Talk about false advertising: this Mandarin language film’s English title is An Empress and the Warriors. Also, as I write this review, posters abound in MTR stations and elsewhere of its three main stars standing tall clad in elaborately decorated protective armour. But the truth of the matter is that the one female character in this entire costume piece, Feier (Kelly Chen), is just a princess rather than a crowned queen, never mind empress, while Leon Lai’s character, Duan Lan-Quan, actually spends the bulk of the movie in nondescript civilian garb rather than grand battledress.

Only Muyong Xuehu, the warrior general played by first-billed Donnie Yen, bears any real resemblance to what anyone who buys into the pre-release hype would expect in this big budget (by Chinese standards) production. Early on in the story, Xuehu leads the kingdom of Yan’s army to an against-the-odds victory over the army of rival kingdom Zhao. Then, after his “bastard orphan” status precludes him from any legitimate claim to the Yan throne upon the death of its king, he provides the necessary military training to turn the late king’s daughter, Feier, into a warrior princess worthy of leading the Yan army and ruling the kingdom.

As the single genuine action star in this movie’s cast, it is to be expected that Donnie Yen would outshine everybody else in the film’s action scenes. (And it truly looks like a joke to see Kelly Chen – and all her doubles – going up against Yen in the fight practice scenes.) However, he also acquits himself well enough in the quieter sections of the work in which Xuehu reveals his romantic feelings for Feier, as well as those moments in the midst of battle when a warrior cannot help revealing emotions like anguish and rage but also pride, courage and the selflessness that comes with a willingness to sacrifice oneself for others.

If only Kelly Chen could have been even half as effective or convincing in her role. In fairness to the singer-actress though, it is not just a case of bad acting, as the part of Feier looks to have been written with a younger and more convincingly martial actress in mind. It also doesn’t help that this movie has the type of abrupt tonal changes and setting shifts that require truly talented and versatile actors to make it all work.

One of these sudden mood swings occurs with the entrance of Duan Lan-Quan, or, more accurately, after Lan-Quan helps Feier fend off an ambush by a team of assassins. (More than incidentally, this is a most aesthetically impressive action sequence and among the far too few in the movie that serve to remind us that Tony Ching Siu Tung’s substantial filmography includes the A Chinese Ghost Story and Swordsman trilogies.)

A former warrior turned forest hermit, Lan-Quan nurses Feier back to health and introduces her to a way of looking at life that impels her to fall head over heels in love with him and behave, not as if she is the ruler of Yan, but in an entirely different movie. In so doing, the film shows itself up for the strange collaboration it is: that is, the first United Filmmakers Organisation (UFO) production with Ching Siu Tung at the helm.

For those unsure what I’m referring to here: in its heyday, UFO was known for romantic comedies and dramas like the Peter Chan Ho-Sun-directed He’s a Woman, She’s a Man (1994) and Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1996), and Jacob Cheung-directed Intimates (1997). But perhaps after the latter came up with A Battle of Wits (2006) and the former followed with The Warlords (2007), the remaining folks behind UFO thought they could trump them in the historical drama-action game with a work helmed by an action specialist. Alas, An Empress and the Warriors is less of a winning hand than a muddled miss that looked good on paper but doesn’t in its finished celluloid form.

Yvonne Teh