Review of film: "THE WARRIOR'S WAY" (about Ninjas in the American Old West)

Review of film:  “THE WARRIOR’S WAY”

This Korean film (done in English & created partly in New Zealand) is a “conglomeration” of numerous genres, quasi-plots & ideas from past movies...

...  Mash together elements of “Once Upon A Time In the West”with “Crouching Tiger” with “Carny” & “Shanghai Noon”, & what do you get?  This film, & --  to use a “technical” term -- a MISH-MOSH… 

…  As the movie starts, Ninja-like warrior Yang (played by DONG-GUN JANG) is fighting and, in a ballet-like massacre, dispatching all of his enemies from a certain clan, except for a baby that he lets live.  For some unclear reason, he decides to cross the ocean to a sand-infused town called Lode in the American Old West…

…  The town is a ramshackle gathering place for a bunch of “ALTERNATIVE” types:  the people there are close-minded, often unfriendly, but seemingly happy to have a bunch of CARNIVAL performers there because they keep trying to “promote” the settlement by working to construct a FERRIS WHEEL they hope will draw tourists.  (That thus places the time period sometime after 1893 when the first Ferris Wheel was constructed in Chicago for the Columbian Exposition World’s Fair there)…

…  The “leader” of the carnies is a “height-challenged” man (known then as a dwarf) called “Eight-Ball” (TONY COX). There are clowns, a mime, a bearded-lady, and other “typical” denizens of the Old West including a perpetually-drunk old guy who I think was named Billy (CARL BLAND)…

…  When Yang comes to town, he’s searching for an old friend named “Smiley”--  who (naturally) ran the LAUNDRY in town & has passed away.  He’s encouraged to learn how to take over his shop by a perky & pretty young woman named Lynne (KATE BOSWORTH), who also wants him to teach her how to handle KNIVES (& swords) in a non-culinary way…

…  The reason she wants to learn such a “martial art” is because members of her family had been killed by a bully named the Colonel (DANNY HUSTON) who frequently came by to ravage the town (& its females)...

...  It’d be easier (& probably more effective) to learn to SHOOT, but she for some reason prefers to learn knife-wielding (possibly because she wants to be a “YIN” to get her “closer” to Yang!)…

…  Being on the forefront of “technology”, Lynne regularly plays opera for Yang on an old GRAMOPHONE device that played flat disc records…  Bit-by-bit, the two grow closer, & they in time recruit townspeople to try to fight the Colonel who keeps assaulting the town…  Naturally, some other NINJAS appear “flying” thru the air towards the end of the “plot”…

…  Will the town be able to fight off the Colonel & his evil men?...  Whose “side” are the NINJAS on?...  Will the carnies and the Ferris wheel play a part in the story?... 

…  Will most of the “good guys” remain “standing” (or its equivalent) by the end of the film (which is narrated at times byGEOFFREY RUSH playing a character named Ron)?...  Will Yang & Lynne get “together” at the conclusion, or will things grow very “COLD” for one or both of them?...

…  There are some interesting “ideas” & some decent SPECIAL EFFECTS (from Weta & others) in this. Unfortunately, they DON’T “WORK” all that well “together”.  While Kate & Danny are “animated” in their roles, Dong-gun and various others are doggone “uncommunicative” a lot of the time, & there’s a bunch that comes across as “pointless” (& tedious)…

….  Mainly for its ATTEMPT at being “creative” (rather than for how “effective” it was), I’ll rate this film a 6 out of 10 stars (with a “caution” to not expect very much from it)…