The story, told from Cao Cao's point-of-view, are the events that took place during Guan Yu's stay with Wei and his crossing of the five gates on his way to rejoining Liu Bei.
The first scene shows the preparations for Guan Yu's burial. The rest of the movie is a flashback of the events. Cao Cao is shown here on a more positive light. His conversations with Guan Yu showed his understanding of the concept of freedom, prosperity and peace. Guan Yu always opposed his ideas and sought to challenge every concept that Cao Cao puts forth. Cao Cao however is intent on bringing him to his side and would try to appease the famous warrior with gifts.
Guan Yu has a love interest in this movie. He met Qilan in the distant past and fell in love with her. It was also shown that he killed several men who attempted to do her wrong. Qilan, now Liu Bei's concubine, and the rest of her family were under Cao Cao's protection.
When Cao Cao learned about Guan Yu's feelings for the lady, he instructed Xu Zhu to place an aphrodisiac in Guan Yu's food in hopes that the latter would defile his brother's concubine. The plan failed and soon thereafter, Guan Yu decided to leave.
Cao Cao instructed his officers to let Guan Yu walk away. But they felt that it was an unwise decision and so they sent instructions to stop Guan Yu. The resistant forces all claimed the order came from the Emperor.
Cao Cao decided to intervene and and clear things up. He even managed to convince Guan Yu to kill Yuan Shao for him. But the plans didn't come to fruition when Guan Yu and Qilan were attacked by assassins. He was on his way to sending Qilan home but the lady confessed her love for him. Guan Yu refused because he didn't want to betray his brother. Qilan stabbed him.
After confronting the assassins, he had a chance to talk to Cao Cao again. He decided not to stay and told Cao Cao that he won't succeed in bringing peace to the country.
The final scene shows again Guan Yu's funeral. It was not shown how Guan Yu was killed but if the viewer is already familiar with the story, s/he will understand Cao Cao's claim that it was the others that killed Guan Yu.
The fight scenes in this movie are awesome. Guan Yu however seemed almost invincible even when he was facing several men. The only time he got injured was when he didn't dodge the poison thrown at him by a friend. Then again, it's fitting for a god. The film also showed Cao Cao's practical side, which most people often misinterpret him as being a scheming and exploiting leader. But it didn not sacrifice his image as an intelligent and revolutionary leader. I liked how the contrast of their ideals was made the focal point of most of the scenes.
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| Cao Cao |
***
Cast:
Donnie Yen as Guan Yu
Jiang Wen as Cao Cao
Betty Sun as Qilan
Shao Bing as Zhang Liao
Directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong
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