The Warriors Gate

It may wear its tag of being the first significant 'French-Chinese co-production' proudly on its sleeve, but 'The Warrior's Gate' is really no more than a rehash of another East-meets-West action comedy that you may remember from about a decade ago called 'The Forbidden Kingdom'. Like the latter, it sends an American teenager back to ancient China where he learns to summon the warrior inside of him and teams up with a noble companion to save a kingdom from the clutches of an evil warlord. Like the latter, its humour is based on self-aware anachronism and its action of the traditional 'wushu' variety. And last but not least, like the latter, it lets its modern-day Caucasian male protagonist fall in love with a steely yet gentle female from that era, the inter-ethnic coupling not only to pander to the teenage demographic but also to ensure its appeal to audiences on both sides of the continent. And yet, if you're willing to put aside the obvious similarities, you're likely to find this reiteration more entertaining than you're expecting it to be.

Such faint praise however is also premised on little expectation at the start, which is a prerequisite for any manner of enjoyment. You should not, in the first instance, expect it to make much sense, for it gives scant regard to logic or coherence. As its hero Jack Bronson (newcomer Uriah Shelton) does, you should simply accept with little question that the English-speaking Chinese warrior Zhao (Mark Chao) in steel armour and straw hat who suddenly appears next to his bedside one evening has indeed travelled through a time portal in a waist-height drum-shaped chest he had received as a gift from the antiques dealer he helps out at after school. You should also accept the warrior's explanation that the young lady who shows up with him dressed like a princess (Ni Ni) is indeed one, and that she is on the run from some very terrible people. And while we're at it, you should accept that you are the hero they seek called 'The Black Knight' – because that is the name of your avatar in a similar video game – and not hesitate to journey back in time to fulfil your destiny. Like we said, disbelief is pointless if you intend to buy into its premise.

And so begins a fantasy adventure that sees Jack jump into the portal when said Princess Sulin is kidnapped by fierce-looking Mongol and Viking-like warriors and taken back to ancient China, where the barbarian named 'Arun the Cruel, the Horrible, the Terrible, the Miserable' (or 'Arun the Cruel' in short, played by Dave Bautista) has arranged their forced marriage in order to become Emperor. Jack thus teams up with Zhao to journey across the undulating lands to Arun's lair, with some timely help here and there from a trickster wizard named Wu (Francis Ng) who may or may not have something to do with Jack's current predicament. Theirs is a buddy trip, where encounters with a vile mountain spirit (Kara Wai) and a trio of wicked witches (think Macbeth) will foster the bond of brotherhood between them, such that Zhao will come to teach Jack the basics of kung fu and Jack will impress upon Zhao how the latter's life could be a happier place if he simply learnt to have fun from time to time.

It is no mystery whether Jack and Zhao will rescue Princess Sulin in time before her fateful marriage with Arun, or for that matter if Jack will eventually turn out to be the valiant 'Black Knight' that prophecy had foretold. Neither the climactic rescue on the morning of the forced union nor the ensuing one-on-one between Jack and Arun will raise your pulse – you've probably seen bigger, better and more exciting ones from China/ Hong Kong period war epics like this year's 'Call of Heroes'. Indeed, what's more notable is how director Matthias Hoene balances comedy and drama to keep the tone jocular without being satirical and thoughtful without being melodramatic. That is really more difficult than it looks, considering its far- fetched premise and the tendency of such East-West mishmashes to end up reinforcing the worst cultural stereotypes of each. It is these same sensitivities that inform the somewhat multiple endings, which suffice to say are specifically crafted in order not to land up forcing Jack and Sulin to choose his or her world over the other.

In the end, the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously is essentially why this potential misfire turns out a pleasant surprise by being mildly winning. Like we said at the start, we weren't expecting much from this rip-off of 'The Forbidden Kingdom', which was itself diverting but disposable entertainment. The same can be said of 'The Warrior's Gate', but at least not Hoene or its French co-writers (Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen) or its East-West cast deny. Heck, even the typical over-the-top villain such as Arun gets in on the fun with a running joke about his over-enthusiastic but dull right-hand man Brutus who keeps executing the wrong person. The young lead cast of Shelton, Chao and Ni Ni also have good chemistry between them, such that we root for the Shelton and Chao as well as Shelton and Ni Ni as buddies and lovers respectively from two different eras. As long as you keep your expectations right, you won't end up disappointed, which is pretty much already an accomplishment for a movie like this that you're probably thinking will bomb.

A bit funny, but trying too hard only to give us a mindless entertainment. With the presence of a very good actor Dave Bautista and an action-packed trailer, it's very unfortunate to get what seems to be a spoiled food out of a sought after delicacy.The cast has a lot of potentials however they were all murdered by poor scripting, and exaggerated acting by some actors.The plot is somehow interesting, to see some kind of a gamer turned to be the actual hero himself, but only turned out to be a cheesy fantasy action film that only exists if there's a beautiful woman to be saved.Another downside of the film were its special effects, where it seems to forget that it's already 2000's and we are in the era where visual effects are one of the most significant factors when it comes to fantasy films.Anyway, despite these disadvantages, the movie delivered decent action sequences (martial arts and sword fights) and a cool bike chase scene.

Especially like Dave Bautista as the villain in this movie. Bautista's proving to be a very entertaining guy. Not on the level of The Rock just yet when It comes to wrestlers turn actors but definitely someone I will look out for if he's in a movie.

The warriors gate is the wishful fantasy of all gamers. That the skills they required while putting in long hours in front of a game screen could possibly pay off in real life. Of course we don't want gamers going around mimicking Grand Thief Auto or thinking combat from your couch playing Call of Duty is as real as real combat.

Which is why the movie used a backdrop of ancient China (That and the movie was backed by Chinese mula). It's a classic game plot of a young hero having to though the Terran, battle an army of warriors, and get to the last master in order to save the princess and free her world, and the movie plays out like a group of geeks talking about the stereotypes of video games on some YouTube video.

Aiding this gamer is a Chinese Kung Fu warrior breed Form birth to protect the princess and a wizard who gives you special potions and stuff along the way. Both of these characters are actually greatly underused in this film to. The movie holds a resemblance to 2008's the Forbidden Kingdom, which also under uses it's primary characters(Those characters being played by superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li). I would actually recommend seeing that movie over this one.

The best part of the Eneters the Warriors Gate is the relationship between the gamer and his Kung fu master guide. The gamer is suppose to be a fish out of water, but mostly the movie is about the gamer trying to loosen up his uptight warrior friend. Like I said the film's whole persona is basically geeks talking about the basics of every game.

Just OK, but Jackie Chan and Jet Li did do it batter a few years ago in The Forbidden Kingdom. The action and adventure escalates perfectly like a game getting more difficult, but at times it does get far too long as it's a lot of talk that does not seem to end when it should, but it's worth taking a look just to see Bautista's perfect cartoon villainy.

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The word on the street was that this was a riff on one of my all-time favorite films, Forbidden Kingdom 2008, so I could not resist checking it out.

(Word to the wise, if you have not already seen FK, and you like MMA and/or Wushu and/or Fantasy and/or Adventure, check it out. FK has humble beginnings, features two of the greatest cinematic martial artists of all time - Jackie Chan and Jet Li -- a killer script, great scenery, and solid performances. Some reviewers, including this one, think it is one of the best of its kind ever done.)

Let's start with what Warriors Gate was intended to be, and work from that.

The production team clearly thought they would "improve" on FK by adding more "teen humor." Presumably they also felt this would more than compensate for the film's considerably lighter "feel" and the awkward void formed by not having ANY famous film martial artists at all.

Also, Forbidden Kingdom had a certain edge of malice and unpredictability in the script which, oddly, only increased its impact and its fan base. This film lacks those features as well and, on its best day in its best suit, comes across more as "Forbidden Kingdom Lite," or perhaps even a Disney knockoff of the original.

Which is not to say it is not worth a watch. A lot of effort was put into the humor aspect (as explained above) and this does keep things moving along.

(For example -- if you are film buff, you will remember fondly the famous tag line from Airplane 1980 - "Don't call me Shirley" which became a sort of iconic inside joke for years afterwards. This script contains a number of attempts to mimic that sort of dialog, my favorite being -- "KILL HIM! -- slashing noise -- "NO, NOT HIM. HIM.")

Bottom Line: One hour and 45 minutes of reasonable entertainment. However, it suffers from the "curse" common to all knock-offs. Unless you see the original, you will never know what you are missing.

I saw previews for this movie and it originally caught my interest but I came with no high hopes of it being significantly good. While it's not the most amazing movie I've seen to date, it is an original story that includes martial art elements, comedy, action and overall fun. I thought the fight scenes were very well choreographed and they threw in some lol moments throughout the movie to keep the tone light and easy going while still having enough action to keep the pace going. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. The lead actress is also stunningly beautiful and the main kid actor did a very good job holding his own with actors like Dave Batista also in the movie. Overall, a fun, lighthearted, interesting and original movie.