p-stepien Based on the classical "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Daniel Lee ventures back to one of the most important eras of Chinese history - the time of the titular Three Kingdoms, of ever-lasting conflict and battles, which formed many a legend. Here focus is directed to the famed and glorified general Zhao Zilong (an ever-pleasing Andy Lau), a supposedly undefeated warrior, who brought glory to the the kingdom of Liu Bei. Backed by the military genius of Zhuge Liang (Cunxin Pu) and the remaining Five Tiger Generals, the heroes bathed in glory.Opulent, radiant the settings, scenery, cinematography, lighting and general art direction borders on perfection with each shot nurtured and tended too is this lavish epic. With appropriate heroic pathos to accompany the story-telling Zhao Zilong is presented as a chaste and immaculate warrior, as if almost striving towards a Buddhist transcendence. Unrivalled in battle, loved by all men and glorified even by contemporaries, Zhao shines even when riding out by himself against an entire army. Naturally such a directorial choice can't be criticised, similarly as chanson de geste type poems are what they are: glorified monuments of heroic deeds, unabashedly singing praise to the main protagonist. In a take it or leave it deal, Zhao Zilong is a hero, unfailing and relentless in pursuit of unification of the kingdoms, even in tragedy a man suit for tall tales of glory.However "Three Kingdoms" falters due to one rather overbearing glitch: lack of middle story. The depiction of Zhao Zilong's life basically limits itself to an extravagant presentation of two moments of his story: the beginning and the end of his legend. Unfortunately Daniel Lee fails to even trouble himself with building any back-story to the character (who was he? where did he come from? what motivated him?) or worse yet fails to build any backbone to Zilong, instead fast-forwarding us from his initial feat of bravery as a young man, straight into the time of him being an elderly general, the sole remaining of the Five Tiger Generals, right before what was to be his final battle.The whole context of in between is forfeited, thus never even truly affording the audience an understanding as to the prominence of his battle achievements or allowing him to build an emotional connection with viewers. Such a thinly presented story is however aptly summarised in the fading line of the movie itself "How many things before and after fade into gossip and laughter."

yeyiwa I was almost giving this a 1 star but that would have been cruel. This movie is a failure, a failure that burnt a lot of money for not much. I have watched this four times in order to see it all. Every time I have fallen asleep or have become distracted by sorting socks.OK, the ambition was great. Giving the official darling of Mainland China - Andy Lau - a heroic part in a historical epos. But for several reasons this movie turned out badly.1) The timing was awful. I bet they had great difficulties with Chinese authorities and getting locations, not just for being a joint venture between different countries' film industries, but also since at the same time as this flick was shot, a great and ambitious duology dealing with an earlier period of the Three Kingdoms was made - John Woo's Chibi and Chibi 2(Red Cliff 1 and 2). The Chibis, two movies totally sanctioned by the government and filling two consecutive New Year slots in the movie calendar of China, was the pet of the time and that project was not saving on any resources during filming and post-production.2) No Guan Yu, no Zhuge Liang. Zhao Zilong is a boring character to hang a movie on. This movie contains just old men either being emperors or being has-beens trying to relive a glorious past. (This movie is taking place in the later part of the Three Kingdoms.) The magnetic characters from the beginning of the era has been killed off, died of natural causes, becoming emperors (even being succeeded by their sons in some cases), and hey it is no fun watching old guys getting together a last time...it is like watching Space Cowboys. And we who have read Three Kingdoms know that this will end badly, Cao Pi will become emperor over a united China, not Liu Shan.3) Casting. Andy Lau may be a star but that is not equivalent to being a good actor. He is a one-note man - being good as a hard-boiled HK cop or mobster. Sammo Hung is too closely connected to the Kung Fu-movie tradition to being believable in a costume movie, and all the others are not known to more than a few. Comparing to the earlier mentioned Chibis the casting looks more like being one of a B movie than one of a 25M dollar movie.

fatemaster2003 Three kingdom: Resurrection of the Dragon tells about the legend of one famous General Zhao Yun in the Three Kingdom. But unfortunately, there are many flaws in this movie.First, this movie is a little bit off from the actual history. I never knew that Zhao Yun started his first career as a soldier directly under Liu Bei. He should been under a general name Gongsun Zan, before he changed his loyalty to Liu Bei. Then, there are Cao Ying and Luo Ping-An. Who the hell are they? Because as far as I know, the one who fought Zhao Yun in the last battle was Chao Zhen. Secondly, for the actor. I personally think that Andy Lau is well-suited as General Zhao Yun here. But the actor for both General Guan Yu and Zhang-Fei is a little bit out of the course. While the actor who casted as Guan Yu seems too old, the actor's face who cast as Zhang Fei seems so childish. And the actor who played as Zhuge Liang looks like a traditional physician instead of a strategist. Generally, I would say, the casting is a minus here (except for Andy Lau, of course) For the story, it lacks explanation. There's no explanation for any act inside. No briefing before wars, no strategy meeting before wars, no nothing. It just give off the conclusion of what is happening right now, and lead us directly into the war. That's all. And that too, is a minus.But still, I like the war in this. That's why I still give this movie a rating of 6, instead of 5.Not good enough for all three kingdom fans. But if you're looking for just a war movies, than this is definitely for you.

tianxu1988 Well, This is the first time that I came here. Actually, it is because of this movie made me come here! Because he is a Korean Director, I can bear and forgive his unknowns about the real and reasonable history of Three Kingdoms of Ancient China. But there is something I can't bear, and I am sure nobody had known Ancient China can bear.The costumes(or Amor), I am sure they are all Japannese Style! I am not want to cause any racism arguments, but it is Chinese History, what's hell you give the worries Japannese Amors? Can I shoot a movie about Civil War of US but give them Ancient European Amors? And also there are many many unreasonable details about the story. Our Forums have discussed how bad and how stupid about this story~~~~Well, I know most of u guys can't understand what I am saying. Overall, it is not a good story, but it may be a good WAR FILM which made people excited.