The Warrior's Way

Never ceases to amaze me how a movie can move an audience in polar opposite ways. It's probably the expectations - so if you go in to have some escapist fun, action and swordplay, you won't be disappointed.

So, why will I be happy to rewatch this grossly underrated movie that's avoided me for the first four years of its life tsk tsk: a simple story combining the Seven Samurai and Silas Marner (kinda), intoxicating mix of humor, gorgeous grotesqueness and visual splendour . . . and a love story that did not force itself on the surreal action thread.

One of the hallmarks of a good film has to be how much love a writer director puts into the details and in this, it is clear Lee Sngmoo has nurtured this baby for a while: superb production, lovely setups and payoffs.

Oh, make my decade and give us a sequel already!

Amazing for a first time director. Bravo! Bravo!

Sometimes a film has everything going for it on paper and yet somehow manages to mess itself up. 'The Warrior's Way' is actually the opposite. Nothing really should work here and yet it all falls together to make a highly-watchable film.

Dong-Gun Jang is the titular 'warrior,' but don't feel too bad if you haven't heard of him as - apparently - this was his first Hollywood film. He plays an oriental fighter who leaves his native land in disgrace when he finds he's unable to kill the infant heir of a rival clan. It goes without saying that the story takes place in the past - this sort of thing doesn't happen that much these days (hopefully!). So he heads to the 'Wild West' of America where he settles down in a tiny desert town and looks after his (adopted) daughter. Unfortunately, the clan who he fell foul of has other ideas and follow him over.

However, don't expect wall-to-wall martial arts action from the off. I hope it's not too much of a 'spoiler' to say that all these evil ninjas don't follow him straight away, leaving plenty of time for our hero to get to know his new townsfolk. And, if you see any of the marketing surrounding this movie you'll notice that the cast who have obviously been classed as 'more familiar' to our Western audiences take prominent positions, namely Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush and Danny Huston. They're all good, but only get top billing due to most people not knowing who Dong-Gun Jang is and that's a shame for him as he's more than capable of headlining a film like this.

Don't worry, there's plenty of great action thrown in there, but also a suprising amount of character development thrown in. A lot of people have mentioned how 'CGI' it looks. Oddly enough, I'm one of those people who hates computer-generated special effects and finds that - sometimes - too much of them can completely ruin a film for me. However, here they just seem to work. And they don't come much more excessive that in 'The Warrior's Way.' I doubt there were more than a couple of sets built for the entire production, as almost all the backgrounds are done (or looked like it to me!) on a green screen.

So, despite looking much like a hour and a half long Playstation 2 cut-scene, the film actually jogs along nicely. There's humour, fun, characters you'll care about and obviously a couple of evil baddies who you'll want to see get what's coming to them. If you like your martial arts films on the light-hearted side and have a strong tolerance to CGI effects then this is definitely worth a watch.

I haven't heard anything about this movie prior to watching it. I saw Mr. Rush on the casting list and decided that I wanted to see it. I found this movie to be very interesting and different.

I am a sucker for beautiful visual effects, therefore I found this movie to be worthy of a high rating. Everything seemed very different because of the combination of various genres (western, action, martial arts, comedy & romance). I have also got a new found respect for Kate Bosworth because she pulled the part of so beautifully. This is a major accomplishment for director Sngmoo Lee, as this is his first movie ever.

But my all time favorite thing about this movie was the adorable little baby. I loved her cute facial expressions.

'THE WARRIOR'S WAY': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

First time filmmaker Sngmoo Lee writes and directs this martial arts East meets West western fantasy ninja comedy epic. It stars Asian superstar Dong-gun Jang and co-stars Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, Danny Huston, Lung Ti and Tony Cox. The film is very odd and kind of a mess but it's also very beautiful and packed with stylized battle scenes. I have mixed feelings about the film going experience as a whole but there's definitely a lot to like here!

The film is set in the 19th century and tells the story of a ninja assassin named Yang (Jang), who's recently taken over the title of greatest swordsman ever, who's on the run from his clan after refusing to kill a baby, the last member of their enemy. He hides out, with the baby, in a run down town in the American West where a new circus group is starting up. There he befriends an assortment of odd characters including a drunk gunman (Rush) and a beautiful young knives thrower (Bosworth), who he of course develops feelings for. He learns to love his new life until his past tracks him down.

Dong-gun Jang is a fantastic leading man action hero and Lee's directing style is interesting. The supporting cast is all adequate, with Huston and Rush chewing up the scenery (Bosworth, one of my favorites, is a little oddly cast). The film is breathtakingly beautiful at times with a classic epic old film style look to it and there's some great homage played to Sergio Leone of course. The film is a little too all over the place for me though and a tad too goofy. It reminds me in a lot of ways to the type of films Stephen Chow has put out but not quite as good. It is entertaining in a lot of ways though and has at least something pleasing to offer almost any viewer. It's the type of film that most people will either love or hate, unless you're like me. This is the type of movie I can appreciate and enjoy in parts.

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Imagine a Sergio Leone western with swords. The setting is as sparse as the dialogue but you don't sit through one of his works for the acting or the plot. Warrior's Way is like that. What it lacks is made up in other ways. The choreography is above average, the CGI seamless and the set pieces pure art. And it's all cleverly portrayed, captured and presented. An enjoyable little gem from the genre.