Sometime title can mislead you.
Battle of Wits
I thought this movie is about battle and rivalry between two great minds.
One is Ge Li (Andy Lau), a Mozi that helps a small city to defend themselves.
The other one is Zhao Commander, who wants to invade the city just as a stepping stone to other bigger city.
The story is shifting to a philosophical and moral theme, and I think it tries to achieve all aspects of a war.
About the war itself (the strategy, the battle).
About describing citizen’s dilemma in facing war: surrendering or fighting.
About the king’s jealousy (or fear, or just over-reaction) by the popularity of Ge Li.
About Geli’s relationship with a woman.
About rebellion, etc.
Although the film is very long, it’s still too ambitious to cover all of this angles.
So in every angle, it is like half-done.
For example, in term of battle scenes… it’s poor compared to other war movies.
But don’t worry, the movie itself is not that bad.
Still enjoyable, but after watching this movie, you will question the title, and will find it difficult to categorize this movie.
So, I put it as ‘foreign’ movie 🙂