
Very entertaining and quite gory for a change. The Chinese seem to excel at this type of movie and, of course, the cinematography is excellent.
It's set during the Taiping Rebellion in China which overlapped the period of the American Civil War on both sides by several years. Deaths incurred during the ACW were between 600-700,000. Over 20
million people died during the Rebellion. When you consider this was a blackpowder period, combined with medieval swords, spears and bows and arrows, the toll is mind-boggling.