The Warlords (投名狀), previously known as The Blood Brothers, is a 2007 epic historical action film directed and co-produced by Peter Chan, starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Xu Jinglei. A Hong Kong-Chinese co-production set in China in the 1860s during the Taiping Rebellion, the film revolves around the sworn brotherhood of three men.
The film was released on 13 December 2007 simultaneously in most of Asia, except Japan. It won a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film and a Golden Horse Award for Best Feature Film. Li also won the Hong Kong Film Award and the Shanghai Film Critics Award for Best Actor, and became the highest paid actor in a Chinese-language movie, previously holding the record for his part in Hero (2002).
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Plot
The film is set in China in the 1860s during the Taiping Rebellion against the ruling Qing Empire. Pang Qingyun, the commander of an imperial battalion, is the sole survivor after a battle between imperial and rebel forces. He meets and befriends Zhao Erhu and Jiang Wuyang, the leaders of a bandit gang based in a nearby village, and joins them in raiding a rebel convoy for food supplies. That night, some imperial troops show up in the village and seize the supplies. Around this time, Pang starts a secret affair with Liansheng, Zhao's wife.
Since the villagers are poor and starving, Pang convinces them to form a militia and join imperial forces to suppress the rebellion. With Pang as their leader, the three men swear a blood oath and pledge loyalty to each other as brothers on the pain of death. Later, with minimal support from regular imperial forces, the militia scores a series of victories against the rebels. Over time, Pang becomes increasingly ambitious and prepares to attack the rebel-controlled city of Suzhou. However, Pang's imperial superiors have grown jealous of his success, so they start denying him reinforcements and supplies. As a result, the battle of Suzhou turns into a year-long siege in which the militia gradually runs out of food and supplies.
