After being raised to be the greatest swordsman of his clan, a lone warrior named Yang (Jang Dong-gun) is given the mission of eliminating all of his clan’s enemies. When he is confronted with the last sole member of a rival’s clan, a baby girl, he can’t find it in his heart to assassinate her. Knowing that his clan will surely come after the little baby, he takes her and flees his country. He travels to the America, where he intends on meeting up with an old friend who lives in a western town called Lode. Once he gets there, he is told that his friend has long since died, but he is welcomed to stay in the town and take up his friend’s laundry business that has been closed since his death.
The town has lost its luster from the days of the gold rush, and is now in shambles, and inhabited by a group of circus performers. Yang meets one of the performers, a woman named Lynne (Kate Bosworth) who is a spirited knife thrower in training. She takes a liking to him and decides to help him run the laundry business. On Yang’s trail are his clan’s master, and an army of ninjas, who are looking for clues to where Yang has gone. Yang knows that if he uses his sword, his master will be able to hear it, so he solders it closed. Yang learns that years ago Lynne’s family was murdered by a group of outlaws lead by a ruthless man named the Colonel (Danny Huston). When the outlaws return, Yang is faced with having to help out Lynne who is bent on getting revenge on the colonel. The only way he can defeat these marauders is by once again drawing his sword in combat. The Colonel ends up getting away, and the town folks know that he will be back with reinforcements. What they don’t realize is that now Yang’s master has found out his whereabouts, and he and his army of deadly killers are also on their way to the town. With the two groups of cold hearted murderers descending on the town, Yang and the citizens of Lode will have to stand their ground and fight for their survival.
When I saw the trailer for this movie it looked very interesting and original. I thought that the combining of ninjas and cowboys was a weird but fascinating idea. The action also looked like it was going to be outstanding. A gun against a sword, how great is that? Well apparently not so great. This movie was pure cartoon-ish. The acting was horrible and I feel that was because of the atrocious script that accompanied this movie. The character of Lynne was horrible and I grew tired of her in the first 5 minutes her character was introduced. Most of the sword battles were quick and lacked any real sword play. Also in the movie was Geoffrey Rush as a drunken ex-marksman named Ron. I felt that a talent of his caliber shouldn’t have been in a movie this cheesy. He did have some funny scenes though, as he drank through most of the movie. Then to make it really horrible, the finale showdown between Yang and his master was confusing and way, way too quick. If this is the guy that taught Yang all he knew, how come he couldn’t be a better opponent? How come if Yang was the main character and the expert samurai, did his battle end so quickly, but Lynne and the Colonels sword fight go on way to long?
Now let me name some of the good points of the movie. When Yang’s character fights some of the ninjas in the finale battle, it was pretty good in its slow motion filmed sequence. That’s about it. The anticipation of the battle overshadowed the actual battle. It was things like this, which really irritated me while watching this movie. You see this amazing battle about to happen and when it does, it’s over before you can even get into it. I walked out of this movie very disappointed. I have to give it 1 sword out of 4. It just didn’t live up to the hype. It could have been so much better, if they just extended the action scenes, and shortened the character development. The movie runs 1 hour and 40mins. It’s rated R for Strong bloody violence. The film was written and directed by Sngmoo Lee. It was produced by Emerald City Productions, Inc., Mike’s Movies. It was distributed by Relativity Media.
Sometimes the mixing of cultures is not a good combination. Ezo
Next movie reviewed: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
