Dynasty Warriors (2021) - Louis Koo, Carina Lau, Wang Kai, Han Geng, Tony Yang, Lam Suet, Eddie Cheung

[AlbertV]

The Koei video game Dynasty Warriors, set during the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, is getting a live action movie adaptation. Roy Chow will be directing the film with his wife Christine To writing the script and is set to produce. The news about a movie adaptation was announced in 2016. Chow spent eight months to prepare for the film and filming began last month and will take place for six months.
http://mmoculture.com/2017/07/dynasty-warriors-the-movie-filming-for-live-action-movie-begins/

There has been some casting speculation as Chow was recently seen to have dinner with Han Geng, Darren Wang, and Carina Lau. However, casting has not been official.
http://hktopten.blogspot.com/2017/08/20170813-online-speculation-continues.html

HMV Digital China Group Ltd. will be making the film, after speaking with Koei Tecmo for the past three years about bringing the game to life.

Edited May 6, 2021 by AlbertV

[HyperDrive]

Lu Bu will probably be the main character like the latest Dynasty Warriors game. Wonder how many of the 83 playable characters will be squeezed into the movie though.

[AlbertV]

One character has been confirmed. Justin Cheung is playing Zhang Fei. To prepare for the film, Cheung, who is co-starring alongside Danny Chan in a new series OCTB, gained 15 pounds for the role. http://hktopten.blogspot.com/2017/10/20171024-justin-cheung-gains-15-pounds.html

[AlbertV]

Louis Koo, who is playing Lu Bu, suffered an eye injury during one of the film's action sequences with his own weapon. He had to get eight stitches, which will be removed in ten days but full recovery will take up to 4 weeks. He's still going to finish the film either way.

http://www.jaynestars.com/news/louis-koo-receives-8-stitches-for-eye-injury

Other cast and confirmed roles via Asian Film Strike:

Wang Kai is playing Cao Cao
Ray Lui is playing Yuan Shao
Tony Yang is Liu Bei
Han Geng is Guan Yu
Gulnazar is Diao Chan
Carina Lau is the Master of the Sword Forge Castle

Edited October 27, 2017 by AlbertV

[AlbertV]

On-Set Photos

[whitesnake]

Give Zhang Fei two battleaxes and he's Black Whirlwind from All Men Are Brothers.

[AlbertV]

Philip Keung is playing Zhang Jue

Lam Suet is playing Dong Zhuo

It has been revealed that Eddie Cheung is playing Chen Gong and Law Kar-Ying has joined the cast as Lu Boshe.

Edited November 29, 2017 by AlbertV

[AlbertV]

 

[whitesnake]

Here's a teaser trailer for Dynasty Warriors - from https://twitter.com/AsianFilmStrike   Note the Chinese flag-waving opening -

 

[AlbertV]

Louis Koo (Lu Bu) and Han Geng (Guan Yu) at the Dynasty Warriors global press conference.

Justin Cheung (Zhang Fei), Ray Lui (Yuan Shao), Louis Koo (Lu Bu), Han Geng (Guan Yu), and Lam Suet (Dong Zhuo)

[AlbertV]

The film is still in post-production and there has been negative press about the film's production company, HMV Digital China Group. However, when Stephen Shiu Jr. who produced the film was asked about the film, he said the film is still in post and is expected to come out in the Summer of 2019.

https://www.jaynestars.com/news/louis-koos-dynasty-warriors-affected-by-financing-issues/

[galvatron1976]

Dynasty Warriors” Sees Release After Lengthy Post-Production

Five years after announcements for a screen adaptation, Dynasty Warriors <真・三國無双> is finally here.

Set in the Three Kingdoms period, Louis Koo (古天樂) stars as Lu Bu, Tony Yang (楊祐寧) as Liu Bei, and Wang Kai (王凯) as Cao Cao. The film also stars Carina Lau (劉嘉玲), Han Geng (韩庚), Gulnazar (古力娜扎), Philip Keung (姜皓文), and Ray Lui (呂良偉).

 

Filled with epic battles, the film opens with Liu Bei suppressing the thrilling Yellow Turban Rebellion, which was also the opening event in the literary classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms which the popular video game is based upon.

Director Roy Chow (周顯揚) said, “We have poured a lot of sweat and tears into this production and utilized many resources. We chose to film our war scenes in New Zealand where there are many mountains and forests. We hope that when everyone watches the movie, it will be like they have travelled through New Zealand as well!”

Dynasty Warriors completed filming in 2017, but required a lengthy post production period because of the large-scale battle scenes. Post production was finally completed in August 2020, but the film’s release was subsequently delayed due to the pandemic.

 

https://www.jaynestars.com/news/dynasty-warriors-sees-release-after-lengthy-post-production/

[AlbertV]

I read a mixed review from the South China Morning Post. Apparently they tried to more story-driven but mix it with the action style used in the video games. They gave it a 2.5 out of 5 stars

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3131431/dynasty-warriors-movie-review-video-game-adaptation-adds

I'm still going to check it out when it goes to Netflix this summer...it can't be worse than other certain adaptations (House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark *cough cough*)

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by AlbertV

[AlbertV]

It won't let me embed YouTube videos, but here are

Trailer 1
Trailer 2

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by AlbertV

[Michael L.]

3 hours ago, AlbertV said:

(I)t can't be worse than other certain adaptations (House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark *cough cough*)

 

Pretty much exactly what I was thinking… but on the other side of that same coin, is there a single truly good movie based a video game? I mean, the best video game movie ever is probably the most recent Mortal Kombat  and that was not exactly a great film.

[Qing Long]

Review: https://asianfilmstrike.com/2021/05/07/dynasty-warriors-2021-review/

[AlbertV]

Character posters:

[laagi]

I'm gonna go ahead and say it compared to recent big budget movies (do yourself a favor and check out A Writer's Odyssey @One Armed Boxer I'm expecting a review here ) this looks awful. Especially the CGI has this early 2000's flavor, you know what I mean. On the other hand you got some pretty amazing landscape shots which kind of made me wonder where they filmed this.

Costumes as for most period dramas look good. Fights are as expected totally wacky paired with the aformentioned look; for the most part it's pretty messy.

A good portion of the movie is also talking. You know those great speeches with the occasional passive-agressive laughing. Yeah only here it gets old real quick. Also if you love guys posing on rocks looking heroic you'll feel right at home.

Here's the weird part though. I should kind of hate this movie because it doesn't really get anything right BUT for the most part I was mildly entertained. The beginning even got me kind of going "hey maybe it aint that bad".

Also can we once and for all acknowledge that Louis Koo is not only the busiest man in the business but also goes down the path of Nic Cage in terms of quantity over quality. I mean is there EVER a new movie where he's not in?

Maybe one last thing worth mentioning I never played any of the games. I know them just never got around to it...

[AlbertV]

The film is going to Netflix on July 1.
https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/netflixs-dynasty-warriors-netflix-release-date-what-we-know-so-far/

[laagi]

Just to answer my own question filming took place in New Zealand. So that explains the amazing landscape!

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

I never played the games but I love the book / some of the characters they are based on, so I will probably check it out while not expecting to enjoy it. I don't like the character posters. 

Edited June 17, 2021 by Chu Liu Hsiang

[AlbertV]

Watched it last night and I have to agree with the South China Morning Post. It did feel more like a Three Kingdoms movie, but I have to hand it to Roy Chow and his team. The locales are beautiful, pretty cool battle scenes (with real stunt guys as opposed to CGI) with Musou Mode put in (My favorite is the Hua Xiong fight scene where he challenges and decaps many opponents until he faces Guan Yu), even taking a page from the actual games, they used music that is in Dynasty Warriors 9 and for narrative scenes, Chow pulls off a narrative as if we are watching the game come to life. The highlight IMO? Louis Koo's Lu Bu is a total badass! He's the definition of total evil. When it comes to live-action video game adaptations, it is definitely a middle of the spectrum film.

[Drunken Monk]

Dynasty Warriors fucks up pretty much from the get go. It commits two major crimes: one is its use of terrible looking CGI (it looks fresh from 1997) and the other is that it's just too wordy and boring. This film should have been an all out action flick but the middle features dramatic back and forth conversations that just seem to take forever. 
Because of this, the film feels like an utter dud; which is a shame because, at times, the action is genuinely entertaining. The "magic powers" the major players have are a great concept and really allow the film to be a unique spin on the "big battle" genre.
Louis Koo chews every bit of scenery but it's exactly what this film needs. He plays a larger than life villain with a halberd imbued with lightning power. He's definitely a highlight.

It all kicks off in the last twenty-five minutes and during this time it all gets a bit of redundant with bodies flying everywhere every two minutes. Then we get into the big CGI showdown and while the action is pretty consistently acceptable, there are some very silly moments.

I'd avoid this one. Not only does it not come close to something like Red Cliff, it doesn't even come close to something like Saving General Yang.

[BLfan]

I personally did not enjoy this movie. Never good when the only scene I enjoyed was when Louis Koo picks up a random lady in the middle of nowhere 

[Josh Baker]

I watched the first 20 minutes and was not impressed, despite high production values and sometimes excellent cinematography, it didnt engage me and the CGI was UNBELIEVABLY terrible. 

They shouldn't bother with CGI anymore and go back to the old days where everything was in camera, because the CGI in the opening scene looked like a PS2 cut scene.