Kingdom 3: The Flame of Destiny

Kingdom 3: The Flame of Destiny (キングダム 運命の炎) is a 2023 Japanese historical war film directed by Shinsuke Sato, based on Yasuhisa Hara's manga series Kingdom. It is a sequel to Kingdom (2019) and Kingdom 2: Far and Away (2022). The film stars Kento Yamazaki, Ryo Yoshizawa,Kanna Hashimoto, Takao Osawa, Masami Nagasawa as returning stars for the film.

A sequel and fourth installment, Kingdom 4: Return of the Great General, was released on July 12, 2024.

Story
The film begins 6 months after the events of the previous movie where the Wei army had marched into the state of Qin. The king of Qin hears news of Li Xin (Shin) being found in the lawless lands where he was training under General Ou Ki (Wang Qi) to become a 100-Man Commander.

The Zhao army begins to invade at this time where they have enacted a massacre of the castle and its citizens as a vengeance to a slaughter that Qin had inflicted upon Zhao many years prior.

The first half of the movie follows a format where Lin Zheng explains to General Ou Ki the reason for his desire to unify China. This part of the story showcases how Lin Zheng made the decisions and words he did and said in the first movie. General Ou Ki makes his decision to become Commander-in-Chief of the Qin army.

The next half of the movie, showcases the large scale battle between Qin and Zhao. In the end, General Ou Ki tasks Shin and his new 100-man unit with the task of sneaking into the left side battlefield to take down the commanding general of that side. As a reward for accepting the task of this assassination attempt, Ouki provides the name of Hi Shin Unit to the unit under Shin. Under Shin's leadership, the Hi Shin Unit successfully reaches the 2nd layer of defenses protecting the left side army. They breakthrough but meet an obstacle in the high slopping mountains where the unit is forced to split in half. Through this action, Shin, Kyokai (Qiang Lei) from the previous movie, and the rest of the unit were able to break through to the enemy headquarters. As the Zhao commander was about to retreat, Shin had delivered the finishing blow that caused the Zhao army to break apart. The left side Qin army arrives in time to reinforce the Hi Shin Unit.

After the Zhao army retreats into the nearby mountain range. Back at the Qin palace, it is learned that there is a hidden Zhao commander who goes by the name of Hou Ken (Pang Nuan) and is the one who killed Great General Kyo (Liao), a fellow commander alongside Shou Bun Kun and Ou Ki. As this same general has approached the camp of the Hi Shin Unit, tt is surmised that Hou Ken has arrived to kill General Ouki after being defeated by him 9 years prior.

Cast

 * Kento Yamazaki as Xin
 * Ryo Yoshizawa as Ying Zheng
 * Kanna Hashimoto as He Liao Diao
 * Nana Seino as Qiang Lei
 * Amane Okayama as Wei Ping
 * Takahiro Miura as Wei Dao
 * Shinnosuke Mitsushima as Bi
 * Kunito Watanabe as Shang Lu
 * Togi Makabe as Pei Lang
 * Sō Kaku as Long Chuan
 * Miou Tanaka as Yuan
 * Takayuki Hamatsu as Ze Gui
 * Kyosuke Yabe as You Yi
 * Yūsuke Hirayama as Meng Wu
 * Riku Hagiwara as Meng Yi
 * Eri Murakawa as You Li
 * Hinako Sakurai as Dong Mei
 * Anne Watanabe as Zhi Xia
 * Yosuke Asari as Ya Men
 * Tetta Sugimoto as Dao Jian
 * Yui Sakuma as Hai Yin
 * Mitsuomi Takahashi as Gan Yang
 * Masaya Kato as Si Shi
 * Masahiro Takashima as Lord Changwen
 * Jun Kaname as Teng
 * Yuki Yamada as Wan Ji
 * Kataoka Ainosuke VI as Feng Ji
 * Koji Yamamoto as Zhuang Zhao
 * Masami Nagasawa as Yang Duan He
 * Hiroshi Tamaki as Lord Changping
 * Kōichi Satō as Lü Buwei
 * Shun Oguri as Li Mu
 * Kōji Kikkawa as Pang Nuan
 * Takao Osawa as Wang Qi

Box office
The films total domestic box office gross is 5.6 billion yen (US$million), making it the fifth top-grossing film of 2023 in Japan.