty to one another to the death. Inevitably, this pact is threatened when Pang gets embroiled in a web of political deceit orchestrated by the Empress' advisors. To make things worse, Pang is also involved in a love triangle with Lian who happens to be Er Hu's lover.

Director Chan colours all his shots with an earthy sepia hue, giving the movie its gritty 19th Century ambience and mood. The fighting scenes are brutally realistic, with blood and limbs flying all over the place. Like Mel Gibson's "Braveheart", the carnage and bloodlust are a sight to behold and some may even shock viewers. For example, the scene of Jet Li's struggle with a spear embedded in his shoulder will stay in our minds for a long time.

A hefty portion of the movie's US$40 million budget was reportedly paid as Jet Li's salary. Whether this is justified is open to debate but there is no doubt that he is the main attraction here, headlining the action with able co-stars Lau and Kaneshiro. Director Chan does not provide much dialogue for his cast; he just focuses the camera on their faces and their reactions. With this technique, we get to see more 'acting' from Li and Kaneshiro. Indeed, we would never see Kaneshiro shedding more tears anywhere else than in this movie. Andy Lau acquits himself well as the roguish bandit who can't see eye to eye with General Pang. However, the most touching performance comes from Wu Jing-Lei as the centre of the love triangle. Wu is no beauty but she makes us feel for her whenever she appears.

Still, "The Warlords" is not what we can call a 'well-balanced' project by Chan. He has concentrated too much on the battle scenes and left a lot of character intrigues undeveloped or underdeveloped. Pang's character remains an enigma and much of the love tangle between Er Hu and Pang is left to our imagination.

"The Warlords", however, may be considered Hong Kong's answer to "300" as it deals with how a ragtag bunch of 180 warriors go against 5,000 trained soldiers. It is as much a seat-gripper as that Spartan movie.

In a movie, the general traditionally dies in the arms of a comrade clutching on to the guy's armour. He always professes dramatically his dying wishes, regrets or love, for a length that is always humanly impossible. Furthermore, he does this with a sword through his abdomen and 15 arrows, impossibly pierced into various parts of his body. When reaching his last breath, sputtering blood is a must in Chinese movies despite the COD: cause of death. Thankfully, "Warlords" is trying to break the mould.

The film is set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty in China. The story, based on an unresolved crime that tells of three sworn brothers, Pang Ma Xinyi (Jet Li), Cao Er-Hu (Andy Lau) and Zhang Wen-Xiang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who turn on one another over a beautiful woman (Xu Jinglei) and under the pressure of the imperial of China.

This movie approaches China in time of war and a great upheaval. It discusses issues of power, dignity and corruption as it boasts the storyline of one man changing and becoming polluted by power. This eventually leads to betrayal and a considerable amount of blood. All in all, pretty much your standard Chinese war movie.

However, I must say that I revel in the lack of 'pretty boys' in this movie. As, for the most part, the movie does not bank on the good looks of the audience commanding actors. For instance at times, to this reviewer, the state of Jet-Li's hair makes him look a bit like a perempuan gila. The costumes also do not appear to be tailored to emphasise on the stars' figures in any way. In fact, they seem quite ill-fitting, but there is no doubting that the wardrobe serves its rightful purpose, that is to make the audience believe that they are in 18th century China.

The US $40 million budget for this film did go to good use. Director Peter Chan did not use it to hollowly glorify the scenes. He used the money to portray the brutal wartime in China in all its realistic grit. In this sense he should be applauded. On the other hand, he should also be chided for his inefficient use of actors. In other words, the director did not fully capitalise on Jet Li's infamous martial arts skills. He failed to provide the audience with those glorious, one-on-one fight scenes they have come to expect from this sort of movie. Is this due to Jet Li's recent toning-down? In any case, fight scenes could have been choreographed and shot more tactfully as even the battles were a bit flat.

Amongst the three brothers, I have to swallow my pride to admit that pretty boy Kaneshiro was the only one who did his character complete justice. The rest of the characters, were regrettably, half-cooked.

Although "Warlords" has more than a few things going for it, there still seems to be something missing. Perhaps it is because we are not used to the lack of theatrics that we have become so accustomed to. Hence the lack of it makes it seem that watching this movie is like drinking Coke with reduced carbonation (which is actually a good thing, only that it will take some getting used to).

An additional thing to watch out for is the scene where an injured boy screams in vain for help from his comrades who are hiding in trenches beneath him. It is frighteningly disturbing, which makes a real and moving portrayal without being overly dramatic. The most thematically amusing thing (though presumably accurate) is when you start to wonder - what on earth is Jesus doing in 18th century China?!