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Lunch » Tags » Movies » Reviews » The Warrior's Way (2010) » User review

The Wrong Combination of East-Meets-West

  • Dec 4, 2010
Rating:
+3
“The Warrior’s Way” combines the brutal violence of a martial arts saga, the nostalgic lure of an old west drama, and the visual appeal of a living comic book. And yet, in trying to be all those things, it ends up being none of them; what was supposed to be an edgy East-meets-West fusion is in fact an unexplainable, unpleasant mishmash of genres that really don’t belong together. It’s an oddity, an otherworldly import that never aims to be funny but somehow can get you laughing at the drop of a hat. It’s above all a deep mystery, not only begging the question of how it was conceived, but also of who actually believed it would work. I don’t pretend to be the end all when it comes to martial arts films or even to westerns, but I think I’ve seen enough of each to know that combining them isn’t a good idea.
 
It might have helped had first-time writer/director Sngmoo Lee known which story he wanted to tell. There are essentially two plotlines running through the film, and neither has a firm grasp on itself. The central character is Yang (Jang Dong-gun), a warrior from an Asian land of an unspecific location and era. He was raised to be a ruthless, cunning assassin – a man with lightning-quick reflexes and an inhuman ability to stay focused. His sole mission was to murder every single member of a warring clan. When he finds he’s unable to murder the last of his enemies – a baby girl – he takes her and flees, for he knows that disobeying his clan is an automatic death sentence. His destination: America, where he hopes to reunite with an old friend, who made a name for himself as a launderer in the desert community of Lode, which bills itself as the Paris of the West.
 
Yang’s friend has long since died. Lode is a lifeless, withering hulk of a one-horse town that bears absolutely no resemblance to Paris. Stranded there is a travelling circus; it has begun erecting a gigantic Ferris wheel, one that looms overhead and looks like a rusting skeleton. The proprietor is a miniature showman named 8-Ball (Tony Cox). His troupe is a reliable motley crew of freakish stereotypes, the most prominent being a bearded lady. The rest of the residents are the most buffoonish western caricatures of any recent film I’ve seen. There’s Ron, the town drunk (Geoffrey Rush), who also happens to be an expert marksman. There’s also Lynne (Kate Bosworth), a knife-thrower who knew Yang’s friend and had even learned a thing or two from him.
 
And this is where the second plotline comes into play. As a girl, Lynne miraculously survived an attack by a group of men led by The Colonel (Danny Houston), whose heartless exploits go no further than raping and murdering women with good teeth. His encounter left his physically scarred, and now he has returned to Lode wearing a mask that makes him look like a cowboy retrofit of the Phantom of the Opera. Lynne wants her revenge. The Colonel wants to make trouble. Inevitably, this will culminate in a climactic battle, one that pits dozens of heavily armed men against a coffin full of guns, a Ferris wheel rigged with dynamite, and a sword-toting Asian assassin.
 
Think this is the end of the movie? Not so fast. As Yang and the residents of Lode battle The Colonel and his posse, a legion of ninjas descend on the town and wreak their own special havoc. It seems that Yang’s past has caught up with him, although I’ll be damned if I knew how they managed to find him – and I mean besides their ability to listen to the “weeping” of his sword. But that isn’t quite the point I’m trying to make. All I want to know is, which of these battles is the more important one of the story? Who are we supposed to root for? If it’s Yang, then why is that, after claiming the baby as his own, she’s treated as nothing other than an object for audiences to laugh at and find cute? If it’s Lynne, then why is her story wrapped up before we have the chance to invest in it? This is what I mean about not knowing which story is being told. The film has two plots fighting for the same screen time.
 
There are other problems. Ron serves as the film’s narrator, and while he says all the expected things, he’s hardly a reliable character given how much time he spends drinking. There’s also a painfully contrived romance between Yang and Lynne that isn’t anything close to believable, probably because Don-gun and Bosworth have absolutely no chemistry together. How can they when Yang is depicted as the proverbial lonesome warrior, loved by no one and unable to give love in return? There’s a moment in which Ron tells us that, during his time in Lode, Yang learned to love the simple life, especially in regard to growing and tending flowers; we would not have known this without a voiceover narration, for Yang rarely speaks and his face reveals no emotion at all. The only thing I got from “The Warrior’s Way” was the knowledge that I shouldn’t believe anything a drunk says.

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December 06, 2010
We are going to check this out later this week, you and WP's reviews are letting me go in with less expectations.
 
December 05, 2010
I honestly could not see what looked so great about this movie from the trailer. It reminds me of "Ninja Assassin"; a film that so many nerds (not movie nerds. More like comic book/video game ones) hype yet in the end, it fails miserably. While I'm sure I will like this movie a little more than I liked "Ninja Assassin", I don't think I'll spend my hard-earned cash to see it in the Theater. Good review, my friend.
 
December 04, 2010
I went to see BLACK SWAN instead of this one last night. Think I made the right decision, but I still may see this tonight since I am hanging with friends. I skimmed your review since I don't want spoilers or any detail. be back.
December 05, 2010
Hey, Chris, did you see the newsletter I sent out earlier, you were one of the spotlights....
December 05, 2010
I just saw it now. Thanks for including me. It's always nice to be recognized for what you do.
 
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More The Warrior's Way (2010) reviews
review by . December 05, 2010
posted in Movie Hype
3 ½ Stars: A Homage to Japanese Jidai Geki films, Spaghetti Westerns and Asian Wuxia!
Korean and Chinese Wuxia films. Japanese Jidai Geki films. Spaghetti Westerns. Kimchi Westerns. Sukiyaki Westerns. Do you like those oddball genres? How do you feel about the genre-busting popcorn films that pay tribute to those movies such as Kim Ji-Woon’s “The Good The Bad The Weird” and Takashi Miike’s “Sukiyaki Western Django”? If you do like those type of hybrids, then you may be right at home with director Sngmoo Lee’s “The Warrior’s Way”. …
review by . September 25, 2011
posted in Movie Hype
*1/2 out of ****     "The Warrior's Way" is a silly, cheap, dumb CGI laden actioner that tries to mix the genres of Western and Samurai variety; as a few before it have. As much as I love drunk cowboys and keen badass Asians fighting alongside each-other from time-to-time, you still need to work around the clichés and create a unique, fun ride if you want to impress this movie-goer; or anyone else who's genuinely intelligent, for the matter. This film was made without wit, and …
see all The Warrior's Way (2010) reviews (3)
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Chris Pandolfi ()
Ranked #7
Growing up a shy kid in a quiet suburb of Los Angeles, Chris Pandolfi knows all about the imagination. Pretend games were always the most fun for him, especially on the school playground; he and his … more
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About this movie

Wiki

  • Opened December 3, 2010 | Runtime:1 hr. 40 min.
  • R
    Strong bloody violence
  • The Warrior's Way, a visually-stunning modern martial arts western starring Korean actor Dong-gun Jang who plays an Asian warrior assassin forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands. Rounding out the ensemble cast are Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns), Oscar®-winner Geoffrey Rush (Shine), Danny Huston (The Kingdom), and Tony Cox (The Hustle).The fantasy action film was written and directed by newcomer Sngmoo Lee, and is being produced by Barrie M. Osborne (Lord of the Rings), Jooick Lee (Seven Swords) and Michael Peyser (Hackers).
  • Cast: Jang Dong-gun, Kate Bosworth, Danny Huston, Geoffrey Rush, Tony Cox
  • Director: Sngmoo Lee
  • Genres: Martial ArtsHybrid WesternAction
  • Poster art for "The Warrior's Way"
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