MyRating: YYYY1/2Written and Directed by: Alan Mak & Felix Chong
Cast: Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Sun Li, Andy On, Chin Siu-ho, Alex Fong, Wang Po-chieh, Wang Xuebing
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (San Guo Yan Yi), the popular Chinese historical epic novel written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, is considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, besides Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan), Journey to the West (Xi You Ji) and Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong Lou Meng). As a hugely influential and widely read novel, based on the historical events (part fiction and myth) in the turbulent years at the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era, where tyrants and warlords battling each others for power and lands (169-280 AD), the book consists of 120 chapters with hundreds and hundreds of characters. The story of the Three Kingdoms has been told many times through long TV series as well as in movies. The recent ones are the critically acclaimed John Woo's Red Cliff (2008) with Tony Leung as Zhou Yu & Takeshi Kaneshiro as Zhuge Liang, and the not so good Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon (2008) with Andy Lau as Zhou Yun, which both movies focused on different main characters and events.
The Lost Bladesman focused on one of the most popular characters in the Three Kingdoms story, Guan Yu or Guan Yunchang (one of the most iconic characters besides Cao Cao, Liu Bei & Zhuge Liang). The film was adapted from the story of Guan Yu 'crossing five passes and slaying six generals'. The casting of Donnie Yen as Guan Yu was an interesting choice, even though may have raised many eyebrows, since he is not physically perfect as the great General Guan Yu. Guan Yu is always depicted as a big tall guy with long beard, while Yen is rather small in posture. However, since his recent superstardom and success through the Ip Man series, Donnie Yen has now become a household name and is on top of his game, and he is becoming the 'perfect' choice from every producer for the commercial success guarantee of their movies.
Since Ip Man (2008) & Ip Man 2 (2010), I am exciting to wait for every new movie of Donnie Yen. Not only he is always amazing at martial arts in his movies (he knows the real wushu), but also he is actually a pretty good actor too who can act very well (even the sharp side look of his eyes could kill). A bit disappointed with his last movie Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (2010), but to see him next as Guan Yu seemed to be very enticing. I have to admit, I began to have some doubts about this movie after seeing the relatively low rating this movie has received in some movie sites. However, after finally watching the movie myself, I have to say that my feeling and pre-judgement were totally wrong. This is a great epic martial arts film about the legendary Guan Yu and one small part of the events in the Three Kingdoms story, disregard the disputes that it might create among the audiences due to the different interpretation of Guan Yu's figure this movie has depicted. Anyway, a good movie is a good movie, and I will tell you why I like this movie. 
The Lost Bladesman offered a pretty good and solid story. Being separated from his sworn brothers Liu Bei (Alex Fong) and Zhang Fei, Guan Yu (Yen) temporarily had to serve under Cao Cao (Jiang Wen) and Emperor Xian (Wang Po-chieh) of Han Dynasty. With the big name and reputation that Guan Yu had in the battlefields, Cao Cao had always wanted to have him on his side. But despite many precious gifts that Cao Cao had offered to Guan Yu, including recommended an honorary rank promotion from the Emperor after Guan Yu won a battle for Cao Cao against Yuan Shao, Cao Cao still could not buy Guan Yu's loyalty towards Liu Bei.
When Guan Yu decided that it was time to leave Cao Cao and bring Qilan (Betty Sun Li), Liu Bei's beautiful concubine who was captived in Cao Cao territory, back to Liu Bei, Cao Cao knew that he had to let him go. But Cao Cao's followers were uneasy and believed that they were actually realising a 'tiger' back to his master, who would become a dangerous threat to Cao Cao in the future. So on their journey back, Guan Yu and Qilan had to face some generals and their bands of soldiers, who were ordered to kill Guan Yu, in the passes that they were going through. And Guan Yu fought many magnificent fights against the generals. Not only he had to stay alive, but also he had to protect Qilan, his brother's woman, whom at the same time he secretly falled in love with, but he tried hard to resist. The great Guan Yu will never afraid of his enemies, but will the love of a woman become the weakness of him?
The script written (and also directed) by Alan Mak (Infernal Affairs)& Felix Chong, even though not the best ever written about the Three Kingdoms events, was engaging and never lost its grips from the beginning till the end. I think the story was actually simple and it did not try to complicate itself, by focusing on Guan Yu and his task to bring Qilan back to Liu Bei, while at the other hand showing the 'situational' friendship bound between Guan Yu and Cao Cao, which is very interesting to watch. The forbidden love attraction between Guan Yu and Qilan did spice up the plot, as the audiences may feel sympathy and 'secretly' wish that Guan Yu, after all the sacrifices and the never ending battles that he has to fight along their journey, will finally win not only her heart, but also win Qilan in person as a whole, with the hope of blessing from Liu Bei to reward for his loyalty. Or not? If you are seeing Guan Yu as a man of honor and dignity, who will never betray his brother for whatsoever reasons. This issue will provoke the acceptance sensess from the audiences, since never before we see Guan Yu so 'human', as he is always being pictured as a tough man and a god-like hero.
The martial arts sequences were dazzling and top notch, giving credits to Donnie Yen as the Action Director himself. Except the big battle scene in the beginning of the movie, you may not see many fights of Guan Yu in the big open battlefields, instead you will see Guan Yu fighting some generals and their small groups of soldiers along his journey back to Liu Bei, some were 'one-on-one' fight scenes. The most marvelous one was the 1-on-1 fight scene in the narrow town alley between Guan Yu and Kong Xiu (Andy On), the general defending Dongling pass. It was an amazing acrobatic showcase of Guan Yu's famous Green Dragon crescent-moon blade weapon against Kong Xiu's long spear. An excellent heart-pumping martial arts choreography by Yen. The fight scene when Guan Yu and Qilan were being ambushed in Luoyang by Han Fu and his sworn brother Meng Tan and their bunch of soldiers in a house at night was also a dramatic one, where Guan Yu was poisoned while he has to give a great fight and kept himself from being fainted. Another memorable scene was the uneven 1-on-1 fight between Guan Yu and Wang Zhi (Wang Xuebing), a good official in charge of Xingyang, in an empty town near the end of the movie. If you like martial arts movie, there are plenty of terrific action scenes that will keep you amazed on your seat.
The other thing that I liked about this movie was the very good and smart written dialogues, with many Chinese aphorisms and wise sayings. The old Chinese wise sayings are arguably the best wise sayings in the world literature with very deep meaning behind every sayings, sometimes in a very poetic way. Watching a Chinese movie with rich Chinese wise-sayings does give intellectual challenges and satisfactions, as if you are a Chinese scholar yourself. And I consider the dialogues in this movie as one of those that will enrich and satisfy us intellectually.
And finally, the casting. It was, without a doubt, a great cast. Not only Donnie Yen, but also Jiang Wen (Let the Bullets Fly), one of the most versatile Chinese actor nowadays (also a director/writer/producer). As Cao Cao, who in history was known for his cunningness, Jiang Wen gave a solid performance that also colored the character of Cao Cao to become more 'human', but at the same time, a more complex character. In this movie, Cao Cao was not shown one-side as a totally bad guy, but he has heart, and definitely the brain. His dialogues with Guan Yu were always interesting ones, with his wide-range mimics. Jiang Wen is indeed a very good actor. While as Guan Yu, again even though not matched physically, Donnie Yen also gave a pretty good performance. A different Guan Yu, but I didn't mind at all. Pick another actor that fit the physical characteristics of Guan Yu, and you may not get the same excitements as you get with Donnie Yen in it. In a story dominated by males, Sun Li was thrown in to sweeten the screen with her beauty as Qilan, and complicate the story. 
Standout casts, enjoyable storyline and spectacular martial arts. What more could you expect? And I know that I loved this movie more than I expected. Very entertaining and a must see. While I was writing this, I found out that The Lost Bladesman has made a very successful debut at the box office in China, which earned around 110 million yuan (US$ 17 million) in the first week in China itself, since its opening date on April 26, 2011. Seems to be a pretty solid hit.
Nowadays, Guan Yu is still popularly worshipped and paid respect by the Chinese people. Being referred as Guan Gong or 'Lord Guan' or 'Saintly Emperor Guan', Guan Yu is often considered as the God of War due to his status as the 'great general' and the many military successes in the history. Guan is also worshipped as an alternative 'god of wealth', as he is perceived to bless people (as well as their homes and businesses) and protect people from the wicked. (MJ) 
