By far the most lightweight of the costume epics of the fast few years, An Empress And The Warriors lavishes attention on its megabudget battlefield sequences yet throws in crowd-pleasing diversions for added fun. With famed action choreographer Tony Ching Siu-tung at the helm, quality scenes of warfare and smaller skirmishes are a given. But it’s in the frequent detours to romance, song, a forest utopia and an overarching message of peace that his film hits its stride as straightforward entertainment as well.
The action commences two millenniums ago when the Kingdom of Yan is at war with the rival Zhao army. It's the Warring States period and the bloodshed has been going on for generations by the time princess Yan Feier (Kelly Chen) falls into power after the king dies on the battlefield. While her sudden rise to leadership rankles some figures in Yan's highest levels of power, Feier vows to serve the people and takes up full military training under longtime companion and ace soldier Muyong Xuehu (Donnie Yen), who had earlier helped her take power.
Feier's gung-ho attitude to becoming a worthy successor to the warrior king hits a stumbling block, however, after a life-changing experience. When ambushed while out washing her steed, the empress flees through a forest on horseback and is struck by a poison dart before reclusive doctor Duan Lanquan (Leon Lai) comes to her rescue. As she recovers afterward in his grand and idyllic hideout, the pacifist medicine man opens Feier's eyes to a life without endless war. Once she's healed and returned to Yan to resume her military role, the empress's changed outlook stands to disrupt the status quo.
In the title character, Kelly Chen takes her first shot at a costume epic with mixed results, giving action a good try but seeming to be in more comfortable territory when romance is afoot. Leon Lai, in his second foray into the current wave of spectaculars after 2005’s Seven Swords, offers a calm presence as the peace-loving hermit, though the traps his character uses early in the piece suggest a darker side to his role. Action star Donnie Yen meanwhile does his bit to ramp up the heroics, his fleshed-out character every bit the valiant fighter even when he looks outnumbered.
With the plot allowing for sweeping battlefield scenes, Ching shows his deft hand for crafting high-end spectaculars - a talent already evident in his choreography for high-end period epics of recent years, from Hero to Curse Of The Golden Flower to The Warlords. The warfare sequences are fierce, bloody and dirty, while the scenes of training and close-quarters duels take on a more elegant look in lush surrounds. Yet there are two sides to Ching's take on the genre, as the script flits between the arid landscape of Yan and the doctor's forest refuge, and it's in the latter that An Empress And The Warriors shows its intent to not merely bombard audiences with action, gravitas or self-importance. Instead, these scenes take on a light and airy feel, the music softer and performances more playful. A romantic scene of hot-air ballooning set to a Mandopop song would seem utterly out of place in the recent epics by Zhang Yimou, but in An Empress And The Warriors it fits alongside grand action with a refreshing, anything-goes attitude that’s a throwback to an older Hong Kong cinema style.
Tim Youngs