Much like the spaghetti westerns of old The Warrior’s Way becomes a duel to the death with the sword as the weapon of choice. I missed this one at the movie theater but on DVD the excitement and suspense gets so good I didn’t pause the film for a potty break. The cast, direction and choreography tops most samurai melodramas and really kicks butt.
The film tells the story of Yang (Jang Dong-gun) a swordsman who has been brought up by the finest martial arts teacher. With his clan’s enemies knocking on his door, Yang kills all but one. Fleeing to America with the child of one of his enemies and looking to hide out with an old friend, Yang ends up in a run down amusement town that has lost it’s will due to a dried up Gold Rush and frontier marauders. He takes over his deceased friends laundry business and starts a new life. When the Colonel (Danny Huston), leader of the marauders, decides to make a visit to the town Yang teams up with Ron (Geoffrey Rush) and a bunch of clowns to defend the people.
The movie reminded me of films like A Fist Full of Dollars, A Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly only with the magic of modern day computer graphics, green screen and special effects. The music and costumes here are brilliant adding to the realism of the enjoyable western.
This little gem has a lot of violent action, but deep down inside the story I found heart and a will to survive. The fine acting by the whole cast makes The Warrior’s Way work with direction by Sngmoo Lee who introduces his characters as each scene develops until I was rooting for the good fighting the bad and ugly.
Kate Bosworth gives a strong performance as the young woman who was almost raped by the Colonel and then has takes her revenge. In a well-choreographed fight with the Colonel, Bosworth show skills beyond anything I have seen from her in the past. She’s important to the film and great fun to watch. But the film acting kudos go to both Rush and Jang Dong-gun for some amazing work. You will see what I mean when the two have their backs to the wall and an army of 100 bearing down on them.
The Warrior’s Way also has a few good bonus features including 13 exciting deleted scenes and a short behind the scenes montage. I reviewed the DVD format, but the film is also out on Blu-ray. It is rated R for strong bloody violence so please be careful with the disc after you’ve viewed it especially if you have youngsters in your home.
FINAL ANALYSIS: ‘A’ for Awesome (A)
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
