Most of you cannot believe I would give a movie with subtitles five stars, but Kingdom of War Parts 1 and 2 deserve it. You can watch them both for free on Plex like I did. This is an epic story. There have been many movies about various Chinese dynasties, but this one did it right. You can actually get into the loyalties and relationships even with the subtitles.
Classic Movie Making
I gotta wonder just how many people died or got maimed making this movie. It shows no signs of the battle scenes being computer generated. They actually had thousands of extras in full dress charging each other with stage weapons. To understand what I’m talking about watch the clip.
That much mayhem had to lead to some kind of catastrophe. If it didn’t it would have taken six months to shoot this one scene.
Lots of Threads
This isn’t just non-stop epic battle scenes for guys to watch. There are a lot of threads going on, even a love story that is easy to follow, cute, and a tiny bit cheesy. It adds a bit of comic relief.
There is a spiritual leader for the boy who would be king and his best friend. Once they become men he leaves to have another religious post in another city. Some time later in the movies he has to walk away from a battle and many men think he is abandoning them. The king’s friend informs them he used to be spiritual leader in this city. To him we aren’t killing enemies, we are killing his friends.
Code of War
It should be obvious to anyone who thinks, but nobody thinks of it, every large army has a bunch of field hands which have never fought before. There is no honor in war, for certain, but the king and his friend have to teach them the code of war. A very poignant scene after one of the battles where people from the enemy start coming out with carts. The king’s troops behind the barricade want to kill them. They have to be educated that it is the code of war. After an attack you allow them to gather their dead and wounded.
Many mistake this for honor, but the reality is this custom existed to fend of stench and disease.
It is well worth setting aside an entire day to watch these back to back. I wish there was a third one.
For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.
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