The Warrior's Way review

Walking into movie without much to go upon except a couple of trailers and posters is probably what I love doing the most. Let's face it movies today get spoiled months in advance due to the online world, but once in a while there's a film falls through the cracks in certain respects. One that not enough people have any interest in to comment on the happenings surrounding it. Sometimes it's a movie like "Skyline" in which no one had much to run on outside of the brothers Strause comments about the studio system. Then opening weekend we discovered the movie was absolute shit. And then there is "The Warrior's Way". The trailers almost scream movie made for the meme generation. Slack-jawed, morons without a shred of intelligence or good taste that love to make poor jokes about zombies, ninjas or whatever else is "popular" at the given second. Well it still might kind of be that movie... but it's an absurd amount of fun.

Viewing "The Warrior's Way" can only be compared to the first time I watched something like "Dead Alive" or "Darkman". For the first ten to twenty minutes I questioned what the hell this was and then something happens that makes me fall for it. With "Dead Alive" it zombie killing, kung-fu fighting priest. In "Darkman" it was the lab assault that creates him. In this it's Danny goddamn Huston. Huston plays Colonel, a scar-faced bastard who loves raw steak, fucking with the townsfolk and rape. He loves himself some rape. It's a character role for an impressive actor where seriousness and good taste get to fly out the window and he's let go to do whatever he wants. But he's not alone. As soon as Kate Bosworth opens her mouth and starts rattling off in an over the top, but likely southern jaw it's great. You start to love her goofiness in all fashions. And Geoffrey Rush as a drunken rifleman is as exciting and humorous to say the least. Really the moment in which our hero played by Dong-gun Jang reaches the deconstructed western town is when the film really seems to come alive.

The plot is something of a mixture of generalized eastern and western stories. On one end is the wayward swordsmen who grew a heart and turned his back on his master. On the other is quirky western towns people that gets roughed up by a band of marauders as they just try and skate by in life. Apparently mixing these two elements and having them exist in a cheapened "300" like universe works. And I use the "300" thing lightly. Despite the green screen environment several of the gorgeous horizons don't appear to be CGI, but simply real skies super imposed onto the screen. Also the cheap effects work wonders for the feel of the movie. It starts to feel like something made with the same love and sense of experimentation as old school Jackson or Raimi. Okay that's a big thing to say, but see it and then compare it with some of their older films and see if you can't find the same heart.

I mention the off feeling I had at the beginning of the movie, but by the end it all makes sense. The opening seems like it's aiming to be something less than it could be. It feels like a video game and the violence is too fast and shows very little for an R-rated film. By the end I understood why. It's not a gore-hound film, but it is violent. I realized that had they shown since the opening the style in which they really fight it would have grown stale and dull by the big climax. They employ an interesting type of slow motion fighting that doesn't feel like the Snyder-slo mo we've been seeing as of late. It's faster and more fluid. The action set pieces are also quite fun to watch and cleverly put together. Again they are cheap, but that cheapness WORKS. You don't need sixty million dollars to make a fun and original genre movie and "The Warrior's Way" proves that.

Machete review

Witness the movie that the summer ought to have had in it. Robert Rodriguez's "Machete" easily works to become one of his most gleefully over the top works and also one of his most fun and ultimately most satisfying. Is there any real surprise to 'Machete'? Maybe yes, maybe no. For me I walked in looking for pure, bloody, grindhousey fun that's played for laughs. And I got just that. The film is everything that the original fake trailer showed us, plus some wonderfully over the top social commentary about illegal immigration reform. I happen to live in Florida where such reform is being heavily talked about. Not being a person of strong political beliefs, I do however attempt to keep up with certain things and educate myself of on them to get a real standing. And let me say that I do think their 'idea' is horse shit. But more on that later.

What Rodriguez and company have really done is made their ultimate mexploitation film. His 'El Mariachi' trilogy is just the foundation of what he's now done. He's made a big, bloody and explosive live action cartoon that's just as insipid as it is strangely brilliant. I mean let's face it this isn't a movie where plot and character development come first as an attempt to relate to the human condition; this is an exploitation film. But within the subtext and social commentary there is a film that's a great parody of modern latino culture and the political climate surrounding the illegal immigration situation. They gleefully play with stereotypes for the fun of the movie, but also making a solid point. In the end though I suppose it's the violent fun that wins out.

Danny Trejo IS Machete. He's been with this character forever and plays him like a classic action movie actor. Somewhere in connecting Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson. He's the quiet strong man that when he opens his mouth the theater goes silent, but when he's swinging around his machete it's a mad house of laughs and cheers. The supporting cast works as well as any of Rodriguez's others. Michelle Rodriguez, who pretty much only plays the 'tough chick' seems to have finally gotten a part where she's allowed to do that and NOT look completely butch at the same time. Steven Seagal plays Torrez a Mexican drug lord and manages to be the odd man out as he always half way tries at the role. Whether it's on purpose or just his inability to act has finally matched his inability to say no to super sizing his Quarter pounder combos is unclear; but it has a silly as shit charm.

The best supporting characters however are Jeff Fahey as Booth, the senator's menacing aid that manages to feel highly sinister despite only speaking in whispers, Cheech Marin as the shotgun touting priest, Don Johnson's evil and racist as shit boarder patrol vigilante Von and yes Mr. De Niro as the two faced, coward, racist senator John McLaughlin. De Niro helps remind us of how fun he can be to watch in films where he really has a character he can play with. Remember the first "Meet the Parents" movie? Something close to that, but with A LOT of his interpretation of Max Cady from "Cape Fear". It's levels out into something hilarious, different and truly fun to watch. Jessica Alba is somewhat mid-ranged as the immigration officer with a heart for her people. Sometimes she can feel just right in the whole mix and other times it feels like there could've been a better casting choice. And let's just say she's no Bill Pullman when it comes to giving rousing speeches. And I do wish there was more with Lindsey Lohan's April character. Granted it wasn't so much acting for her and much as it was a typical Monday morning, but still it was nice seeing her on screen again and the little she does get to do really makes you think that this genre might be a good fit for her as opposed to chick flicks.

Now onto the whole politics of the film. I read and early review for the film it I feel like it sums that whole thing up perfectly by saying (I'm gonna paraphrase) 'Machete' is the left wing equivalent to all the 80's right wing aimed action films like the 'Rambo' movies or 'Red Dawn'. It really is. The reason many people (some of which I know) seem to have no problem with some of the ideas brought by the new immigration reform is because it would never really effect them. They wouldn't get pulled over at 9pm because the police want to see if they're an American citizen because... well... they're white. What do they have to worry about? We complain about mexican workers taking our jobs, but those jobs are the ones we generally don't want and when we get them we tend to half ass it because we hate it so much! And at least it's keeping the jobs in this country, which to me is a bigger issue. Then there's the whole heathcare issue and yadda, yadda, yadda... whatever. The politics of 'Machete' display cartoonish extremism on both sides and anyone taking it seriously is really, truly an idiot. The same goes for people thinking it wants a 'race war'. The movie lampoons the situations in an attempt to kind of show just how ridiculous people CAN be and how some probably are. I for one think that's a great way of beginning a conversation about the issue.

"Machete" is much like "Piranha 3D" as in it gives you what it advertised. You can pop in, turn off your brain for 105 minutes, laugh and have a good time. Or you can walk in with a stick up your ass and complain for that duration about the state of cinema and politics and so on and so forth. Can't imagine how that's helpful to ya, but it's your choice. For me though I loved every stupid, nasty, outrageous and satirical thing about it. I love that Robert Rodriguez has carved his own genre nitch with these sorts of films and has been so successful with it all and I hope that success continues long into the future.