This is the story of a sad flute, a laughing baby and a weeping sword

I will admit this is cheating when I heard this in the opening narration I immediately pulled out my phone and typed it in, I knew it would be my title for the review. Opening lines like this is why I used to tune in to Kung Fu theater every Saturday afternoon to watch this epic tales of martial artist on quests of vengeance, self fulfillment or for honor and glory. It's a story of a soon to be hero who may not be perfect but he will grow on you and make you happy to have come along for the ride, so to the movie:

The Warrior's Way



This is the story of a man who was on a quest to be the greatest swordsman in the world. It just so happens that as this movie begins and he slices 5(or 6 it was so quick I might have missed one spraying throat) men down that standing in front of him is "The greatest swordsman in the history of mankind"(EVER, I loved that some might find it cheesy but I love how when they do add a walking narration in writing that they go that little extra step). As he drags his sword along the ground ready to face this Legend of the Sword you can see in his face that his heart is steady, he is not ready for this moment this moment is actually long past. That man is dead, he has been dead since the day this assassin picked up the sword all that he has been doing is diligently holding the title of "greatest swordsman ever" for our protagonist until the day he came for his title. They strike, our protagonist slides to a stop after delivering his blow, or did he who prevailed because they are both(okay okay enough with the drama) the FORMER greatest swordsman in the history of mankind(ever) falls to the ground his throat slit. And to the completion of his clans Ultimate Goal the greatest swordsman opens up this cradle in it lays a baby, this is the last of a clan that is his clans enemy. They have been fighting for over 500 years, a fight that will not end until one clan has eradicated the other and this child represents the culmination of that goal. Our swordsman looks down(and as is normal for a sword fight cherry blossoms are floating around, what I'm just saying it's a theme) and this soon be be extinguished flame and as he does a cherry blossom petal sticks to his face, the baby starts laughing. This gives our swordsman pause, he removes it and the baby cries, so he puts it back. Something about this innocent child's laughter has changed his heart so he swings down and shakes the blood from his sword, sheathes it and carries the baby with him into the forest.

Now of course if this child represents your clans ULTIMATE GOAL, they're are not gonna stop just because you had a change of heart now are they. Nope, so out of no where our swordsman slices through some of the tall bamboo he in which he's walking (to which you then see some of his former clan mates running on top of said bamboo, damn he's good) and then (I guess this would be his "walking papers") he commences to kill and leave the bodies of his slain clansman draped around this bamboo as he leaves. The scene changes you see a man and a baby sitting at a table, an old woman brings a tray to feed them she smiles at the baby reaches to touch the tray and the man after an eye twitch shoves to chopsticks through her eye(ahem another theme, what I didn't write this movie this is an awesome theme though). The old lady did deserve it though the part of the tray she touched concealed a knife with which she THOUGHT she was gonna kill somebody, but yup she thought wrong. well he burns down this humble shop, leaves his former clothes there and is headed on a journey to visit an old friend. As is always happening in movies the dieing minion of his foe gripes one last piece of information with their dieing breath to let his pursuers know where he is going(America).

So our FORMER assassin treks across the desert to a lonely desolate town. It seems he is looking for a friend, "smiley"(yeah yeah the chinese folks don't have real names so what) of course he doesn't know where his friend is so he goes to the hotel(or atleast the front of what USED to be the hotel, looked like a scene out of Blazing Saddles) nowhere to stay there so the local "leader" (8-ball played by the nut crushing midget from Bad Santa ALSO A THEME, WTF is nut crushing in his contract) takes him to Smiley's laundry shop.

I could actually go scene for scene through this movie, needless to say he gets a name Skinny, the baby gets a name April, the Warrior begins to learn all the things that life can be(besides just taking peoples lives). You also learn a little back story, He is the sad flute that is the name of his clan(watch the movie to see why they are called the sad flutes), the laughing baby is of course april, and the weeping sword is his own, the cries of all the souls he has separated from their bodies. To say he is a bad man is an understatement, Death stands to the side when it sees him coming as not to disturb an artists work.

The martial arts in this movie is wonderful, lots of wire work, over the top it's not some "realistically what can we imagine them doing" type take on martial arts it's the kind that I grew up on. Yes a man could be so well trained that he moves faster than your eye can see. I love all the fight scenes in this movie, even some of the more clumsy ones when the female lead character's just learning how to fight. Fighting isn't something easily learned through a few simple tricks, or some quick pointers. It takes time and dedication, yes you can fix some minor mistakes of something you have been practicing for years but to become a Warrior takes years. The flashbacks to what he had to do to become the worlds greatest swordsman paint a grim picture and also show why things had to end the way they did.  The Sad Flutes can hear the sound of his weeping sword and will follow it to the ends of the earth and while his new neighbors may be up to fighting some rebel soldiers, they really aren't up to fighting of hoardes of ninjas.

If you love Kung Fu movies, go see The Warrior's Way. If you like action movies go see the Warrior's Way, if you like throat slitting, arm chopping action go see the Warrior's way. If you are expecting tea time with crumpets go to the opera, this is an action movie, about a man who is used to drawing blood, and when the sad flute plays you shall know he was there

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 !!Update!!

Now as I noticed someone googling for it I guess either they missed the part in the movie where it was mentioned or else missed the movie entirely.  They are called the "sad flutes" because after they slit someones throat their last breath sounds like "a note from a sad flute". Yes they are such efficient killers that their calling card is your final breath. If you haven't seen this movie yet what is wrong with you?