In a recent interview with bc, Daniel Lee, the director and scriptwriter of Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon stated that, “What I like most about the stories of [Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the] Three Kingdoms is that they are about individuals with abilities who were born in the time of chaos and also the golden epoch of Chinese chivalry, in which they made their way by nothing but individual might and achievements, breaking through the barriers of class and clan.” In light of this, it isn’t all that surprising to find just such a capable character, the Shu Kingdom’s Zhao Zilong (Andy Lau), at the heart of the filmmaker’s adaptation of one of ‘The Four Great Classical Novels’ of Chinese literature.

But although the Three Kingdoms’ narrator, Luo Ping’an (a character invented by Daniel Lee and portrayed by the film’s action director, Sammo Hung), initially looks like he could be another heroic persona, it’s not long before he is shown to be not even half the man Zilong is. Nevertheless, it’s not like the fellow who Zilong respectfully calls ‘Elder Brother’ doesn’t have an impact on proceedings. One of the lessons viewers of this movie that’s replete with serious messages and weighty pronouncements will come away with is that heroes can be undone by the actions of lesser men, especially those with more ruthless and selfish streaks running through them.

Three Kingdoms begins in the year 228. On a desolate location suffused with the stench of death, the audience is introduced to a grey-haired General Zhao Zilong and Luo Ping’an who looks to be well past his prime. In contrast, commanding the rival Wei Kingdom’s large army is a young female warrior named Cao Ying (Maggie Q playing another character invented by Daniel Lee) bent on destroying both the spirit and bodies of Zilong and his men, and avenging her grandfather, Cao Cao (Damian Lau), the ruler of Wei up until his death in 220.

While Cao Ying (and her inexplicable proclivity for making music while on a battlefield) figures prominently in the last third or so of the film, the bulk of the movie takes place when her character is but a young child. Also, after Zilong saves the lives of both a future king and Ping’an, he is elevated to a higher rank than – and consequently effectively parts ways for the most part with – Ping’an who, ironically, had initially taken the younger Zilong under his wing and advised him, “A man must dream big.”

Boasting a star-studded cast (that includes a couple of Shaw Brothers’ movie icons in Ti Lung and Yueh Hua) as well as a US$25 million budget, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon provides proof positive that director Lee and co indeed had big dreams. With a running time of less than two hours, it is only to be expected that portions of the epic feel rushed and the story truncated and selectively told. Nonetheless, thanks in no small part to composer Henry Lai’s emotive music, there is a genuinely epic and affecting feel to much of a film that ultimately may not have reached great heights, but still is pretty respectable and watchable.

Yvonne Teh