Muk gong (Battle of Wits)

2006

Muk gong (Battle of Wits)

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73%

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User Ratings: 3,925

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Movie Info

A lone hero comes to the rescue of a village about to be overrun by a marauding army in this historical epic from Hong Kong. In the year 370 B.C., China has been torn apart by a handful of warring factions, and the Zhao State has set out on a long march to invade and conquer the Yan State. En route, the ten thousand-strong Zhao army will pass through the town of Liang City, home to four thousand souls. Led by Lord Liang (Wang Zhiwen), an ineffectual and alcoholic leader, the people of Liang City fear the worse, and beg the warriors of the Mozi clan to come to their aid in protecting the city. As Zhao general Xiang Yanzhong (Ahn Sung-ki) and his men loom on the horizon, a single Mozi fighter, Ge Li (Andy Lau), arrives in Liang City; while the townspeople are certain the battle is already lost, Li is a brilliant strategist, and convinces the handful of Liang soldiers that they can indeed fend off the Zhao invaders. With the help of Liang cavalry woman Yi Yue (Fan Bingbing) and Zi Tuan (Nicky Wu), a master of the bow and arrow, Li is able to fight the Zhao soldiers to a standstill; however, Lord Liang is humiliated by the success of the interloper, and his right-hand man (Wu Ma) plants seeds of doubt in the villagers' minds about their new champion. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating:

R (for some violence)
Genre:

Action & Adventure, Drama
Directed By:

Chi Leung 'Jacob' Cheung
Written By:

Chi Leung 'Jacob' Cheung
In Theaters:

Nov 23, 2006 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Apr 2, 2007
Runtime:

131 minutes
Studio:

Fortissimo Films

Cast

Andy Lau

Zhiwen Wang

Choi Si-won

Nicky Wu

Ma Wu

Siu-hou Chin

Sany Hung

Wu Chi Lung

Ahn Sung-kee

Choi Si Wan

Bingbing Fan

Tin Chiu Hung

Siu-Ho Chin

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Critic Reviews for Muk gong (Battle of Wits)

All Critics (1) | Fresh (1)

Cheung's film concentrates not so much on fighting itself as the question of what fighting is for, and whether it can ever be justified.

March 24, 2008 | Full Review…

Anton Bitel
Eye for Film

View All Critic Reviews (1)

Audience Reviews for Muk gong (Battle of Wits)

Feb 28, 2010

haha... i pretty much disagree with everyone who's previously rated it. to me it's an almost biblical type story and it's done well on an epic scale. i didn't see any faults with the film...

Sanity Assassin ! Super Reviewer
Nov 24, 2009

Enjoyed the many fighting maneuvers!

Nikki M Super Reviewer
Feb 07, 2008

Better than what I expected; apart from the the understandably not-up-to-Hollywood-blockbusters CGI and the, in my opinion, unnecessary love plot, I felt the story was very solid and stayed true to its central theme.

Sheldon C Super Reviewer
Dec 23, 2007

When a city state comes under siege by a conquering army commanded by a celebrated strategist, they meet their match in the form of a pacifist warrior dispatched by a friendly nation to aid their allies. With Andy Lau as its star and Jacob Cheung, the action director of Hero, at the helm you expect something pretty spectacular from Battle Of Wits, but despite its epic scale and inventive battle sequences it seems more interested in lecturing the viewer on the dubious morality of warfare than anything else. This means that Cheung spends at least as much time and energy on pseudo-intellectual and rather naive waffle as he does playing to his strengths so that even when visual spectacle and action comes to the fore it's not long before it's interrupted for yet another ham-fisted speech to remind us that "killing is bad". It does have its moments but Cheung confuses sentimentality and manipulation for drama and the characters never feel like real people; just ciphers to get his rather clumsy point across. Some may find the battle sequences worth the rather long-winded effort, but Red Cliff did something very similar and did it a lot better.

xGary X Super Reviewer