CompleteMartialArts.com - The Warrior
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List Price: $14.94
Our Price: $10.99
Your Save: $ 3.95 ( 26% )
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Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: Woo-sung Jung, Sung-kee Ahn, Jin-mo Ju (II), Ziyi Zhang, Yong-woo Park
Directed By: Sung-su Kim (II)
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 0043396134904
Format: AC-3
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: 2006-03-07
Running Time: 133
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2001
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Editorial Reviews:
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An action-filled epic starring Ziyi Zhang (House of Flying Daggers Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Hero upcoming Memoirs of a Geisha) The Warrior recounts the tale of a group of Korean envoys who entered China on a mission and were never heard from again. Captured and accused of espionage by Ming warriors the Korean delegation is exiled by their captors to a remote desert. On their journey back to Korea they rescue a kidnapped Ming princess (Zhang). In their effort to take the princess to safety the group encounters rival Mongol warriors whom they face in a breathtaking battle scene.System Requirements:Run Time: 154 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating:Â R UPC:Â 043396134904 Manufacturer No:Â 13490
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Somewhere between Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Warriors of Heaven and Earth...
Comment: If you've read any of my reviews of other recent martial arts films, you know that I enjoyed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but generally found myself unimpressed by Warriors of Heaven and Earth. I was downright confused by the plot of Zu Warriors, though it had a few relatively cool moments and special effects.
The Warrior (I think "Musa the Warrior" is an alternate version of the film with different audio tracks?) falls somewhere between the extremes.
The film is shot with a lot of emphasis on sepia tone (earth tones). So, in that regard it's a bit unlike Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Curse of the Golden Flower, and other movies of what I'd call Asian "art house" cinema.
But, whereas Warriors of Heaven and Earth seemed singularly unimpressive in its fight scenes and a bit depressing in its sepia tone desert scenes, The Warrior seemed to keep things more lively. It had a lot of pretty good, interesting fights (if overly violent / bloody in a few cases). I actually found myself empathizing with the characters, and caring what happened to them. [WARNING: Slight spoiler ahead] The movie was a period martial arts / drama piece about a Korean diplomatic envoy to China that was captured, escaped, and ended up trying to save a princess intended for the Ming emperor, in order to restore relations between China and Korea. It's too bad that all or most of the characters inevitably died off in the course of the movie.
I thought the movie came off quite well, despite not being as colorful or artsy as other movies in the genre. The fight scenes were good, the plot was a bit above marginally interesting (it kept my attention more than Warriors of Heaven and Earth). The grittiness was interesting, though sometimes a bit overwhelming with all the various killing going on in the process of trying to get the princess safely to the Ming emperor...
The titular character was actually rather interesting insofar as he was a bit dark and mysterious. In some ways, the character was extremely feral. It reminded me a lot of Jet Li's performance in Unleashed. Essentially, both were slaves, trained to be extremely fierce fighters, but inevitably found their freedom (though in many respects didn't know what to do with it, once they had it).
If you're expecting Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Iron Monkey, Fearless or Hero type art direction and costuming, don't. It's quite muted in terms of the color schemes, often opting for sepia; there's not much by the way of colorful artistry. But it also suits the mood of the movie, which is quite grim and gritty.
In all, I rather enjoyed the movie. Certainly more than Warriors of Heaven and Earth or Butterfly Sword, neither of which I cared for; nor would I especially recommend them (unless you've seen EVERYthing else and are bored, or need to cure insomnia).
Curse of the Golden Flower, The Myth, House of Flying Daggers are all pretty good flicks. The Legend of the Black Scorpion is quite good too, though a rather bloody retelling of Macbeth.
So, if you're into really artsy colorful flicks, try the above. If you're into a pretty gritty movie with lots of interesting fight sequences (if a bit bloody), The Warrior is pretty good martial arts fare.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Engaging Historical Action Drama
Comment: I had no expectations going into this film. My wife, who teaches Ancient History, got it and I wasn't enthusiastic about watching it. However, I was in for a surprise from the opening shot. The cinematography is excellent, the locations exotic, and the storyline is realistic and believable. All of the sub-plots detailing personal conflicts were true to character and followed logically, and sustained what was essentially a very traditional tale of mistaken identity followed by a very long chase.
I apprecated the fact that no effort is made to explain the extraordinary martial skills of Yeo-sol, he remains a mystery, although his character is fascinating. Also the Mongol General: Rambulwha was a very interesting figure, as was Jin-lip the archer, and even Ji-san the monk--interesting to see what it took to bring this quiet man of dignity to a homicidal rage. Even the lesser characters are carefully defined. This attention to detail was impressive and unusual in an action film. The final predicament reminded me so much of the Alamo, and when the Princess confesses her reasons for causing the whole imbroglio, and it's effervescent insignificance in the face of the blood, sweat and tears of those attempting to defend her, it's a devastating irony. The climax has a truly lyrical, haunting quality about it.
This is a deeply romantic, and very graphic, war story--yet it is appealing for the reasons I listed previously, as an interesting collection of character studies. Yeo-sol, the slave, who was the most liberated man of the bunch, is a phenomenon to watch. He moves with such, grace, style, and elan it is hard not to be wowed. One extra kudo for keeping the story realistic. Far too often in Chinese martial films the tendency to drift off in to Magic Realism is irresistable--but, to this viewer, is very annoying. The Warrior stayed ultra realistic--and I appreciated that--it is one of the aspects that I have always loved about most Japanese Sword films(well not Lone Wolf and Cub). One final note: when I first heard the title of the film as Musa--I asked, what does a historical drama have to do with Bananas? I thought they meant one of three genera in the family Musaceae; it includes bananas and plantains...
Customer Rating:
Summary: great film with one of the worst DVD covers ever
Comment: I love this movie. Korea has a great sense of dramatic action. They can be serious with beautiful style in their action sequences. This is a fictional story inspired by a historical setting. If you were moved by LOTR: The Two Towers with the story of warriors leading people away from the enemy to a place of safety where the stand for all you believe in will take place...then this is a good story for you. If you are not familiar with Cowboy/Western flms or Eastern Warrior stories then this may feel unfamiliar or slow.
The cover is angering me because it is very missleading because they want someone passing by the "Martial Arts" DVD section to pick it up. Miss Ziyi is not a warrior in this film. Her being the popular Chinese actress for American audiences associated her with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Rush Hour 2 or House Of Flying Daggers expect her to be fighting always. NOPE. So her holding a sword so bravely on a DVD cover is false to her character. (especially with the movie being called The Warrior) She plays a bratty yet beautiful princess who has never stepped out into the real world in her life. Woo-Sung Jung's character does not use a sword. He fights with a spear throughout the film. If anything else he uses against an enemy was a horse whip. The importance of swords I guess comes from a history of cool characters of fantasy or period films using swords. Bad guys or second characters use the axe and that is rare. Everything else would suck I guess. Now the picture of these two actors are from posters & photos used in promotion for the film...but those hands were photoshoped poorly into the cover. Woo-Sung looks like he is leaning over a sink ready to brush his teeth with that thing.
In conclusion, type in Musa for a dvd search of this film and you may be lucky to find on sale the Tai Seng release of this film titled Musa (translates to Warrior). The quality is equal to this release. I was lucky to get the Tai Seng release but then this one came out and for some reason the Tai Seng release is hard to find. I guess its not in print. So if you can't find the tai Seng release then buy this one because the movie is good even though the DVD cover is lame. Its just a lame cover like the domestic release of infernal affairs with some random Chinese woman dressed up like a Bond chick with a gun...whaaat? One day we wont need lame DVD covers for our domestic releases of great films.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very long and pointless movie
Comment: I'm a huge fan of such movies as crouching tiger, iron monkey, house of daggars, hero, fearless, etc. However, this movie is not on that level. In general it was a waste of my time and money.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good action flick
Comment: I liked this movie and the mongol/ancient chinese/korean costume and ambiance. Decent plot carries the viewer through several well staged if small battles.
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