The big-budget war movie "Assembly" by Feng Xiaogang will be released here in March.

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Moviegoers can look forward to action-packed epic films from China ― but forget about martial arts warriors flying through the air with long swords. Two celebrated directors from the Chinese-speaking world present ambitious film projects that break conventions: ``The Warlords'' (``Myeongjang'' in Korean) by Peter Chan and ``Assembly'' (``Jipgyeolho'' in Korean) by Feng Xiaogang.

Coming to theaters Jan. 31 is the highly anticipated period piece ``The Warlords,'' co-produced by Hong Kong and China. Set during the late 19th century Qing Dynasty, the movie seems to signal a sharp turn away from Peter Chan's romantic turf (pan-Asian hits like ``Tian mi mi,'' 1996).

``The movie has the looks of a big budget action movie, but like my previous works, it is essentially marked by strong characters and drama,'' the director said in a statement.

What sets the movie apart is its departure from typical Chinese-language films filled with fantastic, sky-soaring martial arts heroes in the style of Zhang Yimou's works. While martial art is integral to ``The Warlords,'' the screen is stripped of highly stylistic action sequence and is filled with gritty, bitter realities of war. To create the large-scale battle scenes, the makers employed some 150 thousand extras and 280 cameras.

``The Warlords'' is the talk of the town as it stars not just one ― but three ― Asian superstars: Andy Lau, Jet Li and Takeshi Kaneshiro, who all have a large fan base here. They appear as three sworn brothers whose relationship goes sour in the midst of warfare and political intrigue.

Unlike a lot of epic films, the characters can't be clearly labeled as good or evil. The three main characters are realistic sketches of the human condition as they are constantly torn between virtue and sin.

Chan visited Korea earlier this month and stopped by the set of Kim Ji-woon's ``The Good, The Bad, The Weird,'' which, like ``The Warlords,'' is filmed in China and stars three big actors. Chan and Kim became buddies when they met for the 2002 Korea-Hong Kong-Thailand joint-produced omnibus film ``Three.'' The two talked about the difficulties of working under harsh weather conditions as well as how wonderful it was to work with talented actors.



Simultaneously released in parts of Asia last December (except Korea and Japan), ``The Warlords'' was an instant box office hit in China, drawing 22 million yuan (43 billion won) on the first day. This is striking considering the relatively expensive price of movie tickets there and the presence of a large black market of pirated DVDs. Opening in time for Seollal here, it is expected to draw large audiences.

Another big project moviegoers can expect to see is China's first-ever ``blockbuster''-scale film, ``Assembly,'' coming to theaters in March. It was the center of media attention as the opening piece at last year's Pusan (Busan) International Film Festival (PIFF).

Martial arts are but non-existent in this movie. Set in 1948, the movie traces the physical and spiritual survival and journey of a soldier amid the war between the Nationalists and Communists. ``Assembly'' is packed with intense battle sequences but is marked by strong human drama as the main character struggles with inner conflict.

Like Peter Chan, director Feng Xiaogang conquers new territory. For Feng, the action-packed drama marks a departure from his smash comedies like ``Dream Factory.'' Feng also has special relations with Korea, for he turned to the special effects team of the Korean blockbuster ``Taegeukgi: Brothers of War.''

``I consider `Taegeukgi' as a great model for our movie,'' Feng told reporters here last October. His good friend, director Kang Je-gyu, provided his crew for the make-up, computer graphics, artistic direction and sound effects of the movie.

``Assembly'' received positive reviews as being a well-made period piece, particularly for realistically depicting the horrors of war without being political. It could be seen as the Asian version of Hollywood flicks like ``Saving Private Ryan'' ― far from what first comes to mind when one thinks of Chinese action movies.

Both films are in Chinese with Korean subtitles.

hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr