Although I really dislike the director's decision to portray Yu Da You as a militarily incompetent idiot, I still love this character to death. Rare is the day when one will see this Chinese hero and martial arts legend on the big screen, and rarer still to see him kicking ass and taking names with a humble quarterstaff.For those uninformed, real life Yu Da You's skill in quarterstaff was the stuffs of legend (pun intended). Yu Da You's own teacher proclaimed him to be the best in the world, and he was unimpressed with Shaolin martial arts and later TAUGHT his martial arts to the monks. He even single-handedly (literally, as in he worked completely alone) subdued several powerful bandit and Wokou factions using his fearsome reputation, clever diplomacy and, on one occasion, by straight up killing the bandit leader.Incidentally, in his younger days actor Sammo Hung once played as a Wokou leader that fought against Yu Da You in an obscure movie called

The mandarins.









What I dislike

He is not even looking at his target!

noted elsewhere in this blog, Ming army already had access to matchlock weaponry for decades before events in the movie took place. In fact, Ming arquebusiers were explicitly deployed in all major battles in the movie. Asin this blog, Ming army already had access to matchlock weaponry for decades before events in the movie took place. In fact, Ming arquebusiers were explicitly deployed in all major battles in the movie.





San Yan Chong (三眼銃) only became somewhat more prevalent during the last years of the Ming Dynasty, so even if the director wanted to emphasise the technological backwardness of Ming army, he should have gone for single-shot handgonne like Shen Qiang (神鎗) instead. Also,only became somewhat more prevalent during the last years of the Ming Dynasty, so even if the director wanted to emphasise the technological backwardness of Ming army, he should have gone for single-shot handgonne likeinstead.









The climatic battle.

I do like those long Japanese arrows though.

This may sounds anticlimactic, but historically Qi Ji Guang only lost a grand total of THREE MEN in Battle of Hua Jie (花街之戰), the climatic battle of the movie. The battle was so one-sided in favour of Qi Ji Guang that it wouldn't make for an interesting story, so (I think) the director had to intentionally "dial up the difficulty level" by inflating the number of Wokou in that battle and adding a whole bunch of actual samurai into the mix.





Not that it matters, because Qi Ji Guang really did fight Wokou numbering tens of thousands and unusually well-disciplined and well-equipped Wokou elsewhere. He slaughtered them all the same.









The mandarins in this movie are portrayed with accurate costumes: Mandarin hats without jade hatpins (hatpin was a Qing practise) and plain, undecorated mandarin robes in appropriate colours with rectangular. Took them long enough to finally get the details mostly right (although the sleeves should be narrow and the belts look odd).Hu Zong Xian can be seen in the movie dressed in a red mandarin robe with a tiger badge, indicating him as a military official of the third rank (outranking both Qi Ji Guang and Yu Da You), while the fat Zhao Da He (趙大河) pictured above is wearing a blue mandarin robe with a bird badge (most likely a), indicating him as a civil official of the seventh rank (thus ranked below Qi Ji Guang, a fourth rank military official).And yes,I am sure many of us wage slaves can relate to the terrible workplace environment of Ming generals — uncaring superior that decides the target and deadline for you, but has no expertise/understanding on the actual situation and provides zero support (if not actively working against you). On top of this, he pins all the blame on you if you fail, and robs you of your accomplishment if you succeed. Your colleagues are either incompetent, or they are caught up in their own troubles (caused by the same uncaring superior) and thus helpless.This is in stark contrast to the Japanese/Wokou side, where wisdom and experience are respected, and leaders are given full freedom to carry out the mission in any way they see fit. Yet subordinates do not shy away from voicing their own opinions or even questioning their leader's decision, while leaders readily listen to advice and criticism. When push comes to shove, the leader took up responsibility with grace and dignity to give his talented underlings a second chance.Now I am sure not all of these are historically accurate, but they add to the depth of the story greatly. I am especially appreciative of the superb performance of Yasuaki Kurata (倉田保昭). There are something unique, something nuanced, in the ways Japanese people speak, interact with each other, and in their general mannerism that cannot be done right unless the actors are actual Japanese themselves.I literally went "yeeehaw" when I saw this scene. As ridiculous as these so-called "mud horses" look, they are real, and Qi Ji Guang really did use these sleds against the Wokou (although not in the way depicted in the movie).— The Washington Post movie reviewNow you know why Ming army favoured small unit tactics. Too bad the movie fails to make full use of it (see below).Awesome. Crossbow was so last century anyway.This is actually par for the course for most "historical" movies from China, so I am not especially upset about it. That being said, the director at least spent some efforts to make the costumes appear slightly more historically accurate and not overly gritty (although some helmets still look like they are modified from Jacky Chan's), so credit where credit's due.Many inaccurate portrayals of weapons are explained elsewhere in this blog. Notable ones include (and Qi Ji Guang did not invent the weapon) , Qing-era tiger forks in place of Tang Pa (钂鈀) , and bulletproof rattan shields Japanese side is full of inaccuracies as well. Notable examples include the lack ofhairstyle, reflective golden fans, out of place manga illustrations, explosives that can blast through a freaking town gate,, mobile shields, and zillion-folded lightsaber katana that cuts through other sword like it is made of tissue paper. Also, as much as I applaud the director's effort to reconstruct an accurate Japanese ship, Chinese junks would be far more appropriate for the last escape scene in the movie due to general unseaworthiness of Japanese ship.Oh, if you are wondering why some Chinese troops can be seen wearing sashimono (指物) or back-mounted banners, that's because historically they did. However Chinese back banners are likely triangular, not rectangular.While Vincent Zhao is undoubtedly a great martial arts actor, he and most actors in this movie clearly have no understanding on the art of archery. One of the most glaring errors is that there's no thumb draw ! Korean movies certainly have the Chinese soundly beaten in this particular field.Besides, I am sure many kyūdō (弓道) practitioners will cringe at the sight of the ridiculous "jump and shoot" scene.While large enough to be considered a handheld cannon,(大鉄砲), more commonly known as(抱え大筒), can only shoot solid musket balls or incendiary. It is also usually shot from a lean forward body position, not standing upright.As a side note, I also think that the weapon is somewhat anachronistic.No, no, no, you can't shoot alike that! The cannon is staked to the ground before firing for a reason. Its recoil will kill you outright!What irk me the most about this scene is that, for all the supposed tactical genius of Qi Ji Guang, he still has to rely on this timely "cannon to the rescue" to win the climatic battle, and that is despite the fact that some of his opponents are acting on impetus and disobeying order.If you go to the movie looking for some authentic and historically accurate military actions, you will be sorely disappointed. The war scenes of this movie look like they're coming out of the ridiculous John Woo's, and there's noin action either. I can't help but feel that none of the Chinese screenwriters really know how to do a proper war scene.What a shame and a wasted opportunity, because urban combat and counter-ambush tactic were some of the Qi Ji Guang's most notable specialities. In fact, Qi Ji Guang himself used his success at Battle of Hua Jie as an example to demonstrate his counter-ambush tactic in Ji Xiao Xin Shu (《紀效新書》)!