Li Pan 2 stars for action sequences and the 5 pieces of costume mustered to make this film.Enough people have mentioned the horrible armour design so I won't get into it. Now. Where do I start?Zilong is Zhao Yun's courtesy name. Do not throw it around like sardines as this movie did since it is Zhao Yun is what he is more commonly, rightfully known as and referred to.Changshan, where Zhao Yun is from, is located North East of China. It is also one of the earlier territory annexed by the Wei kingdom (the antagonists of this film). The screenwriter brings it up relentlessly since he knows nothing more about Zhao Yun's well documented genealogy. So the scene where people were celebrating that he became a well known general is utter cow dun, unless its people want to get sacked by their own kingdom. So the supposed plot of Zhao Yun making a "last stand" at Changshan to complete the "full circle" that is his life is ridiculous. Changshan has been chilling way behind the front-line for a long time.Zhao Yun was not born a peasant, as the movie portrays him to be. He was born of Han's warrior elites and served a northern lord by the name of Gongsun Zan prior to serving Liu Bei. He was also well acquainted with Liu, Guan, Zhang way before the battle of Xinye -- the battle the movie opened with (note for director to google). Therefore, the scene where Zhang Fei not knowing who Zhao Yun is and fighting him makes no sense.What resurrection of the dragon? What resurrection? What dragon?Who is that chubby guy? You actually need to put in an incompetent and jealous supporting role just to make Zhao Yun seem more awesome? If you've read half a page on Zhao Yun, you would've handful of material to justify why he is the most bad-ass person you've ever known. Instead you resorting to pulling an underdeveloped and one-dimensional character out of thin air just to kill more of your audiences brain cells.Talking about stupid roles. What is point of of Maggie Q's character? Wei, the dominant kingdom during all of three kingdom period, with an endless pool of talented generals are all the sudden so incompetent that they need Cao Cao's grand-daughter to lead and fight front-line battles for them? There is a truck load of ACTUAL female, more relevant, compelling characters for Maggie Q to portray if it is imperative that you give your top billed actress some screen time. Without Maggie Q to fill your empty film you'd be losing money, I know.Yes Zhao Yun out-lived most of his kick-ass contemporaries. But for him to still be chilling when Shu falls is nonsense. AND THAT CHUBBY GUY, who is supposed be older than Zhao Yun, IS ALSO ALIVE!!! He must be pushing 170.The ending, where Mr. Chubby is like "Three kingdom is now one, and it's called Jin", and then half quote the Ming Dynasty poem that was part of the lyrics for the opening credit song for the Three Kingdom TV series from 1994 is more hastily done than a conclusion to C students paper after he pulls an all-nighter for a course no one cares about. Where is my puke bucket?Daniel Lee, before you decide on taking what little creative liberty you have on classic material, read a book, feed your imagination, it is starving. But I guess that is not your style judging by the other abomination titles you've created. If I didn't have to endure this film for research on bad film making, it'd be in my furnace 5 minutes in. But to look on the bright side now I know to stay away from anything with your name on it.

Tweekums Set in 228 A.D when three Chinese kingdoms were battling for supremacy this film follows Zhao Zilong from the time he is recruited into the army of Liu Bei, through is rise to its top general until his final battle over thirty years later.The film is effectively divided into two parts; in the first we see young Zhao Zilong and his new friend Luo Ping'an then see them going into battle where they perform well in a victory against a vastly superior force. Later Zhao rescues Liu Bei's infant son and battles through a hoard of enemy soldiers with the baby strapped to his back. After a succession of victories he returns to his home town a hero and falls in love with a girl who was performing in a puppet show about his exploits.The action then jumps forward thirty or so years and Zhou is now the only surviving general from the previous campaign; a new campaign is about to begin and he insists that he is allowed to take part; this brings him into conflict with an army led by Cao Ying; granddaughter of a general he'd fought many years before.I suspect that it helps if your knowledge of Chinese history is better than mine but even if you don't know anything about the era the film can be enjoyed. The battle scenes are somewhat stylised but they are still exciting, and rather bloody! Andy Lau does a fine job playing Zhao both as a young man and as the elderly general, Sammo Hung is rather fun as his friend Luo Ping'an and Maggie Q impresses as their enemy… not a bad person; just a leader on the opposite side in a war. While the film succeeds in its action scenes it fails somewhat in the more personal scenes; after seeing Zhou meet a young woman and promise to return the action suddenly jumps forward thirty years and there is no further mention of her or what happened in the intervening years. While not essential to the enjoyment of the film it certainly helps that it looks good thanks to some impressive scenery. Overall though this is fairly exciting and worth watching if you enjoy historical action dramas.

iain_clark88 The posted review for this film is a disgrace. I agree that It's not a very good film but the reviewer stunned me with his/her towering ignorance. Here's a few points: 1) The romance of the three kingdoms was not a civil war, China wasn't even a united country until afterwards when victory was attained.2) The reference to more modern British and Nazi helmets is idiotic. The similarity is to first world war helmets anyway so they would be German not Nazi for starters. Secondly everything in the film is traditionally Chinese so why are helmets any different. Thirdly there were no "goodies" or "baddies" so why do they want to subtly want to make us think that. Finally you don't think that two designs for protective headgear might just look similar.3) Agreed, poor (non existent) characters and objective story telling. But the romance of the three kingdoms is a story which spans many years and a number of lifetimes and has countless characters. It should really have been a trilogy or a series. They really bitten off more than they could chew.Before you go and write something make sure you at least have a clue what you're talking about please. I suspect too many reviewers on this site to have an extra chromosome or two. Come on and put in a little more effort eh.

dbborroughs Andy Lau stars as a general who started as a foot soldier and worked his way up through the ranks after several acts of heroism.Thirty years on he's forced to fight one last battle against the daughter of an old enemy.Apparently based on the same source material (The Romance of the Three Kingdoms) that John Woo is using for his 5 hour Red Cliffs (due for release later this year) Here the "epic" story is reduced to around 100 minutes of marching armies and battles. Any sense of plot is cast aside for the fighting and deep pronouncements. To be fair the DVD I watched had barely coherent subtitles, but at the same time they were coherent enough to know that they really didn't have a great deal to translate. The plot lurches from thing to thing with very little explanation- or rather only explanation to carry the emotion. We're told things rather than shown things. The performances of Lau and Sammo Hung provide a great deal of emotion that isn't in the script. The bond between the two men and the emotion that they impart are the reason you watch the film, not for anything else......okay maybe the action. As a film of epic action scenes its quite good. its not great but it is is good in a retro old school style. Its pretty pictures of armies fighting and it is entertaining, if rarely engaging (something the films scant dialog and character building prevents from ever happening). Never mind that coming as it does on the heels of the Jet Li masterpiece Warlords the film has a great deal to live up to since that earlier film had real characters and real action, two things this film never manages to achieve. Add to the mix the over use of slow motion and the film really isn't worth the trouble.Actually its worth looking at if you want to see the fighting and a couple of good performances.