The Lost Bladesman (2011)

The story of legendary Guan Yu crossing five passes & slaying six generals. He played a major role in the civil war that led to the collapse of Han Dynasty & the establishment of Shu Han of the 3 Kingdoms, making Liu Bei its first emperor.

Directors:

Felix Chong, Alan Mak

Writers:

Felix Chong, Alan Mak

Stars:

Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang, Li Sun

4 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Donnie Yen	...	Guan Yu
Wen Jiang	...	Cao Cao
Li Sun	...	Qi Lan (as Betty Sun)
Bing Shao	...	General Zhang Liao
Edison Wang	...	Emperor Liu Xie (as Bo-Chieh Wang)
Yong Dong	...	Xuyou
Andy On	...	General Kong Xiu
Yuan Nie	...	Han Fu
Xuebing Wang	...	Wang Zhi
Zonghan Li	...	General Qin Qi
Ailei Yu	...	General Bian Xi
Alex Fong	...	Liu Bei
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hong Chen	...	Lady Gan / Liu Bei's first wife
Siu-Ho Chin	...	Yan Liang
Xiang Gao

Storyline

This historical martial arts film adapted from the story of Guan Yu crossing five passes and slaying six generals in Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In AD 200 during the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao eliminates his political opponents Dong Cheng and others, before turning his attention towards rival warlords Liu Bei and Yuan Shao. To avoid fighting a war on two fronts, Cao Cao decides to attack Liu Bei first. Liu Bei flees north to join Yuan Shao, while his family is captured by the enemy. Liu Bei's sworn brother Guan Yu (Donnie Yen), surrenders to Cao Cao to uphold his oath of brotherhood and preserve his honor. Cao Cao knows he's a great warrior & hopes that Guan Yu will continue serving him. Meanwhile, Guan Yu is secretly in love with his sworn brother's concubine Qilan, but is afraid to express his feelings to her. Qilan reproaches Guan Yu for serving Cao Cao. By then, Guan Yu has also received news of Liu Bei's whereabouts, so he prepares to ...

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Plot Keywords:

3rd century | rivalry | concubine | warlord | martial arts | 

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Genres:

Action | Biography | Drama | History

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

China Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

28 April 2011 (China)

Also Known As:

The Lost Bladesman

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,398,324

Company Credits

Production Co:

Star Union Skykee Film Investment Co, Shanghai Film Group, Anhui Media Industry Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX (Dolby Surround 7.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Not a Good Rendition of Guan Yu

A partial tale of perhaps the most famous warrior in Chinese history, Guan Yu.

To me, Donnie Yen was a miscast as Guan Yu. He just doesn't have the physical appearance that you'd expect Guan Yu to be (which he had in abundance when he played Yip Man). But there is no one, I mean no one in current Chinese movie actors inventory who can pull this role off. Other movies that portrays the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, cleverly avoids putting any of the monstrously powerful warriors from this story on screen (or relegates them to relatively insignificant role in the story that don't require them to showcase their terrific might). Maybe if they can find equivalent of Chris Hemsworth when they made the movie "Thor", movies portraying the heroes of this story will succeed.

The movie just didn't have it. It lacked the juice that story of Guan Yu has in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. His enemies were all pathetic shrimps too. There was no big battle scenes where Guan Yu would dispatch the most ferocious warriors the enemy can call to bear on him. Supporting characters, lacked the flare that the characters in the original story has. Also, why the movie chose this particular segment of Guan Yu's career to be put on screen is a mystery. It was one of the flattest part of his story.

Maybe it'll take a CG to produce a character that would even remotely resemble Guan Yu, and the other heroes of this story.

A dud, and just doesn't do any justice to the magnificent lore of Guan Yu.