Battle of Wits

Introduction

Before China became China it was a vast territory of seven nations and various city states, all subject to attack by other forces and tribes. Liang is one such city state with a population of 4,000 which comes under attack by the 100,000 strong army of the Zhao nation which has declared war on Yan State and needs to pass through Liang. The king sends out messengers to surrender but before the document can be delivered, they are killed. Ge Li (Andy Lau) of the Mozi tribe, which believes in universal peace through non-offensive defence, arrives just as the large Zhao vanguard begins to attack. With a single arrow he forces them to retreat and is asked to help ready the defences and is put in charge of the entire army except the royal guard.

Liang's Prince takes an instant dislike to Ge Li as his authority has been subverted and some who tried to escape the besieged city and have been imprisoned begin plotting to assassinate the Mozi visitor. Meanwhile Ge Li has attracted the attentions of the beautiful Yi Yue, the Cavalry Chief.

Battle of Wits is based on the popular Japanese manga Bokkou and has been adapted and directed by Jacob Cheung, a Chinese director with whose work I'm not familiar.

Video

This is an epic film and looks the part with hundreds of people on screen for the battle scenes - Stephen Tung Wei estimates that, at some points, he had about 1000 people, including crew, on set. Sadly the image quality lets the great direction and cinematography down, with a soft picture that makes the low-lit scenes hard to make out. There is also a terribly rendered CGI horse at one point which is distracting and slightly amusing even though it's been stabbed and is on fire!

The battle scenes are terrific and are up there with Kingdom of Heaven and Mongol though sadly the same can't be said about the transfer. Recent Chinese historical epics by the likes of Yimou Zhang look great so it's a shame that this doesn't seem to have been given the same treatment - it deserves better.

Audio

You are given a choice of Dolby Digital 5.1 or stereo and for a film like this you really need the surround option. The extra channels are used to full effect during the battle sequences, the sub gets a workout and there is also an excellent score. Unfortunately the ADR is terrible, looking more like a dub at times than simple voice re-recording and at times the voice given to Andy Lau's character sounds nothing like Andy Lau.

The optional English subtitles are excellent.

Extra Features

The main menu is preceded by skippable trailers for The Warlords, The Banquet and Assembly.

Apart from the UK and International trailers, the only extra is the 53 minute Making Of which is a comprehensive look at the origins and filming, such as stunts and dealing with the wintery weather in Inner Mongolia, comprised of b-roll footage and interviews with Andy Lau and Jacob Cheung. It is fairly revealing and worth a look though the original subtitles have been left in and appear with the English subtitles, the picture quality is variable and it is presented in 4:3.

Conclusion

The packaging boasts that this is "FROM THE ACTION DIRECTOR OF HERO" which is misleading to say the least. That statement implies that Yimou Zhang was involved whereas what it actually means is that Wei Tung, the martial arts choreographer from Hero is the stunt co-ordinator here! I don't think this quite calls for the involvement of the Advertising Standards Authority but Metrodome are playing fast and loose with the truth.

Watching this I realised how much it has in common with Seven Samurai - Ge Li is practically the same character as Kambei in Kurosawa's masterpiece. The setup is virtually the same: a small city is besieged by a much larger foe and a stranger volunteers to help. The place has two strong sides, a third is flooded to expose the weak side in order to funnel the attacks to one place where they can be repelled. I don't know if Ken'ichi Sakemi openly referenced Seven Samurai in his comic/novel, but the similarities are unmissable.

Battle of Wits is an adventurous historical epic with tremendous production values and stunt work. The film has a couple of faults, primarily the romantic sub-plot between Ge Li and Yi Yue which only serves to make the pace sag and prolong the ending and Ge Li's philosophical posturing about pacifism whilst fighting a war gets a little tiresome. However, it is well worth watching and fans of such films as Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Seven Swords will find much to like. This is also released on Blu-ray Disc at the same time, though I can't comment on whether the image quality is as good as it should be.