After deciding not to kill a baby, the last surviving member of a rival clan, assassin Yang becomes the target of his own comrades. Escaping to the west he encounters a woman bent on revenge and a former gunslinger now a town drunk. Together this trio must thwart not only an evil gang of cowboys but also Yang’s former master.
If Frank Miller had written a Sergio Leone inspired east meets west graphic novel, and if that graphic novel had been adapted into a movie by Zack Synder then The Warrior’s Way is pretty close to how it would turn out. At least audiences would think so during the opening minutes of Sngmoo Lee's movie. Sadly it soon descends into an overlong midsection which focuses on character backstories, and sees them going through the usual lessons about life without violence and rejecting their loner status to join the community. The potential irreverence and fun of a visually cartoonish ninja infused western is wasted, as are both Geoffrey Rush and Danny Huston in thankless roles as the former gunslinger and evil masked gang leader respectively.
At times reminiscent of Takashi Miike’s disastrous Sukiyaki Western Django The Warrior’s Way is nowhere near as outlandish or action packed as its trailer would suggest. It’s a cinematically flat offering that appears to mislead its target audience, only coming to life during its finale when swords and shooters clash. But this all comes far too late in proceedings and it really should have pushed things further both in terms of style and violent action to meet viewer expectations. That way they wouldn’t be asking themselves the question, how could a movie with ninjas, cowboys, clowns and midgets be so dull?
Well they say one man's peach is another man's poison. I thought this was a charming hybrid of post-Baz Luhrmann super-stylized Aussie drama, spaghetti western tropes and the whimsical wu xia genre. Jan Dong-Gun and an endearingly feisty Kate Bosworth were appealing leads plus you've got the iconic Ti Lung, the greatest swordplay star of them all, in a significant role. Always great to see him. Admittedly the style sometimes errs towards the video game, but that struck me as symptomatic of the over-enthusiasm of a first-time director. I love wu xia movies and was quite won over by this.
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