Movies
With a title like that, you know you can expect another bout of Chinese propaganda. Then again, the film isn't all that different from the many historic war flicks that came before, picking one notable figure from China's long and war-ridden history and focusing both on action and strategy aspects of the battles he fought. Xin Qiji is the titular hero. A young boy who rose up to fight the Jin Dynasty. They were ravaging his lands in an attempt to beat the Song Dynasty in the south. With an army of just 50.000 soldiers, Qiji manages to kill a large regiment of Jin soldiers, which immediately makes him a hero to his people. The battles are decent enough and the focus on the strategic elements is nice, but there's a bit too much melodrama and the film slows down considerably during the second half. Performances are nothing special, and the film struggles to set itself apart from its peers. Not bad, but nothing you haven't seen before.Read all