Jeffrey Young "Saving General Yang" turns out to be a very watchable, very good historical drama based on the historical Song general, Yang Ye, of the Northern Song dynasty. This is refreshing from the earlier historical Chinese dramas that distracted with incredulous kung fu flying stunts and such. Here the warriors, good guys and bad guys, are ordinary mortal men. Think of, "Saving General Yang" as a East Asian version of, "Vikings" from the History Channel. Yes, it's that violent but at least much more realistic. The movie is based only but one historical interpretation. The storyline blames colleague Song general, Pan Li, for treachery and cowardice by refusing to come to the aid of the ambushed and outnumbered general Yang Ye. But another history account tells it differently. The first Song dynasty emperor relied on three, experienced and highly competent generals to conquer the remaining, independent Han Chinese states, thus reuniting all of China since the time of the T'ang Dynasty. These men were, Cao Bi, Pan Li, and Yang Ye. All three proved highly effective senior generals, each man commanding subordinate junior generals. Cao Bi was a righteous, modest man who eschewed riches, wealth, rejected bribes and prevented his soldiers from plundering. Pan Li was an experienced battlefield tactician who knew how to attack Song enemies at their weak spots and weak moments and proved good at motivating subordinates. Yang Ye was from a more refined social class and upbringing and was also an astute battlefield tactician. Operating separately, the rest of China succumbed and Song China reunited the entire country, except for the far northeastern 16 prefectures which were lost in 950 A.D. by a previous, short-lived, rump Chinese dynasty, to the foreign Liao Dynasty, known as the Khitans. The second Song emperor dispatched Cao Bi, Pan Li, and Yang Ye north to reclaim the 16 prefectures from the Khitan. The three invading columns moved independently and were not coordinated with each other. The Liao armies attacked and defeated each Song Chinese army, starting with Cao Bi, then Pan Li, finally Yang Ye. Pan Li had been attacked and was unable to support Yang Ye. The failure of the Northern Expedition infuriated the second Song emperor. He demoted Pan Li three ranks. Cao and Yang were dead. The Chinese have become rediscovering and reassessing the heretofore ignored Song Dynasty because militarily and diplomatically it was the weakest of all the major Han Chinese dynasties. But a historical reassessment reveals China underwent a technological, scientific, agricultural, cultural, economic, and social 'golden age' under the Song, especially during the Northern Song era. Even when the foreign Jin Dynasty (Jurchens) conquered the northern 1/3rd of China, the remaining 2/3rds under the Southern Song remained prosperous for another 150 years until the Mongols finally violently liquidated the Song. The Song dynasty proved wealthier and more advanced than its glorious T'ang predecessor. Song China is considered a time of scientific and technological invention, many of which still exist today, such as the compass and paper money.

kawaii marie It's a shame this movie was rated so lowly, because I think it was a lovely movie. This movie really captures brotherhood and family which I love so much. It enables you to connect to the characters/family more. It has amazing fight scenes (only one part where the special effects could been worked on better). The scenery is also quite amazing and impressive. I think the only down side of this movie is that it is hard to connect to the characters so it was hard to feel and sympathize with them. Since there were so many of them, it was hard to remember their faces and which brother was which, etc. I had to watch it a second time to really focus on the characters. So if you watch this movie, I recommend that you pay close attention towards the beginning of the movie where the characters are slightly introduced, because you'll get a glimpse of what type of person they are (so you can connect and understand with them better). I wish that they would of made this movie longer so they had time to introduce and go in depth with the characters, but overall, it was a great movie, and I highly recommend watching it.

men1009 I don't know why the rating here in IMDb is so low - just 5.5 out of 10, Saving General Yang is a great movie! Chinese people always said 'Without parents, you cannot build a family; and without families, you cannot build a country', therefore, parents are so important to a family, a country and they should be respected by their children. That's the main theme of the movie and the reason the Yang's seven sons went to save their father, who was betrayed during the battle with the Khitans, even they knew they might sacrifice their lives.The prediction from the fortune teller told Yang's wife, the literal translation is 'Seven sons go, six sons return'. However, there's a trick, you will just know the real meaning of this prediction by the end of the movie.What I appreciate the most is that there is no visual effect, and the fighting and horse-racing are all done by the actors themselves - no use of doubles! Thus all battle scenes look so real! All in all, I would highly recommend you to see this movie, don't miss it!

DICK STEEL Chinese historical stories have no lack of its own heroes who display virtues of courage, and loyalty, and the Yang Family of the Song Dynasty has been celebrated in countless of books, plays, operas and of course, film. There are many variations to the adventures of General Yang (Adam Cheng) and his seven sons in the face of deadly adversary, and this Ronny Yu directed period action film is yet another take that's done right, wiping off the unworthy stink that Legendary Amazons in 2011 had laced upon the family of valour.This production brings back the creative talents of those behind the scenes of the successful Ip Man movies starring Donnie Yen, such as Producer Raymond Wong, his son Edmond who served as one of three co-writers, and musician Kenji Kawai who provided the score, and you'll be assured for that attention to detail, and high production values put into this retelling. There's good balance between the more dramatic moments in the film and the requisite war action scenes, but it only did adequately enough without pushing boundaries to have made it from good, to instant classic.Admitedly, there are many characters here in the story, given the General and his 7 young sons, in addition to the women in the film, primarily represented by the General's wife (Xu Fan), and the Helen of Troy equivalent Princess Chai (Ady An), who drives a rivalry between the Yang family and the Pan family further when Pan's son vies with Yang's seventh son (Fu Xinbo) for the Princess' affection, only for the former to perish, and sets in motion the Pan's patriarch (Leung Ka Ying), appointed supreme commander against the invading Khitan forces led by Yelu Yuan (Shao Bing), to betray his fellow Song citizen by feeding him to the wolves with a lack of backup, and rescue troops.Cornered at the Wolf Mountain, this film then takes on 300 proportions, with soothsayers boldly predicting unfavourable outcomes, while the strengths of the few, in this case just seven and an assortment of a handful of loyal soldiers, venture out to rescue their father/leader from impending doom. While the opening big battle sequence involving all seven brothers was a treat, this soon gave way to a fight choreography that bordered on repetition, with shots on characters on horses wielding their weapons around, and because of their bring grossly outnumbered, finding themselves backpaddling and fleeing most of the time.But Ronny Yu, knowing the constraints of the story he wanted to tell, which is for the seven brothers to bring their father back home to their mom, while under pursuit by the Khitan Yelu Yuan possessing a personal vendetta against the Yangs, managed to keep the narrative moving at breakneck speed, leaving you breathless for its continuous swarm attacks of many against a pitiful few. It's a challenge featuring an ensemble cast battling it out against a stunt team, but these were action scenes crafted that managed to convey the sense of claustrophobia, frenzy, panic, and at times, fear. There's also that art house sensibility that found its way into the story through some shots that lingered around for a tad too long, giving us that detailed glimpse into the production effort in recreating that era.At times though you'd feel that you want to get to know more about the individuals in the story, rather than to just get acquainted for a short period through flashbacks that highlight the brothers' diverse characteristics. While that would likely stretch this to television series proportions, I thought it would provide some deeper understanding, at least of the characters played by headliners such as Ekin Cheng, Vic Zhou and Wu Chun. The villain Yelu Yuan is obviously of one track mind and objective, and it's a good thing that we didn't get superhuman with the Yang generals, which was quite the surprise with injuries sustained from the get go, once again keeping things real, with that element of danger lurking around.It's been a long gestation period ever since the movie was introduced at last year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, while making its world premiere recently at this year's festival edition. It's as close to a Chinese blockbuster as can be with a lightweight narrative propped up by heavy duty battle scenes. Who would have thought though, that the more dramatic moments in the film, turned out to be its key strengths, together with Xu Fan's limited moments as the wife/mom who harboured as much hope as dread as she waits out the return of her husband/boys. Recommended!