Battle of Wits

Introduction

Battle of Wits begins with a narrator setting the scene:
"In 370 B.C., during the Warring States Period in China, the Zhao Nation dispatched 100,000 warriors led by Xiang Yanzhong, to attack the Yan Nation. The City of Liang stands directly in their path to Yan. It cannot resist the mighty Zhaos, it is just a buffer state. Liang's only hope is to ask for help from the Mozi Warriors, peacekeepers and experts at defence. Yet, as Liang stands on the brink of peril, the Mozi Warriors are yet to be seen."

Helpless and massively outnumbered, the drunk and cruel King of Liang dispatches riders to deliver a message of surrender to the Zhao army. Whilst away, a single Mozi, Ge Li (Andy Lau) appears and witnesses the Zhao vanguard massing outside Liang. Before the surrender can be delivered, the vanguard begins to attack and Ge Li fires a single arrow at the General, halting them in their tracks and forcing a retreat.

The King puts Ge Li in charge of the defence of Liang with control over the entire nation except the Royal Guard. Deducing that they only need to hold out for a month as Xiang Yanzhong will be keen to get to Yan, Ge Li begins organising the defence of the city and, with every success, his popularity grows much to the chagrin of the King who feels his authority is under threat.

Meanwhile Ge Li has attracted the attentions of the attractive Yi Yue (Bingbing Fan), the Cavalry Chief but her advances and offers of help are rebuffed however, this doesn't stop her trying.

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.
The picture quality is a huge step up from the DVD with great detail though there is still some noise and the low-lit scenes have disappointing black levels - this is the real low point of the picture and it's either a problem with the film stock or the transfer process as I have films that are 30 years old and look better on BD than this. There is also a terribly rendered CGI horse at one point which is distracting and is even more noticeable due to the improved picture.

The battle scenes are terrific and are up there with Kingdom of Heaven and Hero and look fantastic on BD.

The images used in this review are from the DVD and are for illustrative purposes only.

Audio

You are given a choice of DTS-HD MA 5.1 or Dolby Digital stereo and for a film like this you really need the surround option and the HD mix is better than the impressive Dolby Digital 5.1 track offered on the DVD. 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 mixed nationality cast has led to some actors, such as Andy Lau being dubbed into Mandarin with the synchronisation leaving much to be desired.

The optional English subtitles are excellent.

Extra Features

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 standard definition 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.

The jump in picture quality from DVD to BD is staggering, the poor image quality on the DVD was distracting and, whilst not perfect, BD is definitely the format on which to watch the film. The film itself is interesting and enjoyable, though slightly boggy and is at least worth a rental.