- Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: R
- Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + 1 x Digital Copy)
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Blu-ray Release Date: June 21, 2011
- List Price: $39.99
[amazon-product]B004XFZ47C[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase The Warrior’s Way on Blu-ray+Digital Copy at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:2.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:2.5/5]
Writer/director Sngmoo Lee’s The Warrior’s Way is a visually slick genre-bending flick that mixes spaghetti western with Asian cinema martial arts. Unfortunately, the promise of this movie and its international leading man Dong-gun Jang never materializes. It instead fizzles out into a lumbering, cliché laden story-arc with little character exploration and not enough action to maintain interest.
The story seems straight out of any western or martial arts film. A wandering assassin who has stirred up the ire of his master by failing to kill the last living member of his rival clan, a cute little baby girl, leaves his homeland with the baby in tow and heads for the isolated American West. There he finds a town full of carnie freaks and a young woman, Lynne (Kate Bosworth) looking for revenge on an outlaw that killed her whole family. He inherits a laundry from his dead friend in partnership with Lynne and begins training her in the ways of the sword, but soon finds himself content in his new life with this baby girl and, of course, Lynne. Happiness doesn’t last when the outlaws and assassins from his past return forcing him to become the cold killer he no longer wants to be.
The story seems overwrought, painfully struggling to infuse misguided comedic elements, yet missing opportunities to explore the obvious fish out of water scenarios or offer more backstory and motivation for this quiet assassin. By the time we reach the obvious conclusion of the grand showdown at the end, there isn’t enough action or drama to hold our attention, despite the cool videogame graphics and relentless splashes of fake blood. I’d also add that Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush is tragically underused throughout this film.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
To go along with the visually pleasing aesthetic of this film the Blu-ray has an amazing 1080p/24 AVC encodement that has remarkably nuanced shadings, a clean, cinematic look that is textured and almost three-dimensional and excellent color reproduction. The beautiful vistas, silhouettes, visual effects, and intricate costumes will really standout on your display.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is equally impressive. It doesn’t hit you with a constant barrage of sounds, but it has a wide dynamic range, natural sounding high frequencies and deep lows. During the numerous fight sequences, gunfire sounds hefty, and the sounds begin to venture around the room more aggressively and discretely as well.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
As lumbering as the film feels, there’s a surprising quantity of deleted scenes offered here. Unfortunately they are only in standard definition. Besides that, there is a brief “montage” of behind-the-scenes footage, which makes for a thin feeling release.
The supplements provided with this release are:
- Behind the Scenes Montage (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 0:02.26)
- Deleted Scenes (2.40:1; 480i/60):
- The Fight Through the Floor
- Smiley’s Grave
- The More Ding Your Hear
- Who Was Ron
- Alt Who Was Ron (No Music)
- Mexican Monk
- Circumciser
- That’s for Making Me Dance
- Esmerelda & Jacque Cartwheel Attack
- Carnies Battle Back
- Ate Peas for Lunch, Didn’t Ya
- Colonel Kills Carnies
- He Didn’t Save the Baby, the Baby Saved Him
- Digital Copy
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3/5]
Skip a purchase and go straight for the rental if you feel like watching, but keep it for a really slow weekend when there’s nothing else to watch.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B004XFZ47C[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase The Warrior’s Way on Blu-ray+Digital Copy at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:2.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
