Let's take yet another ride on the historical epic train, which seems to be running on a 24/7 schedule lately, with the genre dominating local screens, at least when it comes to releases that have any sort of budget to them. Like most of its' contemporaries, Confucius doesn't end up really teaching the audience anything about its' subject, but is decent enough fare nonetheless. But how long will Hong Kong and Chinese producers be able to go to the well without bringing up diminishing returns?

Perhaps that's a question best left for another day. At any rate, the movie concentrates on the portion of Confucius' (referred to in the film by his family name, Kong Qiu) life from around 500 BC to his death in 479 BC. Confucius serves in the court of the Liu empire, who is trying to defend itself from attackers on all sides.

Using clever tactics rather than violence, Confucius gains major victories, and soon moves up the ladder of power, which makes some others in the court jealous, to the point where they create a scheme to get Confucius banned from the kingdom. As he wanders from land to land with his followers in tow, Confucius tries to keep his beliefs and morals intact in an increasingly chaotic world.

Besides a few sub-par CGI shots, Confucius is a technically well-made movie. Like many films of the type, the cinematography and set design are top-notch, making this a nice movie to look at. And Confucius isn't a slow-moving affair, either. It's not wall-to-wall action (in fact, there are really only a couple of short battle scenes) but it's not the talky and plodding pseudo-intellectual torture that pops up far too often in the genre.

Despite this, as Confucius is not an action picture, one would think they would at least come away with some idea of who Confucius really was. To his credit, Chow Yun-Fat (even through a Mandarin dub) brings a nice sense of gravitas to the role. But even that can't bring Confucius to having much more weight than the fortune cookies the scholar's sayings are often printed on.

The film-makers go to great pains, via end title cards, to hammer the point that Confucius is regarded as the world's greatest scholar. But how did he get there? The actions Confucius takes, their results, and thus the movie as a whole, comes off more of a series of coincidences, rather than a thoughtful journey.

RATING: 5