I Revisited The Warrior's Way

It's a bad 2010 movie which I discussed before but here is a new take on a movie I still think is bad: 

Now I realize why this was a movie I’d mostly forgotten in the preceding 14 years. Believe it or not, I was one of the few who saw this theatrically in 2010; I was not a fan. The reasons why became murky through time. Its easy availability online meant it felt like time for a proper review. Note that this sat on the shelf for almost a full three years before theatrical release—it’s not always the base but that’s usually a troubling sign.

Just how bizarre the film was—it surprised me. That didn’t mean it still wasn’t hot garbage. A South Korean badass-who has the not so badass name of MR. SAD FLUTE-flees because he refuses to kill a baby that’s part of a rival clan. Instead, they (Lone Wolf & Cub they are not) end up in a Wild West town full of circus performers-no, really-as an old buddy lived there; he did the town’s laundry. Somehow, this mess had Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, Ti Lung, Danny Huston… and Tony Cox!

This had many problems; what I did recall at the time: most of the movie was digital backgrounds, which I wasn’t a fan of. In 2024, that looks TERRIBLE—phony, fake, distracting, as if I was watching someone play a bad videogame. “Digital sludge” is not a term I would have used back then; it’s very “2024” and is apt in this case. If you were praying that the action scenes would be free from bad-looking CG—prepare to be disappointed. The story itself manages both to be irritating and dumb; in fact, it was directed by a total novice who at least at the time was a NYU film professor-it shows.

The movie’s just lame, with laughable villains (and a pathetic town because they’re too cowardly to stand up to these jackasses; even more pathetic is that Mr. Sad Flute does nothing for too long) focus on a goofy love story between a Korean dude and Bosworth w/ a twang… who is supposed to be a badass herself, an embarrassing role for Rush, and a plot that seems designed to be unpleasant crap. I could prattle on and on about the gigantic waste of time that this was, but instead I’ll be succinct. I won’t ever watch The Warrior’s Way for a third time; you probably would be better served by not tackling this even once. Don’t be fooled by my mentioning how weird it all is.