Forbidden Warrior

Anytime the urge rises to be entertained with an escapist film the top of the list becomes one of the Asian martial arts films, films of stunning beauty, breathtaking choreography, handsome actors, and enough legend to make the storyline fascinating, e.g. 'The House of Flying Daggers'. This pathetic film is packaged like those wonder movies and so deludes the public into thinking it is in an equal category. Not even close! A child is born to a couple informed that their progeny will be a male warrior who has the secrets to read the codebook that contains the key to the power of the universe. The pregnant mother is stabbed by the evil adversaries but the baby lives, 'disappointingly' a girl! The girl Seki is transported via a leaf boat to a blind wise magician who cares for her and teaches her Taiji and Kung Fu, raising her to return to the world and discover life along with her gifts. A family who wants to maintain dominion over China sends two sons (one evil and the other kind) to capture the girl and steal the code to the sacred book. The evil son is accompanied by warriors: the kind son is accompanied by Caucasian Marx brothers. The rest of the story is too simple-minded to discuss.

There are so many errors of judgment in the making of this film, not the least of which is a nebulous and silly script, that disrupt what might have been an honest attempt for Hollywood to make a martial arts film. But the acting is poor, combining Asian actors with non-Asian actors makes both look ridiculous, the special effects are clumsy, and the mood of ancient China is completely destroyed by the computer generated graphics superimposed on the real location of Griffith Park in Los Angeles! The three stooges added to the good warrior's team are so silly that they pass funny into absurd. There is no ending to the movie: instead it feels like the producers just ran out of money. A must miss.

I am shocked to read how many other people dis-liked this movie, but perhaps that is only because all the people who enjoyed it weren't as driven to comment. This movie was great as a film for humor and action - as well as exactly the story telling you would expect. No this isn't a blockbuster film, and I wouldn't expect that out of a film I never heard of until I went to the rental store. Forbidden Warrior is a story about a strong woman and it includes the elements of fighting, magic, love, etc. If you aren't into fantasy story-telling, particularly styles like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (but remember Forbidden Warrior is written in English, not a 'foreign' film (if you happen to be American)). It is a bit campy or cheesy if you're looking at it seriously, but if you enjoy good-hearted characters, a strong woman story-line, fantasy and magic, and a movie made by people who seem to have had fun making it (having watched the behind-the-scenes). In conclusion, if you pick up the film to sit down and enjoy a bit of entertainment as a film is meant to be, you'll like it. If you are looking to critique and can't handle watching movies that haven't won an Oscar, then don't pick it up. This film is great for a certain category of audience, if you're not sure that's you, please take into consideration the other comments about this movie - as it is understandable if this isn't your 'cup-of-tea', but it is mine.

Chinese film is currently going through a well-deserved revival, the cinematography, character creation and plot are for the most part excellent. Hollywood saw this and this has to be their take on the Chinese film phenomenon, and their way of cashing in. And what a joke it is. You can't just take Chinese-American actors, steal parts lock, stock and barrel from Tolkien's work and hope for the best. Does Hollywood think us idiots? Or consider the movie-going public morons? They must do if they think people are going to stomach this rubbish.

Hollywood HAS to stop leeching other nations creative and brilliant works and try and call it their own. I've only seen one decent example of this type of plagiarism and it's a video game of all things, Jade Empire by a Canadian company called Bioware, their work is meant to be a reflection of esteem onto the creators of genre, not a asset strip. If you want to see real personalities created, marvel at the scenery, gasp at the battles and generally bask into all things eastern give it a look.

I am writing this because the reason I went to see this film is because I saw the IMDb rating and at the time it was 7,5!!!! Usually IMDb rating mirrors reality and I trust it, but this time these people who voted for this film must be crazy or the ones making this childish naive production!! I like fairy tales and legends and I though this film would be something like that but the scenery, stage effects, dialogues and even the costumes makes it look just silly. Bad acting, poor script, really silly graphic effects! I recommend to see something else...even a child's fairytale! And of course NO comparison to Lord of the Rings, or even Harry Poter! My vote is so low because I got a bit angry with those that voted with 10(!!!) and persuaded me to go and see this NOT AT ALL cinematographic attempt.

While many people probably expected this movie to be some kind of great martial arts / sword fighting flick; it only delivers on a juvenile level. The fighting contains very little blood, and that which it does have isn't like what you would see even in a PG-13 movie today, but I can't say it was bad fighting, not can I say it was great fighting.

This movie because of the way it was shot reminded me of watching a very long episode of a Hercules style television show. So I'm not sure if this was originally intended for the television or the big screen.

I think the story makes a lot of assumptions about what the watcher knows. They don't explain much about the geography used. Characters have little to know background given. The characters in some respects I believe are so proto-typical that they probably didn't feel the need to tell much about them since their appearance could tell you quite a bit. While I like this about the movie, and it makes it very easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys, in many ways its what I don't like about the movie too. I like characters, well, to have some more character and depth to them! I don't think anyone who watches this will be left going, ugh what a terrible movie, if they have the right mindset. But if you're looking for a serious martial arts / Asian flavored movie then this isn't the film for you.