Jadesoturi

The first major genre-film in Finnish history, Jadewarrior is a slick and stylish movie of epic proportions. Combining both Chinese Wuxia and the national epic, Kalevala, into a seamless whole the movie creates a beautifully realized vision of alternate history and mythology.

Kai is a blacksmith, living in the outskirts of Helsinki. After his girlfriend leaves him, and meeting a mysterious store owner with an obsession of the Kalevala - Kai is thrust into a battle between good and evil that has raged since ancient times. Should Kai fail, it would cost the lives of not only his beloved, but everyone in the world.

Since it's conception, Finnish films have been in stuck in a rut of bad and repetitive storytelling, with films that you couldn't distinguish from each other without looking at their names. With only dozens upon dozens of war and drama films to our credit, Jadewarrior presents finally visions of grandeur of what Finnish cinema could become. Effortlessly switching between modern magical realities á la Neil Gaiman and the epic scopes of Zhang Yimous Hero and House of Flying Daggers, Jadewarrior is brimming with talented storytelling and visual delivery to match it. First time helmer, A.J Annila charges with leaps and bounds to the very small minority of interesting Scandinavian filmmakers to look out for.

Filmed in locations around the world, such as China and it's home country of Finland, Jadewarrior boasts with visually powerful locales to match it's breathtaking action. With production values most Scandinavian films would die for, the film has the look and feel of a major Hollywood blockbuster, but with wit and heart to match it's brawn. Never force feeding it's centuries spanning plot, Jadewarrior constructs a surprisingly intelligent and heartfelt tale of tragedy without ever feeling forced or calculated.

With actors ranging from Finnish newcomers (Krista Kosonen) to Chinese pro's (Jingchu Zhang), the film delivers. First time leading man, Tommi Eeronen works wonders with his challenging dual role as Kai and Sintai. Switching between his native language of Finnish to fully realized Mandarin Chinese effortlessly. Markku Peltola also succeeds in making his character both tremendously threatening and charming with small nuances, also delivering his performance partly in Mandarin. Chinese actress Zhang Jingchu has the fragile beauty of a young Michelle Yeoh, balancing her performance between the maiden in love and the battle hardener warrior. And while some of the Finnish dialog may sound cringe worthy to native speakers - thanks to it's melodramatic inspirations, Kalevala and Wuxia - the subtitled Chinese segments work better than anyone would have dared to imagine.

With 2006 still having a good way to go before it's end, calling Jadewarrior one of the best films of the year may be a slight gamble. But calling it the best Finnish film in memory isn't. Beautiful, heartfelt, with action and set-pieces to die for - Jadewarrior marks hopefully the beginning of a new wave in Finnish film-making, and deserves all praise coming for it.

The movie mixes together Finnish and Chinese mythology, a very interesting and definitely unique basis. Visually the fighting scenes were excellent and I really enjoyed watching them, there just were too few of them. Of course it's good that the movie is more than just fighting, so there would be plenty of time to tell the - as said, interesting - story. Two stories are told at one time, one from ancient China and the second from present-day Finland, and they mixed very well together. But unfortunately the characters remain blank through the whole movie. I didn't get anything out of them, though the story made me yearn to know everything. The characters are captivating, especially Pin Yu's person and Kai's and Ronja's relationship, but too much stays as a mystery. The beginning half is very entertaining and makes your imagination fly. But then the movie becomes disordered and the spectator becomes confused. There are lots of things that are left unexplained, and some things don't seem to have anything to do with the movie. Sometimes it feels like 'a scene has now been cut away from here, and it would explain what I now don't understand.' Those missing little parts didn't start to haunt me after I went to sleep though, the movie wasn't that special. It was definitely entertaining, worth watching, but perhaps not twice. A big plus for the imaginative theme, good music and the courage to do such a film.

We haven't seen any attempts to combine Kalevala, the old stories, gods, myth, etc with any other culture or epic before. This film deserves a high rating score for being bold enough to try and manage it quite well indeed. A different kind of movie, feels and tastes fresh, contains enough little oddities and elements to be of cult stuff. I hope somebody will take it from here: develop the excellent old stories even further into something equally fresh. Same thing could be done with the equally rich stories of Aesir and the norsk gods etc. Along the lines of Neil Gaima's "American gods" and other such brilliant works.

I heard about this movie over a year before its release, and followed the progress of the project with mild curiosity throughout the production. When it finally premiered, I expected to see a campy martial arts film with tongue-in-cheek action sequences, and a feeble plot. What I got was the opposite; the movie turned out to be much less of a Kung Fu film than it was cracked up to be, but I was pleasantly surprised with the plot and the character development. Thus, I left the theatre with mixed feelings, though my general opinion of the movie was more on the positive side.

The first third of the film is rather... odd. It opens with a stunning scene set in ancient Finland, but when the story shifts into modern times, it temporarily loses its touch. The plot is dragging, and characters are introduced in a way that leaves the viewer confused about who they are, what they want, and what has happened to them prior to point where the story picks up with them. I suppose it's the director's fault that half of the time everything the characters do feels irrational and pointless. However, when the plot line set in ancient China kicks off, the quality of the movie immediately improves. The parallel stories support each other, the main character gets more depth, and the pace of the story becomes steadier. By the end of the movie, the two plot lines have neatly entwined into a coherent whole, providing the story a beautiful finale in perfect contrast to the messy beginning. In the end, the plot manages to even out its flaws, though only scarcely.

What I particularly liked about Jadesoturi was the delightfully original plot. Generally speaking, the plots of Kung Fu movies aren't exactly epitomes of originality and great character development, and I expected that the makers of the first and only Finnish Kung Fu movie ever wouldn't even need to bother themselves with a proper script as long as the action scenes work. That's why I was surprised that not only did Jadesoturi manage to tell a tremendously humane story about a man's fear and desperation when facing the inevitable, it also provided believable character development and an unexpected twist ending. And all free of the typical Hollywood clichés! The hero isn't your average sword-shielding action god, but a lonely, insecure man with a painful desire to love and be loved, who consciously disregards the greater good in order to pursue personal happiness. Even his name is an apt pun - Kai meaning "perhaps", and the 'pelko' part of his surname Pelkonen meaning "fear". His inner conflict is the heart of the movie, and the one thing that sets this movie apart from all the rest.

In addition to the good plot, the movie contains lots of beautiful imagery, like the shots of Kai's rundown workshop, and the secluded Chinese village. The action sequences are quite stunning, though more artistic than realistic. I also liked most of the actors. These are the reasons why I personally enjoyed the film enough to be able to forgive the movie for its flaws - such as the weak beginning, the pointless subplot including Ronja and Berg's co-worker, and the Worst Evil Scheme Thought Up By A Villain Ever (seriously, am I the only one why is still confused about what the demon was trying to achieve with his cunning plan in the first place?). Jadesoturi has also been criticized for the lack of Kung Fu scenes, which are limited to the minimum. I personally think the problem isn't the lack of martial arts itself, but the fact that it was marketed as a Kung Fu movie even though the emphasis was on the drama, not on the action. It's more of a fantasy/drama film with Kung Fu elements, rather than the reverse.

My opinion? Jadesoturi is an interesting movie, but not an outstanding one. It has plenty of flaws, but also an original story to tell.

I watched this movie on DVD just the other day, and wow what a movie. This is certainly the best film I have seen out of Finland. The martial arts scenes are great, the story is great. I watched it without subtitles in the original version, it is way over the top. If you can find it, get it, it is well worth it. Being a first time director, this guy has done the most amazing job. He has taken all sorts of talent and blended them into a seamless film. The composition of the filming is incredible, as well as the use of a very detailed story. When it is purchased by a major studio I hope they do not edit it from it's original form, because itg is perfect.