The literal translation of the title of this movie is: Four Heavenly Kings.
This movie describing the pre-revolutionary era gangsters has more to it in that it points out the failure of Dr. Zhong-Shan Sun's revolution. The reason is that the military and political force of Dr. Sun's revolution was based on warlords and gangsters, who may have the revolutionary zeal, but once their own interest is threatened, they became just as corrupted as the previous rulers they had just overthrown. The depiction in this movie accurately illustrated such gangsters' behavior. It is rather difficult to make the connection when you watch this film if you are not familiarize with the Chinese history.
This movie describing the pre-revolutionary era gangsters has more to it in that it points out the failure of Dr. Zhong-Shan Sun's revolution. The reason is that the military and political force of Dr. Sun's revolution was based on warlords and gangsters, who may have the revolutionary zeal, but once their own interest is threatened, they became just as corrupted as the previous rulers they had just overthrown. The depiction in this movie accurately illustrated such gangsters' behavior. It is rather difficult to make the connection when you watch this film if you are not familiarize with the Chinese history.