A Imperatriz e os Guerreiros

WELL WORTH THE WATCH!

Some may point out its flaws with reality, but that is not what the movie is about. It is an intense, well choreographed fantasy about feuding nations, betrayal, and the love story caught in the middle that almost all war movies have. The action scenes along with the amazing design details in the armor and weapons are what really makes the film. You will definitely not go wrong in watching this movie.

The major critique that I have is that the love story seemed a bit weak and disconnected from the rest of the plot. They did attempt to incorporate it within the background of the characters, but it just moved too quick to really convince me.

Costume design is top-notch, but that is also it!!! Even thought they used great casts in it; like Donnie Yen, Leon Lai and Kelly Chen.

The feeling of awfulness came when I watched this movie right from the start.

The pace of the movie is really really annoying to watch, surely in the first 10 minutes of the movie I felt it. This movie is SO B GRADE.

Yep, u can feel that this movie was made with a high intensive schedule and again with a Hong Kong movie feeling. Due to the fact the movie is putted together like it is crammed into a microwave. Fast and sleazy in 99 minutes!!! I hate the director or editor really now after I watched this movie. There is nothing that captures my interest , fight scenes nor even got the attitude to be memorable in my head. I don't even think I would watch this one ever again.

The story: itself, oh man, very unappealing to watch it without thinking "BOOOoring!!!" Even thou the movie has got some "magic" or romantic time, but that is quickly wasted by the fight scenes and lousy text lines with no-nonsense-combating-filling-up-the-movie-fight-sequences. (yep ,feels like chewing gum after a long time in your mouth, u want to spit it out because it starts to nerving u)

The music: no memorable lines or even attractive interesting soundtracks, very fast to forget about. The editing and also some non-aunthentic computer made scenes makes this movie stinks so hard so that the music would not live up the whole picture anymore. I think that the music is only there because it has to fill up some gap.

The characters: OK, I would watch how the cast did in this movie, but that would be also it! There is very little to satisfy when u watched it...

The dialogs's: Truly hilarious, some not-logical sentences that comes with emotions are really put in a wrong way, even the timing for some sentences is not used correctly to get an emphasized feeling!!! Not even good to watch this movie I must say, only disappointed, annoyed and sleepy...

Only one nomination is granted and that's for the costume design, but they over do it in the film like its kind of 'Lord of The Rings'and '300' which they almost hard copy it with no originality. So don't bother, go watch another director and/or movie!

This is one of those movies that you can tell is trying to be good but ends up being mediocre. There is a love story that is way out of place during a war between the Yan and the Zhao, a love triangle between Donnie Yen, and an ambitious Nephew who will seem to do anything to take over the throne. All of these stories could be well off on their own, but the director doesn't explore either to a satisfaction. Martial arts fans will see a duel between Leon Lai and Donnie Yen, but it feels like it was just placed there just for the sake of having them fight each other.

There is good stuff here, but it is rushed and clichéd to the point where it feels like you are buying one of those TV drama DVD sets.

An Empress And The Warriors was one-in-a-thousand offerings of historical films that focused on the Warring States, much like The Myth, Red Cliff, Three Kingdoms and many more. While the film may not be as well scripted as many of its peers, it still pleases on many fronts such as the costume design, cinematography, performances, and of course, the action!

Under the watchful eye of the fantastic Tony Ching Siu Tung, and obviously having Donnie Yen in a lead role, you can be sure that any martial arts action on-screen is going to be worth watching. And there is definitely plenty of it going on! Ching gets straight to the action, with the more dramatic moments filtered in-between, showcasing some amazing wire-fu moments and beautifully choreographed combat. I must also note that the weapon (and set) design is amazing...

There is a real feel of a Robin Hood-esque inspired take throughout the film, and more so on the classic Kevin Costner version, Prince Of Thieves, with Leon Lai playing the Robin type character. It's not a bad thing of course, and lends itself to some of the films action sequences as well as more comedy based elements. Leon is also the last surviving member of the New Moon Warriors clan - ironically, looking extremely like Andy Lau's character from the amazing Moon Warriors film (as well as living in a build much like the latter's beach village), of which Ching Siu Tung was also an action director on.

I like An Empress And The Warriors. Although it has its flaws, the film has some beautiful scenes and some great action which is well worth watching for, although probably nothing you haven't seen before in the grand scheme of things given the amount of war-and-wire-fu films available. The love triangle between Kelly Chen, Yen and Lai passes and allows for some breathing moments between the war and action scenes!

The hot air balloon was something different though (and so is the Irish-inspired music over it), but I can't say I wasn't impressed. Ching Siu Tung has a habit of adding these bizarre moments to his self-directed films, so I wasn't that surprised to be honest...

At the end of the day, An Empress And The Warriors is a martial arts action film, and for that reason alone, it certainly does not disappoint. From the one-on-one fights to the epic finale (perhaps inspired by The Myth), Ching and Yen deliver and make this underrated wu xia war flick, worth the watch.

Overall: Think Jingle Ma's 'Mulan' meets Sammo Hung's 'Moon Warriors' and you'll enjoy what's on offer here!

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.