Release Date (UK Blu-ray ) – 30th May 2011
Certificate (UK) – 18
Country – China
Director – Tian Zhuangzhuang
Runtime – 97 minutes
Starring – Joe Odagiri, Maggie Q, Tou Chung Hua
Brought to you by Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon producer Bill Kong, The Warrior and the Wolf is a Chinese art-house movie featuring the acting talents of Joe Odagiri (Shinobi) and Maggie Q (Die Hard 4).
Set more than two thousand years ago, during the time of the Han Emperor, The Warrior and the Wolf follows Commander Lu as he leads his army in retreat, taking refuge in the village of the ‘cursed’ Harran tribe. It is here he finds a mysterious Harran widow with whom he becomes embroiled in a passionate affair, little realising the great price he will pay for his illicit passion.
To go into any further detail with my summary, I’m afraid to say, is to go into more detail than the script writers ever did with The Warrior and the Wolf. From the off the plot is confusing and fragmented, with no obvious connection between one scene and another. Having persevered through the first third of the film, eventually Commander Lu, and the forces he may or may not be leading, arrive at the Harran village. Here the Maggie Q character appears from nowhere and is raped repeatedly by Lu as he and his troops wait out the winter. After some time and an attempted suicide, the two suddenly become consensual lovers and the film skips forward 5 years as the wolves from the title appear and the baffled view is none-the-wiser as to what on earth has transpired to lead them to where they end up.
Confusing yes, and almost as confusing as why non-Mandarin speaking Odagiri and Maggie Q should play the lead roles only to be poorly dubbed into the native Chinese tongue. Indeed The Warrior and the Wolf’s only saving grace is its beautiful setting, and the cinematography that really captures the essence of the Chinese landscapes. It’s here that the Blu-ray format of the movie really comes into its own, and if there’s one format you’re going to watch this film in, then let it be Blu-ray. While the film itself fails to stand up to scrutiny on many levels, the setting and the way it has been captured by director Tian Zhuangzhuang really is something to behold.
If you can look past the fact that The Warrior and the Wolf fundamentally doesn’t make sense, that it’s dubbing is poor, that it fails to live up to the promise of its trailer, and that it’s a film surprisingly devoid of action, then sure, it is certainly worth a look. Art-house fans will doubtless be able to see past the film’s numerous major flaws and accept it for what it is — a visual piece of art. If however, like me, you appreciate art in all its forms, but your films need to be fundamentally that — films — then The Warrior and the Wolf probably isn’t for you.
The Warrior and the Wolf is out on DVD and Blu-ray now – order it here
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