The Warrior's Way

[GeneChing]

Chop off a few heads, splatter some blood, and I'm happy. It would have been grand to see this on Sunday for International Day of the Ninja... in ninja garb. Dayum, I could have cashed out with that.

In retrospect, it really bothered me that when Jang did a chiburi (the final sword flick to shake the blood of the blade) the blade was still bloody. Granted, chiburi is tough. I've tried it when I used to practice iaido. We experimented just with water, and that's pretty hard. Blood would be even harder as it's stickier. But Jang was supposed to be the best swordsman ever, so you'd think he'd be able to do it. I know there was at least one scene, maybe more, where Jang does a chiburi and then the blade is shown immediately after still dripping with blood. It was a classic example of filmmakers observing some martial behavior and not understanding it fully.

[Jimbo]

After seeing it, I'm not sure what to think. I enjoyed some things about it, but thought the effects looked cheap. More like a videogame than a movie. I could accept that it occurs in some alternate universe where the greatest swordsman comes from a country that is indeterminate. China? Japan? Korea? None of the above?

Kate Bosworth's character practically makes the movie. Her, the baby, and the (Union Soldier?) villain. Jang Dong Gun's character, of course, is supposed to be emotionally removed, but that makes him wooden and boring. His character has zero personality, and probably speaks about one paragraph's worth of dialogue in the entire film. Some actors can communicate a lot onscreen in scenes with or without any dialogue (Shintaro Katsu, Gordon Liu, etc.), but IMO Jang isn't one of them.

I was really glad to see Ti Lung in a new film. I only wish he had gotten to show more than a few seconds of action onscreen, but at least they put him in the movie, and it looks like he can still 'do the stuff' onscreen.

So I enjoyed that they tried something unique in a movie, but I'm not at all surprised that it's tanking at the box office.

[Lucas]

thanks for reviewing. question: how are the action scenes. in the prieview i saw there wasnt any actual action really, more just murder...lol which is fine, but im wondering how the actual duels/fights play out visually. how clear is the action?

[GeneChing]

It's very 'comic book' so if you're hoping for fantastic martial arts, you'll be disappointed. It's more about the style of it than the martial arts. There's some fun stuff if you compare it to comic book fights like Spiderman and such. I thought it echoed V for Vendetta with the slo-mo fights. The Ti Lung fight, well, this is a SPOILER* is straight out of Shogun Assassin (LW&C/BCfH) and you could totally see it coming once the silent flute name is explained.


*highlight to read.

[Jimbo]

What Gene said. There is a lot of jumping and mid-air posing exactly like a Spider-man comic book. A lot of slow-mo with bits of normal speed interspersed, and lots of CGI arterial spray.

Since comparisons between this movie and Ninja Assassins are inevitable, IMO, the fight scenes in NA were better.