A Warriors Way - Blu-ray Review

4.2 Stars (out of 5)

Synopsis

Fugitive Asian assassin Yang (Dong-gun Jang) journeys from the Far East to the Wild West, where he holes up in a tiny town in the American badlands. There, he meets local drunk and ex-fighter Ron (Geoffrey Rush), as well as a beautiful circus knife thrower (Kate Bosworth) with a dark secret. Danny Huston and Tony Cox co-star in writer-director Sngmoo Lee's gripping hybrid of martial arts and Western genres. (Buy Now $25.99)

Starring:

Dong-gun Jang, Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, Danny Huston, Tony Cox, Lung Ti, Analin Rudd, Markus Hamilton, Rod Lousich, Matt Gillanders

Director:

Sngmoo Lee

Blu-ray Release Date:

June 28, 2011

Subtitles:

English SDH, French, Spanish

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.8 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison
●        Subwoofer - 4.5 Stars
●        Dialog - 4.5 Stars
●        Surround Effects - 5.0 Stars
●        Dynamic Range - 5.0 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Every thing seems to be full of energy and larger than life with The Warrior's Way very entertaining audio mix. Just like the movie, the audio is a little over the top, but it fits the movie perfectly. One noticeable quality is how often the surrounds are used. Falling water makes you want to grab an umbrella, buzzing bugs fly around the room with pinpoint accuracy, and clanging of metal swords resonate high pitched ringing. The subwoofer is not ignored at all. Several explosions vibrate the couch, deep gunshots, and gallops of charging horses thud with heavy bass. Even subtle ambient sounds are added to the mix. Creaking doors, crickets in the yard, and wind in open fields constantly kept my ears from being bored.

Video  4.7 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison
●        Color Accuracy  - 4.0 Stars
●        Shadow detail - 5.0 Stars
●        Clarity - 5.0 Stars
●        Skin tones - 4.5 Stars
●        Compression - 5.0 Stars

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Resolution: 1080p, Aspect ratio: 2.40:1, Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

The film has very stylized video presentation which lends for colors to be a little more vivid and tone to change often. Even though the style lends to be a little unrealistic, it looks gorgeous. Colors are vibrant and allow sunsets and a bed of flowers to fill the screen beautiful colors. The clarity of this film is top notch. Individual grains of fine desert sand are easily detected and whiskers, moles, and even pores can be seen without any effort. There are a few dark scenes in the film, and nothing gets lost in the shadows even though the blacks are true blacks.

Bonus Features 2.0 Stars (out of 5)

• Behind the Scenes Montage (1080p, 2:26): Very short featurette of behind the scenes stunts and fight scenes choreography.
• Deleted Scenes (SD, 12:10): 12 short deleted scenes.

Movie - 3.0 Stars (out of 5)

Review

If you enjoyed the synopsis of this film and you like campy movies, there is a high likelihood this is the film for you. The Warriors Way is a fun movie to watch, its over the top, a little funny, bloody, and doesn't take itself to seriously. First off, this movie puts a assassin samurai in the wild west with an abandoned circus act ... this movie is designed for fun, not for a gut wrenching drama. However, it is not a comedy either, somehow with its ridiculous setup it doesn't come off as the mess you would expect it to be. Don't get me wrong, the movie has it's problems. The overall tone and style of the movie changes every couple of scenes. First its a samurai movie, then its a love story, then a western, then a samurai western, if you aren't paying attention you could forget what kind of movie you're watching.

Any movie with a good guy needs villain. The meaner the villain is, the better the good guy looks. This movie has an awesome villain played perfectly by Danny Huston. Every scene he was in was a joy to watch. He was given cheesy dialog, but was able to pull it off with style. Overall, the cast did a good job, but the real stars of the movie were the special effects and action. In fact, the main reason to watch this movie is for the action. Samurai swords definitely get bloody, guns get their share of bloodshed as well, and you get to see what happens when people bring knives to gunfights. The in your face slow motion shots were amazing the imagery is jaw-dropping. Don't watch this movie expecting to see a thought provoking storyline. Didn't you see the Blu-ray cover? There are ninja guys flying through the sky with swords and they are about to fight cowboys. This movie is silly awesome and my six year old son would love to see it, but it would  give him nightmares.