E3 | FILM: Dynasty Warriors

<p>☆<strong>1 out of 5 ☆ </strong>stars from me</p><p>Dynasty Warriors isn’t the video game-to-film adaptation you’ve been waiting for. Dating back to 1997, and composed of nine separate games, the hack-n-slash action franchise is a single-player tactical role-playing game that on first blush lends some potential for a cinematic rendering. For one, the over-the-top battles should equate to big-screen action sequences. The epic world-building allows plenty of creative flexibility. And the historical lore ought to imbue the proceedings with a potent aura. But director Roy Hin Yeung Chow’s Dynasty Warriors is a two-hour slog, missing the dumb hijinks and sharp fighting precision needed for an ultra-fun adventure.</p><p>The script for Dynasty Warriors is tragically underwritten. Three traveling soldiers Liu Bei (Tony Yo-ning Yang), Guan Yu (Geng Han), and Zhang Fei (Justin Cheung)—drawn together by honor and loyalty to the Han dynasty—work to restore the child emperor Liu Bian to the throne following the takeover of his nefarious chancellor Dong Zhuo (Suet Lam). Chow and screenwriter Chi-long To expect viewers to have a healthy dose of prior knowledge. It’s why the characters are without any type of backstory: how the trio of warriors came to unite or their individual origins. But unless you’ve played one or more of the games, you’ll be totally lost.</p><p>Worse yet, Chow makes little effort to connect any of the hanging threads. The most powerful fighter in Dong Zhuo’s army, Lu Bu (Louis Koo), surprisingly falls in love with his commander’s unknown lover Diao Chan (Coulee Nazha). The committed Cao Cao (Kai Wang), a loyal servant to the young emperor who’s prepared to sacrifice everything and everybody to restore the Han dynasty to power, carries out a bloody heinous crime that’s never revisited.</p><p>And the three soldiers, who are granted a trippy hallucinogenic vision and powerful weapons by the mystical Master of the Sword Forge Castle (Carina Lau), never display the combined might one would expect from