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Warrior's Way, The
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| Year: |
2010
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Director: |
Sngmoo Lee
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| Stars: |
Jang Dong-gun, Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, Danny Huston, Ti Lung, Tony Cox, Analin Rudd, Markus Hamilton, Rod Lusich, Matt Gillanders, Christina Asher, Jed Brophy, Carl Bland, Tony Wyeth
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| Genre: |
Western, Action, Martial Arts, Historical, Adventure |
| Rating: |
  7 (from 3 votes) |
| Review: |
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?
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| Reviewer: |
Jason Cook
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