Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon is a 2008 action war film directed by Daniel Lee and written by Lee and Lau Ho-leung. It is loosely based on parts of the 14th-century Chinese classical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The film had a reported budget of US$25 million and was a joint production between Hong Kong, China and South Korea.""Little Fatty" to Co-Star With Andy Lau in Big Screen Debut." China Radio International. 8 February 2007. Retrieved on 14 January 2012.Elley, Derek. "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon ." Variety. Friday 27 June 2008. Retrieved on 13 January 2012. It stars Andy Lau, Sammo Hung, Maggie Q, Vanness Wu, Andy On, and Ti Lung. It was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 3 April 2008.
The film publicity stated that the film's script was inspired by chapter 92 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Patrick Frater of Variety wrote that the book is often cited as one of the four most important works in the corpus of Chinese literature.Frater, Patrick. "'Kingdom' comes to Arclight Films." Variety. Thursday 3 May 2007. Retrieved on 13 January 2012. The book is also frequently read in South Korea. As the action takes place late in the Three Kingdoms story, the warrior Zhao Zilong, played by Andy Lau, is the lead character.Lee, Hyo-won. "Three Kingdoms." Reuters at The China Post. Friday 4 April 2008. 1 . Retrieved on 13 January 2012. The film was one of two Three Kingdoms-related films produced in 2007, the other being John Woo's two-part 288-minute Red Cliff.
Plot The film is set in the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China. Zhao Zilong, a warrior from Changshan, enlists as a foot soldier in the army of the warlord Liu Bei and befriends Luo Ping'an, a fellow soldier who is also from Changshan. He scores his first victory in a night raid on an enemy camp.
Liu Bei and his forces retreat to Phoenix Heights when they are overwhelmed by the forces of Cao Cao, Liu Bei's rival. When Luo Ping'an fails in his mission to escort Liu Bei's family to safety, Liu Bei's sworn brother Zhang Fei tries to execute him. Zhao Zilong intervenes and engages Zhang Fei and Liu Bei's other sworn brother, Guan Yu, in a spear duel, managing to hold his ground after several rounds. Liu Bei is so impressed that he gives Zhao Zilong his armour, and sends him to save his family. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei provide cover for Zhao Zilong while he searches for survivors. After finding Liu Bei's son Liu Shan, Zhao Zilong straps the infant to his body as he fights his way through enemy lines and charges towards Cao Cao, who has been observing the battle on a cliff. He seizes Cao Cao's sword and leaps to safety on the opposite cliff. Cao Cao's granddaughter, Cao Ying, witnesses the attack. Zhao Zilong later returns to Changshan as a hero and falls in love with a woman putting on a shadow puppet show dedicated to him.
Zhao Zilong continues to fight for Liu Bei and earns himself the nickname "Invincible General" as he has never lost a battle. After Liu Bei becomes emperor of Shu, he names Zhao Zilong one of his Five Tiger Generals alongside Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and Huang Zhong. Following Liu Bei's death, the Shu chancellor Zhuge Liang persuades the new emperor, Liu Shan, to wage war against Shu's rival state Wei. By then, a grey-haired Zhao Zilong is the only Tiger General still alive. He insists on going to battle and brings along Guan Xing (Guan Yu's son), Zhang Bao (Zhang Fei's son), Luo Ping'an and Deng Zhi. Zhuge Liang gives him two envelopes and tells him when to open them.
When the Shu army reaches a fork in the road, Zhao Zilong opens the first envelope and follows the instructions to split the army into two groups. Guan Xing and Zhang Bao lead one group, while he and the others lead the other group. Zhao Zilong later engages Wei forces in battle and slays the four sons of the Wei general Han De. Afterwards, he realises he has fallen into a trap set by Cao Ying, Cao Cao's granddaughter who is now leading the Wei army. Retreating to Phoenix Heights, Zhao Zilong is besieged by the enemy and his troops suffer heavy casualties. He opens the second envelope and learns that Zhuge Liang has planned for him to distract the Wei army, while Guan Xing and Zhang Bao led the other force to capture enemy territory.
After attempts by both sides to provoke each other into attacking, Zhao Zilong duels with Cao Ying and defeats her but lets her go. Although he was injured in the duel, he orders his subordinates to keep it secret from their men so that their morale would not be affected. When the Wei forces advance towards Phoenix Heights, Zhao Zilong allows his subordinates to lead all his troops into battle. The Shu army is almost completely wiped out when the Wei forces use gunpowder traps. Han De and Deng Zhi perish in battle.
Zhao Zilong and Luo Ping'an watch the battle and its aftermath from Phoenix Heights. At the end, Luo Ping'an reveals that he had betrayed Zhao Zilong by revealing their location to the enemy because he had been jealous of Zhao Zilong all these years. Zhao Zilong had been rising through the ranks since he joined the army, while Luo Ping'an had remained a foot soldier. The two men make peace with each other. Luo Ping'an helps Zhao Zilong remove his armour and tearfully beats the war drum as Zhao Zilong makes his final charge towards the enemy.
Cast Andy Lau as Zhao Zilong, the main character. Regarding his performance, Lau said "There are three perspectives on Zhao; historians' professional knowledge, how normal people like us remember him and his character known through a popular computer game. I can't satisfy all these, but I tried to stay true to the script." Sammo Hung said that "Lau had to portray a man from his 20s to 70s, and he did it perfectly, with the look in his eyes and all, particularly in the last scene when an invincible hero loses for the first time." Maggie Q as Cao Ying, a female warrior who wears men's clothing. In the original story, the role was that of a male character. To perform this role, Maggie Q performed several action sequences, learned how to speak Mandarin, and learned how to play the pipa, a Chinese musical instrument. In addition, Maggie Q, a vegan, refused to wear or allow the use of real animal fur during the production of the film, so the costume she wore was made from faux fur instead."PETA Announces the Best-Dressed Celebrities ." PETA Asia Pacific. Retrieved on 13 January 2012. Maggie Q said that at times she felt like an "outsider." In regards to the action sequences, she said "It's tough being in these guy movies, I feel like I'm always in these guy movies, I really want to do a chick flick." and in regards to the music work, she argued that she was "not a musician, not even close! It was a cause of a lot of stress. I would go to sleep crying. I feel myself more clumsy and not so feminine and so I just had shut Maggie off for a while and be this person and really believe it." Maggie said in 2008 that while the film "was probably the most difficult film I've done yet," she obtained "love and respect" for Daniel Lee and "everything attracted me about the role and the film." With regards to her character, she said that like Cao Ying, she "got to feel like that in this industry, where you sort of wish you could just be a woman and relax and be happy but it takes a lot of strength to be where you are." Regarding Maggie Q's performance, Hung said "I had doubts. But she blew me away." Zhang Yujiao played the younger Cao Ying. Sammo Hung as Luo Ping'an, a soldier from the same hometown as Zhao Zilong. Vanness Wu as Guan Xing, Guan Yu's son. Andy On as Deng Zhi, a Shu general and a subordinate of Zhao Zilong. Ti Lung as Guan Yu, Liu Bei's sworn brother and one of the Five Tiger Generals of Shu. Elliot Ngok as Liu Bei, a warlord and the founding emperor of Shu. Pu Cunxin as Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei's advisor and the chancellor of Shu. Chen Zhihui as Zhang Fei, Liu Bei's sworn brother and one of the Five Tiger Generals of Shu. Damian Lau as Cao Cao, a warlord and Liu Bei's rival. Yu Rongguang as Han De, a Wei general and subordinate of Cao Ying. Ding Haifeng as Zhang Bao, Zhang Fei's son. Jiang Hongbo as Ruan'er, Zhao Zilong's romantic interest Wang Hongtao as Huang Zhong, one of the Five Tiger Generals of Shu. Menghe Wuliji as Ma Chao, one of the Five Tiger Generals of Shu. Liang Yujin as Lady Gan, Liu Bei's wife. Bai Jing as Lady Mi, Liu Bei's wife. Zhao Erkang as Ruan'er's father Timmy Hung as Han Ying, Han De's son. Yang Jian as Han Yao, Han De's son. Chen Guohui as Han Jing, Han De's son. Zhang Mang as Han Qi, Han De's son. Hu Jingbo as Liu Shan, the last emperor of Shu. Feng Xiaoxiao played the younger Liu Shan. Andi Setyawan as Han De's son.
Replaced cast Qian Zhijun was originally considered for the role of Liu Shan."草根英雄走出网络大行其道 ." Hangzhou.com.cn. 8 March 2007. Retrieved on 15 May 2011. "小胖，本名钱志君，因为2002年自己无意中的一个表情，五年来被各地网友不断 .... 他来 说最好的机会便是，电影《三国之见龙卸甲》邀请他出演角色，饰演刘备的儿子刘禅。" The film producers said that they invited Qian to act in the film because, in the words of China Radio International, "they think he's a really interesting guy and the movie needs a lighthearted character for comic relief."""Little Fatty" on the Big Screen ." China Radio International at the China Internet Information Center. 8 February 2007. Retrieved on 13 January 2012. An article from the China Film Group Corporation said that the role of Liu Shan suits Qian's appearance and that "Liu Shan was not a very bright person, the Chinese idiom lèbùsī shǔ (樂不思蜀) originated from him, he was unassertive and submissive. To qualify for this role, an actor simply needs to relax his mind completely and have no thoughts. The level of difficulty in playing this character is 2 on a scale of 1 to 5 (in order of increasing level of difficulty).""《赤壁》向左 《见龙》向右之完全PK手册" (Archive). China Film Corporation. 3 April 2008. Retrieved on 14 January 2012. La Carmina of CNN said that Qian's obtaining of the role illustrated that he went "from obscurity to movie stardom".Carmina, La. CNN. 16 March 2010. Retrieved on 11 May 2011. "However, Little Fatty went from obscurity to movie stardom: he played the Last Emperor opposite Maggie Q, Andy Lau and Sammo Hung in Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon." In 2007 the film script was modified due to financing issues. The Liu Shan role was altered, and Qian's planned role in the film was removed."小胖和芙蓉姐姐划清界限 胡戈对内地电影没信心 ." SDNews. 3 July 2007. Retrieved on 19 January 2012. The role of Liu Shan eventually went to Hu Jingbo.
Production The production companies involved in making the film are Visualizer Film Production Ltd, Taewon Entertainment, and SIL-Metropole Organization of mainland China. The individuals who headed the production were Susanna Tsang of Visualizer and Chung Taewon of Taewon. The Hong Kong company Golden Scene took sales rights within East Asia, including Japan. The company Polybona Films took sales rights within mainland China. Arclight Films took the international sales rights to the film, which it distributed under its Easternlight label. Arclight planned to handle the distribution at the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, and all other international points.