A joint project between Chinese and Korean investors started in 2007 and released in April 2008 in Asia, Resurrection of the dragon was marketed as an epic movie based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel; sadly for us, it turned out to be more of an epic trailer than anything else.

Directed by Daniel Lee, a not-so-famous director whose past productions were definitely lacking (Star Runner, Dragon Squad), Three Kingdoms’ trailer showcased during Cannes Film Festival of 2007 was promising. Casting Andy Lau, Maggie Q and Sammo Hung, displaying an original artistic direction and focusing on the life of one hero of the novel (Zhao Zilong, played by Andy Lau), it looked like everything was in it for a great ride.

The movie revolves around the life of Zhao Zilong (Zhao Yun), a general of the Shu kingdom who has to defend its country against the kingdom of Wei, led by Cao Cao’s grand-daughter Cao Ying (a fictional character created for the movie, played by Maggie Q). The story depicts him as an old man reaching his last battle, as well as some of his early days’ deeds.
Zhao Yun is famous among fans of the novel as one of the five tiger generals of the Shu kingdom, an almost perfect warrior of fantastic strength and perfect loyalty to his master, glorified for his many heroic deeds. One the paper, choosing to focus on one hero of the novel seemed like a clever script decision, leaving room for better characters development and more drama than if it was purely a tale of war.

An interesting aspect of the movie is that it takes huge liberties with historical accuracy, with videogames-like costumes and weapons, insane fighting moves and completely made-up events and characters. While some fans might scream in horror, I was personally hooked by this original approach to the classic story.
And it was a good marketing choice as well since “Battle of Red Cliff”, the John Woo project also based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel and coming out this July, chose to take the historically accurate path. Both competing as the “Three Kingdoms movie of the year”, it was a wise move for Resurrection of the dragon to adopt a different approach rather than fight it directly.

But the final product is far, far away from being an epic jewel. First of all, actors were dubbed in post-production, which makes the movie sound like an old Hong Kong flick. It’s especially painful for Maggie Q, who ends up with a totally different voice from her own one and not so synchronized lips movement. Then we have messy fighting scenes, cool-looking but never shot under the same angle, which makes them incomprehensible. And dear god, what happened with the script? Let it be known, if you don’t know the original novel you will probably end up totally confused, as famous characters of the book come and go without any introduction at all, the movie assuming straight from the start that you know your history. So much for my hopes of character development…
Andy Lau fits his role, the man being born to play dramatic hero warriors, but has no chance to shine since his character is so underdeveloped. So what we get in the end is a collection of cool looking scenes corresponding to different slices of the life of Zhao Zilong, with huge ellipses of time between each and no details about what happened, with characters showing up without any other introduction than their name and then disappearing totally, making you wonder why the director bothered to cast them in the first place since their relations to Zhao Zilong and their implications are never explained. The movie as a whole looks like a giant trailer for a longer version of itself. This extremely weird unfolding of the story makes you wonder if the original script was not supposed to be more fleshed out, but had to be drastically cut due to time and budget constraints.

As a huge investment project between China and Korea, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the dragon is a huge disappointment and waste of potential. The actors could definitely play attaching characters telling us a touching story, but lack the lines to do so. The costumes and settings are classy and eye-catching, but are wasted on a plot full of holes. The fighting scenes could be great, but need a little more polish. The Music sets up an epic and dramatic atmosphere, but the script fails to catch up to it…

Resurrection of the dragon should have been the tale of a brave warrior who dedicated his whole life to his country and goals, an interesting reflection on the implications of such responsibilities over the life of a man, and an original vision of the classic novel. It will be remembered instead as a beautiful but hollow movie, a giant waste of potential. Or not remembered at all …

- By Jonathan Chan

2007 Cannes Film Festival “Three Kingdoms Resurrection of the dragon” trailer