It's great to be able to start off with a good movie. Starting off with some background, A Battle of Wits is a joint venture from Chinese, Korean, and Japanese funding. The announced budget for the movie was $16 million, putting it alongside other recent big-budgeted Chinese films. Considering that Mission Impossible III had a budget of $110 million and King Kong had a budget of $207 million, A Battle of Wits is a rather impressive achievement.
A Battle of Wits is set in the Warring States era, when China was split into many small countries. When a small city-state of 4000 troops is threatened by a force of 100,000 troops, one man (played by Andy Lau), a follower of the teachings of Mozi answers the call to defend the city. However, this is not a fairy tale. Jealousy sets in soon after the city fends off the first wave of attacks. The film attempts to provoke thoughts about life and war through careful pacing of the movie, with bits of action interspersed by seemingly-natural dialogue from the characters. In this area, this movie is a complete success, as ultimately, even while set in a setting of war and chaos, this is an anti-war movie.
Released during a period of intense competition from other films set in ancient China, The Banquet and Curse of the Golden Flower, A Battle of Wits wins hands down. Rather than going for the tired approach of showing off some wonderful vistas in the backdrop, A Battle of Wits attempts to depict the reality of war - but not through gore. Instead, the entire movie is literally various shades of grey and brown. There are no vivid colors to be found here.
The acting in the movie is hit-and-miss. Andy Lau and Sung-kee Ahn (Ahn's involvement points to his earlier film, Musa, as a definite inspiration to this film) are definite veterans of the stage and it shows, although nothing noteworthy comes to mind. Other performers could use more polish, although nothing faulty stands out either. One gripe I have with the movie is the editing, which is bad for a "big-budgeted" movie. Scene transitions are awful, with disorienting fade-outs and fade-ins. There is one short scene in which I could see nothing as well as other scenes that seem shortened. I sincerely hope a Director's Cut comes out soon. Another area I found surprising was the lack of a strong soundtrack. I have come to expect soundtracks such as that in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or that in The Myth, but in A Battle of Wits, there is hardly any music at any point of the movie, which I believe would have helped to enhance the picture on screen.
Even though there are problem areas, A Battle of Wits is a very good effort. Its philosophical message is evident at its conclusion, and, similar to Hero, I believe the film requires more than one pass to fully grasp its meaning. I strongly recommend A Battle of Wits to anyone seeking more than mindless action.
Pros: Good plot, strong leading actors, thought-provoking, believable depiction of ancient China
Cons: Bad editing, lack of soundtrack, amateurish acting in some parts
Conclusion: Watch this!
Final score: 4/5
Enjoy this movie's awesome accompanying posters:
(The actors in the last five images are: Si Won Choi, Sung-kee Ahn, Nicky Wu, Bingbing Fan, and Andy Lau)
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