Entertainment

Action speaks louder than subtitles

Is nothing sacred? In the schiz ophrenic war epic “The War lords,” Jet Li, the hunky action hero, cries — no, make that sobs — several times. What will his legion of young male fans think?

Li is one of three Asian stars — Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro are the others — in director Peter Chan’s overlong, melodramatic movie, set in 19th-century China and loosely based on real events.

Li is General Pang, who survives by pretending to be dead in a battle that kills his entire 1,600-man army. He’s nursed back to health by a woman (Xu Jinglei), who offers him warm soup and a hot body even though she’s married to a gang leader, Er-hu (Lau), who happens to be away at the time.

The love triangle doesn’t prevent Pang, Er-hu and another bandit (Kaneshiro) from taking a blood oath: “We pledge our lives. Those who bring us harm must die.” Them’s fightin’ words, but action speaks louder than words.

“The Warlords” features gargantuan battles, a well-staged knife fight in the rain, fireworks and a few beheadings. The rest of the time is taken up by a schmaltzy story that will turn off Li’s fans, who go to see him for action, action, action.

At 113 minutes (the original Chinese edition runs 126 minutes), “The Warlords” is overlong. Chan could solve that problem with a quick re-edit, taking out the uninvolving filler — nobody wants to see Jet Li cry and waddle around in an extra-large suit of armor — and leaving in the smartly choreographed action.

The flick would be a lot shorter, but definitely more watchable.

vam@nypost.com