By Parinyaporn Pajee

Daily Xpress

Making a movie from a novel as complex as the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" isn't easy.

But Daniel Lee makes a good show with the 650-year-old epic. And casting a superb Andy Lau as warrior Zhao Zilong (Ju Long in Thai) as the hero helps. He's a common man who rises through the ranks to command an army battling an evil warlord.

Sammo Hung co-stars as Zilong's sworn brother Ping-an, who serves as narrator. In a contrived, awkward role created for this movie, Maggie Q portrays the fiesty niece of warlord Cao Cao.

There are brief cameos by some of the 1,000 characters of the book, including Cao Cao, Zhuge Liang and the four Tiger Generals, played with gusto by such veteran actors as Ti Lung, Yueh Hua and Damian Liu Song Ren. There is little room for female characters. The male stars, however, shine.

The mood is gloomy at times, different from other recent Chinese epics. compensation comes with the bright score, a mix of Chinese opera with contemporary classical.