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List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 9715
Released: March 7, 2006 |
| Our Price: $4.28 |
| Used Price: $3.27 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Set in feudal India, Lafcadia, a warrior and warlord's executioner, seeks to live a peaceful and quiet life after he meets a mystical young girl; soon he is chased through Rajasthan and the Himalayas by his boss' henchmen who has ordered his death.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: UN
Release Date: 1-MAY-2007
Media Type: DVD
Description of The Warrior:
The Warrior combines gorgeous cinematography, complex historical politics, and joltingly bloody action sequences to create a sweeping historical spectacular. A squadron of Korean soldiers, sent to protect a diplomatic envoy to China, find themselves unmoored when the envoys are killed in clashes with Chinese and Mongol soldiers. Struggling to return home, they rescue a high-handed Chinese princess (Ziyi Zhang, House of Flying Daggers, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and decide that protecting her is their best chance to survive, and possibly improve Korean-Chinese relations as well. Unfortunately, the Mongols want her back, and the squadron find their numbers slowly diminishing as they fight their way to an isolated military outpost. Though there's a more realistic context for the action--The Warrior is based on a historical event and the characters are well-developed--the battle scenes deliver some visceral thrills; the violence is graphic (beheadings, arrows plunging into necks, limbs sliced off) but grippingly choreographed. An above-average action movie; however, it is highly recommended that viewers watch it with subtitles, as the dubbing is typically wretched. --Bret Fetzer
The Warrior Reviews:
Look at the character's faces. 
2009-08-28 - I really don't know where to begin.
(possible spoilers ahead)
When I first saw this movie, I could only see how arrogant the Korean general was. Then later, I realized how our social class (in this case, the Korean society in 14th century) awareness has made him that way. In the desert, the social class differences didn't matter as much as before, but almost unconsciously, everyone carried out their specific role and followed it. As the movie progressed, many characters (and the viewers) could clearly see that the system of assigned roles was flawed.
It pondered me how the princess, who was utterly selfish when it came down to persuasion of her interest (like when she handed her fine yellow silk robe to another girl so that the girl could act as a bait) was kowtowed at when the villagers saw her. Yet she also was true to her feeling when she gave a piece of cloth to a slave which clearly meant a lot to him. The general saw the slave in a negative light due to slave's recent acquisition of his freedom from his deceased master (the general says about this: "Once slave you are forever slave. That is the law of Koryo"). But when Yesol (the slave) is captured by the enemies, the general becomes worried as much as anyone else. And Yesol, (oh boy, what a great character!), although freed, he could not escape his duties to the family of his previous master, and when captured, Yesol was offered honor, prestige, and wealth if he had joined the Mongols, but instead Yesol comes back (to a place where he could still go back as a slave if everything resolves) to fight with his travel companions, then he saves the life of the princess at cost of his. Previously, before the final battle began, the general said something akin to: "the greatest honor of a warrior is to die in a battle", but when he is dying, he sees no honor and purpose of such death, and dies sad and disappointed.
So what is the whole point of me telling you all this? It seems that all the characters in this movie has some flaws, but not due to their erroneous choices, but as the victims of their acquired perspective through the experiences in this world. Notice, when they made the right choices, it is due to following their "true feeling" rather than following how things are supposed to work out in this world. Yes, I just indirectly said that this movie makes a good case of destiny affecting more than our choices to our life in this world.
So what is the movie trying to tell us? Maybe the more "noble purpose" we humans think we have, the more we tend to become arrogant and wrong, and we provably won't notice it until the end of our lives. Yesol, who was only a slave, who could not even properly understand freedom, ultimately died in the most fulfilling way, by showing what his love was capable of, unlike the general who had loftier ideals like (superficial) honor, which it ultimately bounded him and made him less free, making him a less humane being. Notice that I only talked about 3 characters in the movie, but there are more, and you will see how each finds their own truths (particularly pay attention to the archer guy, although he is almost like an observer).
If you really want to understand this film, you have to be an active viewer like the reviewer below suggested. Keep looking at each character's faces and their expressions; if you do, I can promise you one of the most awarding film experiences.
The only flaw of this movie is that Koreans fought rather too well; but then, same happens to Americans with their own films. I guess no one can escape the delusion of self-appointing protagonist mentality.
Visual poetry...a subtle, tragic and beautiful telling of a legend
2009-08-21 - This movie is by far my favorite Asian film, for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm not a big fan of the "super powers" martial arts films where everyone can practically fly; I prefer the films where I can at least pretend what the characters are doing is doable. ;) This film is heavy on action, but not "super power" action.
Secondly, and more importantly, the film is beautifully and artistically crafted. At points, the brilliance and subtly of the character expressions, interactions and behaviors are so stunning that you feel more like you're watching visual poetry than a film. That is where this film's true depth and stunning quality lies.
This is not an over-the-top Hollywood film, with big, flamboyantly expressed interactions and emotions; this is a subtler, more realistic and beautiful film. I wouldn't recommend watching this film if you're a "passive viewer" who prefers that things are shouted out, loud and clear; I would highly recommend this film if you're an "active viewer", who likes to engage with the story as you watch, picking up the subtle visual and audio cues to understand what you're seeing. If you like to see, hear, deduce, and feel what the characters are thinking and feeling, this is the film for you; if you like to be told in clear, uncertain terms, probably not.
That's what I really love about this film...it's the little things, a fleeting expression, an inflected tone, that tell the human bits of this story...as I say, visual poetry.
As for the rest, it is all very good too. The story is solid, the acting great, and the direction very good. It's a bit on the long side, so keep that in mind when you're viewing it. If you're like me, though, you won't even notice, and you'll be sorry when it's over.
5/5 stars
Unbiased Opinion (money spent elsewhere is money better spent) 
2009-02-14 - Before I write this somewhat of a downer, I want to say that I bought this movie based on the solid reviews it received here on Amazon. However, I have come to believe that some of these (especially the 5 STARS) were written by people who were paid to write for the movie. Being such a "high budget" film in Korea, it looked and had the feel of a really low budget film for all the scenes being outside and the props being pretty awful.
The Warrior takes place in 1375AD China. Korea has sent troops to make peace with China's new government but are exiled to the desert. After what seems like an eternity into the movie, Zhang Ziyi finally enters the film. The plot is really drawn out and confusing. The translations, which were very accurate, show how poorly the script was written. IF you like endless movie-type cliches and a poor choice of words, you may disagree with the previous statement.
The acting was sub-par and the only redeeming factor for this movie was Jung Woo-Sung's character. However, even he is not very entertaining to watch. Zhang Ziyi's acting was pretty awful and, well, I guess she is playing the same character as in every ancient-based Chinese movie that she always plays... Another annoying character is this Buddhist monk who happens to meet the Koreans and then follows the Korean general. He is just one of many characters this movie could have done without.
As mentioned before, the plot is very drawn out and muddled. I couldn't quite follow the movie and I truly didn't enjoy the acting.
As far as the actual cinematic production of the movie is concerned, the shots are all OKAY. I put heavy emphasis on okay because Korean and Chinese martial arts movies [EDIT: Korean War Epic, not martial arts movie] usually have a certain feel to them and a beauty in all of the shots. These scenes seemed poorly planned out and the directors eye didn't capture much of the natural beauty form the areas this movie was filmed.
The soundtrack was annoying and cliche to any cheesy 70's American made action/martial arts movie with heavy staccato's during the dreadful moments.
Overall, I would say that this movie was below average in the areas of Cinematography, Acting, Writing, Script and Soundtrack. I feel like one of the only reasons this movie ever got watched is because Zhang Ziyi was casted, but she even helps ruin this movie at points.
Sorry for this negative review but I was really upset after reading the amazing reviews and paying for the movie. Not even worth the used price of $3.76+shipping.
Recommendations based on this movie's attributes: All of which are better than "The Warrior".
Korean- Sword in the Moon (One of the best Korean martial arts movies I have ever watched), Crying Fist, Oldboy (Similar only in the graphic nature), Tae Guk Gi (Also has poor dialogue, but well-done), The Duelist.
Chinese- The Warlords, Curse of the Golden Flower (A little confusing, but easy enough to follow. Beautifully shot.), Hero (Another beautifully shot movie.), Fearless, Crouching Tiger (Classic), The Promise (the writing is very similar to the Warrior, not much to help you stay involved, but entertaining nonetheless.)
Misleading US DVD box art
2008-12-29 - This is a great movie. I actually have the original Korean DVD. Be warned, American marketing would like you to think Zhang Xiyi is going to give you some great fights with that Photoshopped sword in her hand. In this movie, she is a princess, she isn't a wushu fighter. The characters, story, acting, and fight sequences are exciting, but not "wire-fu". I truly hate it when companies superimpose heads on different bodies and put weapons in actor's hands when it is not reflective of the movie. The result, you sucker someone into buying a movie expecting something of which the cover speaks otherwise. That in itself is false advertising. But if you are interested in seeing a good movie, watch this movie (originally called Musa: the Warrior). This isn't "crouching tiger", it's more of a gritty historic epic and worth watching!
Somewhere between Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Warriors of Heaven and Earth... 
2008-08-09 - 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.
