The Warrior’s Way (***½)
Directed by: Sngmoo Lee
Starring: Dong-gun Jang, Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, Danny Huston,
Tony Cox
Seen: February 16th 2010
***½
Out of ****
Knowing
little of what to expect from this movie, only having read that this movie is where
the East and the West meet, I thought I’d give it a go. And what a ride it took
me on! The Warrior’s Way is an action fantasy with an epic feel even though it
is not even 2 hours long. The blending of the mystical Eastern fighting styles
and the blundering Western gun fights were fantastic, and the line on the
poster claiming this movie to be “From the Producer of “The Lord of the Rings””,
turns out to not only be a cheap ploy, but a good indication of what is to
come.
Yang
(Jang) is the greatest swordsman who ever lived, and he uses that skill to
vanquish all the enemies of his Sad Flutes clan. When he defeats their last
fighter, the one remaining member of his enemy clan turns out to be a baby girl
who captures his heart, and he decides to save her rather than end her story. This
puts his own tribe on a mission to kill him, and when the attempts on his and
the girl’s life starts getting too much, he takes the girl and moves far away,
to a dilapidated American Border town in the old west, where a friend of his
used to operate the local the local Laundromat. Here he gets to know the locals
through 8-Ball (Cox) who tells him the tragic story of the beautiful Lynne’s
(Bosworth) origins, of how the evil Colonel (Huston) ripped her life apart when
she was still a girl. When the Colonel’s forces threaten their town he also
exposes Ron (Rush) as something more than just the town drunk.
The
Colonel has a hold of fear on the little town and on his occasional raids he
takes his spoils as he wants, but on this raid he runs into Yang, and more
importantly Lynne, who is thinking of only revenge where the Colonel is
concerned. In the meantime the Sad Flutes have also headed to America to find
and execute Yang for his betrayal of their clan, and when Yang saves Lynne from
the Colonel’s bandits, the Sad Flutes manage to find him, leading to a massive stand-off.
The Colonel and his forces are after Lynne, Yang is there to protect her, the
Sad Flutes are after Yang, and Lynne is headed for a collision with the
Colonel. Violence ensues, and the little town will never be the same again.
The
Warrior’s Way is one of the more entertaining and downright different movies I’ve
seen in a long time. Successfully intertwining the East and the West in an
adventurous romp, director Sngmoo Lee brilliantly blends the raw firepower of
the West with the lethal sword-playing efficiency of the East. The movie
starkly contrasts violence and brutality with the small beauties one can find
in life: building a flower garden, caring for a baby, the beginnings of falling
in love and more. This movie is immense fun and perfectly stylised. A hallway
battle in particular with Yang facing a group of well-armed bandits was
spectacular. If you can find The Warrior’s Way, I would most definitely
recommend it, I know I want to see it again…
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