A Warrior Once, A Warrior Forever
Dong-gun Jang is Yang, a highly skilled assassin who has spent his life learning the ways of his deadly trade. He is hyper-fast and skilled with blades, two abilities that he uses to blaze through attackers from a rival clan. A long-running clan feud can only be ended when all of the members of one clan have been killed. At the beginning of the film, Yang is in position to do just that. After slicing the last man of the rival clan, he discovers a box. Upon opening it, a baby girl looks back at him and he’s still too human to kill her. Instead, he takes the baby from the rival clan and gets aboard a ship heading to the American West to seek out an old friend. He knows that in choosing not to kill the baby, his own clan will mark him for death.
Yang arrives in America and walks for miles to get to a dusty old town with a large, broken Ferris wheel on its far side. This town, which is home to a few dozen traveling-circus members, is unsure what to make of their Asian visitor at first. Tony Cox, who plays Eight-Ball, welcomes him but has to inform Yang that his friend passed away sometime ago. He did leave behind his laundry business though, which gives Yang a place to settle before making his next move.
Kate Bosworth’s character, Lynne, was a friend of Smiley (Yang’s late friend) and is also very interested in caring for the baby that Yang has brought with him. She helps Yang run the laundry business and the two develop a faint romantic relationship that grows stronger throughout the film. For a short time, the town, made up primarily of displaced circus members, is a little better off than they were before Yang arrived.
But then comes Colonel, played by Danny Huston who for some reason in this role reminded me of a younger Christopher Lloyd. Anyway, Colonel is a ruthless pillager and he has a faithful gang that rides with him. This isn’t his first time passing through this old town, though. Lynne has a personal vendetta against him from her childhood that I will refrain from spoiling for you. Suffice it to say that Lynne intends to kill Colonel, but she needs Yang’s help to continue her sword training to have a chance.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Sad Flutes, the clan that Yang defected from, is on his trail. A huge showdown is in the making between the townspeople, Colonel and his dozens of men, and the Sad Flutes. Yes, we’re talking about gun-slinging, sword-swinging action here with a visual style that reminded me of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix. A treat for some, a distraction for others, Sngmoo Lee used this style to appreciably good effect in The Warrior’s Way. Of course there’s a lot of CG, especially with the blood sprays, and a lot of wire work (the Sad Flutes are able to leap to and from amazing heights), but it comes together fittingly for this movie.
The one hundred minute movie is engaging throughout, but I question its replay value. The visual flare is fun, and the movie is otherwise pretty good, but it’s action-heavy in such a way that doesn’t beckon me back for repeat viewings. The drama between Lynne and Yang, and within Yang himself (deciding to stay in town or leave) is commendable, however.
On Blu-ray
The Warrior’s Way on Blu-ray looks and sounds outstanding. The visual element is not only eye-catching from a cinematography standpoint, but it’s also technically rock solid with no issues noted. Again there is a lot of CG used, but it’s masked well other than some of the blood effects. Overall, it’s a beautiful transfer. The audio is similarly impressive and the mixture of softer scenes and full-on action ones give the audio track a good, well rounded workout.
A Digital Copy disc is included in this set and there are also two extra features. The Behind the Scenes Montage is in HD and runs just shy of two and a half minutes. Within it, you will see the green screens and wires and so forth. There is also twelve minutes of deleted scenes, in SD. Some of these deleted scenes made more sense than others, but it’s pretty clear whey they didn’t make the final cut.
With that, let’s get to the summary…