Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fresh and Exciting

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

**NO SPOILERS** In all aspects of film making, and by any standard, this is an epic production that works at transporting us back to 4th Century feudal China. I'm a late comer to Asian films having seen few more than the Bruce Lee, Sonny Chiba films of the seventies, and the few odd Jet Li and Jackie Chan movies of the eighties and nineties. That is until picking up on Quentin Tarantino's passion around twenty years ago. The more I explore the more I find to my liking. I now own a fair number of Asian DVD's ranging from some Bollywood Classics, Shaw Brothers standards and a variety of Japanese movies, new and old, including every Kurosawa film. Lately, I find myself looking at the Asian market films before Hollywood's latest comic book hero offerings. And, if you have read this far you are probably saying, who cares, and I have to admit you would be justified in thinking that way. But give an old movie lover a break because at my age it takes a minute to get the brain to focus- speaking wishfully, of course. "Battle of the Warriors" has already been expertly described by a few of the other critics here so I'll just tell you what I liked, or didn't like about it. What I didn't like first. One glaring goof-up is all I can come up with- they put a terrible wig on one of the minor/co-stars- that's it! Everything else falls on the positive side. Story, script, plot, pacing, acting, casting, directing, cinematography, production design, costumes, music/soundtrack, action, special effects are all two thumbs up and quite exceptional. Andy Lau plays the philosophical voice of reason quite well. All supporting actors are equally believable in their parts. The fighting and battle scenes are impressive, intriguing and innervating. I can't wait to watch it again with the commentary track provided by Bey Logan, HK film expert/critic. I rated the movie an 8, but if fractions or tenths were available a rating of 8.5 would be more accurate. I enjoyed this movie so much, I personally guarantee you will find watching it an enjoyable experience, or your money back...

BATTLE OF WITS is a film in which Andy Lau attempts to defend a city under siege from a huge army camped outside the walls. Yes, it's a typical Chinese big budget historical epic, in which all the money's up on screen and the cinematography is sweeping and epic-feeling. The story engages you from the outset, the twists and turns occur at speed and there are a series of inventive battle sequences that don't disappoint.In the end, though, I'd say that the film is good, but not great. It's never as suspenseful or exciting as it might be, and doesn't emphasis the siege warfare in a way that a shorter, simpler film like Ironclad does. Instead, much of the conflict comes from inside the city rather than outside, building up to an unpredictable chain of events that you'll never quite see coming. While this makes for interesting viewing, it's not quite the spectacular war epic I was hoping for.The director is far more interested in exploring some of the political themes (such as the concept of non-violence) by showing the opinions of different characters rather than making a straightforward war film. Thus the battle takes almost a second place to the philosophy behind the characters. This isn't a bad thing per se, but it makes for a totally different film than the one marketed.Andy Lau is as stern and stoic as ever and the supporting cast are efficient in their parts, while the action that does occur is well handled and inventive. All in all, this is a decent film – just not one I'm in a rush to re-watch.

"A Battle of Wits" is a historical spectacle that Hollywood used to turn out with what now seems to be amazing frequency during the Big Studio era. The scene when the Andy Lau character Ge Li approaches the Liang city gate on foot in a hooded robe reminds me of another movie scene, Robert Taylor as Ivanhoe approaching on horseback the keep where his father is held prisoner, with Ivanhoe wearing a hooded monk's robe. One movie review described Lau as being the first metrosexual, based on his appearance, but Taylor's Ivanhoe character also sports a stylish goatee. Ivanhoe also has scenes of siege warfare, but is nowhere near as grim as "A Battle of Wits."--SPOILER ALERT-- The only character who seems remotely normal in this Asian co-production is the Zhao slave whom Ge Li rescues. At one point, this slave tells Ge Li that the only way to end the fighting and bloodshed is if China is unified, instead of having seven feuding kingdoms. That statement is meant to appease the Beijing political censors. The Mozi Ge Li is a comic book figure like Superman, totally unreal. The drunken, vicious King, told that his son and only heir died after a bungled attempt to kill Ge Li, lets the General responsible live temporarily. The Commander of the Zhao forces lets himself be burned alive after ordering his troops to leave Liang. After the battles, the city itself is a wreck, parts burned down, others demolished, many of its citizens dead, some executed on orders of the paranoid King. Liang's army leadership ends up wiped out.The production values, especially the art direction, are world class in this movie. From the carved designs on the pillars in front of the city entrance to the costumes (including even classy looking rectangular shields) to the cinematography, the crafts people who worked on this picture did a great job. Whatever the cost of the movie, whether the $16 million quoted on a website or more, all the money spent shows up on the screen.

The first thing to be gotten "out-of-the-way" when watching "Battle of Wits" is the somewhat dubious production values (camera-work, lighting, editing,etc.), resembling more of a TV-movie than a "Hollywood epic"-- but its story/ material is EXCELLENT! It is essentially an "idea/ issue" movie-- the characterization is one-dimensional and the events just serve as "platforms" for ideas/ issues of Mozi philosophy. And it is this very approach which will annoy some viewers and delight others.Like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-- whose success give investors the confidence to finance "Battle of Wits"-- people are going to have problems the "genre-bending" nature of this movie.... Historical "fantasy" film? Philosophical "war" movie? It attempts various "movie" moments-- e.g. the rather obvious CGI sequence of the first full-on assault which, unlike the beautiful but stupid sequence in Hero, shows a "full" army and what each section of the army is doing. Yet it refuses to dwell on gratuitous or "entertaining" imagery.But thanks to the director, the realistic "mood" set in the movie is enough to make the audience winced even when the gory scenes are NOT shown-- you are taken "into" the warfare where there is a rather disturbingly level of groaning. And the bodies and burials, the defenders are always taking people out of the city for burial.While some may complain about its "flow" or "completeness" because it is based on a 11-volume Japanese manga (which in turn is based on a Japanese novel), all the events in the movie are "explicable" (even historically "inspired")-- although they are not that well "depicted/ edited"... if only they had better special effects directors and action choreographers (& lots more $).True to the sign of the times, "Battle of Wits" is:1) a SNAFU (anti-)war movie. That is "Situation Normal- All F**ked Up"-- or everything which can go wrong will go wrong. The tagline of the movie is "100,000 vs 5,000" I think, so it's not too much of a spoiler to point out that the morale or "spirit" of the defenders is so low that it is always "cracking up". OTOH, the morale or "spirit" of the invaders is so high that they treat it as a game and "crack up" whenever something unexpected happens.2) a "Casualties of War" movie. Those being the times of "maiming" arrows & fire, rather than "instant-kill" bullets and bombs, everyone who is shot, hurt or dying screams in pain and cries out for help (enslaving rather than killing POW was the rule in those times-- which First Emperor Qin happily ignored). So unlike Hero or even Lord of the The Rings where the arrow volleys are just beautiful to look at, the "realistic" mood set by "Battle of Wits" makes the crossfire "ugly".3) a "Psych-war" movie.Throughout the movie, people are always messing around with other people's heads-- even when they are not sure what he is doing (yes, Psych-war involves "lying", err, I mean "propaganda"). So there's a lot of talking (& action) which seems to goes "nowhere" if you don't see psychological significance.ADVICE: don't be late and don't watch it when you're tired (2 hours 15 mins) because:i) the narrative pace is almost relentless (it slows down only towards the end), and many things are "explained" with just one line or one shot-- here's hoping someone will invest and make a detailed and better paced TV series out of the source material, or even a sequelii) it is definitely NOT made for "international audiences"-- the director does NOT bother to explain the historical, cultural or philosophical background and the minimal budget means that many sequences are very "tightly" edited. But that also explains why the Chinese (Mainland, HK & Taiwan) are loving it (more so than Zhang Yimou's *cough* "epics").iii) Mozi philosophy is full of controversies (which are not "resolved" in the movie)-- many characters in the movie get struggle with the Mozi philosophy and suffer for it, because practising the Mozi philosophy would require forsaking almost everything else (affection, glory and riches).