The Warriors Gate is a Chinese co-production with about three name stars but written, produced, and directed by a bunch of Europeans and Americans who seem to have no understanding of the nuances and subtleties of a good period costume wuxia, except that they typically feature high-flying, wire-fu action choreography, beautiful women in ornate dresses and heroic storylines full of betrayal, quests, and arcane magic. The Warriors Gate makes the exact same mistakes that made The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) so reviled among fanatics who actually watch and know Asian martial arts and wuxia films. The only thing that The Warriors Gate (released in Mainland China as 勇士之門 and most of the English-speaking world The Warriors Gate – except in North America where it was called Enter the Warriors Gate) has going for it that it’s more or less a remake of The Forbidden Kingdom ( 功夫之王) (2008), which was in dire need of remaking because… it was only eight years old? The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) had the good fortune to have both Jet Li and Jackie Chan. You can pick it up on most VOD platforms, Blu-ray, and DVD… just don’t wait two months like I did.Plot : passive gamer must defend ancient China from barbaric warlord. It’s a pretty great time and a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. Bautista is bad ass, the fight choreography is strong, and there is a perfect amount of cheese. There’s not a ton to say about the film, honestly, as it’s pure entertainment. Rather than groundbreaking, this film fills its runtime with lots of fun and really that’s it. The plot elements are all very familiar, so it’s not as if it’s something groundbreaking however, this isn’t the type of movie that needs groundbreaking elements. He falls in love, teaches his new friends how to to dance, makes sarcastic quips, and ultimately must fight the big bad Bautista. Once transported into the game, our reluctant hero must learn how to fight and how to defend himself. Apparently he’s really great at the video game and the warrior believes him to be the character that he plays as, as opposed to a skinny computer nerd. The plot is simple, a nerdy high school kid is recruited by a warrior from a video game that he plays regularly. What else do you need for a film to be a perfect PG-13 popcorn action flick? If you answered, “Nothing!” then you are correct. This means that there are some stellar battles. The game is based in ancient Japan, so martial arts and samurai are all over the place.It’s about a kid who gets sucked into a video game. So… why it took me almost two months to watch this film is beyond me, I mean just listen to a few facts about this film: Some parents wouldn’t let their 6 and 8 year olds watch films like these, but I was force feeding them The Goonies, Neverending Story, and The Monster Squad from ages 3 or 4, even if they push the edges of PG and PG-13 scares and language at times (albeit, The Monster Squad‘s use of “fag” is an important place where I pause to explain hatred and unacceptable words to both of my boys). the World are staples in my film diet, watching alone, with the missus, and/or with the kids. If you are anything like me, you enjoy a good PG-13 fantasy film that you can get away with watching in from of your kids.
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