The Warrior's Way

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warrior%27s_Way

Basic Description

In the 19th century, a warrior named Yang (Jang Dong Gun) ha an order to kill the last member of an enemy clan-- just a small little baby. When he refuses to kill the child, he takes the child with him and flees to the American West. Despite his tries, his enemies find him and he must fight to protect the child and his new comrades: a town drunk named Ron (Geoffrey Rush), Lynne (Kate Bosworth)

Lynne

Yang

Ron

Detailed description

In 19th century Asia, a warrior named Yang is part of the Sad Flutes clan, which is considered to be the most cruel assassins ever. His goal is to become the greatest swordsman in the entire world is accomplished when he kills the person who held the title of world's greatest swordsman and leader of an enemy clan. Yang killed every member of the clan, except a little baby girl he comes upon. He spares her and decides to  watch over her. This makes Yang an enemy of his own clan, and he is a wanted outlaw in his own homeland

He burns his home and all his belongings and takes the baby and his katana on a boat to the West. They arrive in Lods, a town where the only main attraction was a carnival. Unused and beaten up rides are everywhere, with a huge unfinished ferris wheel looming above. He seeks out a fellow rogue warrior known to the townspeople as Smiley. He discovers that Smiley died 3 years ago but he ran the town's laundry shop. Yang then runs into the town drunk Ron, Lynn, a woman who was friends with Smiley, which are all carnies, led by Eight-Ball, a carnival dwarf.

Lynn gives Yang the nickname Skinny and agrees to teach him how to do laundry. He begins to enjoy his life in town, enjoying things he never knew of as a warrior. He becomes friendly with the townspeople, while the baby, named April, is loved by all.  He even develops an interest in opera after Lynne shows him on a gramophone. She reveals to him that Smiley taught her a little bit about sword fighting and the Sad Flute clan. She wants yang to teach her more, and asks about the Sad Flutes name. He explains to her that it describes the sound of blood coming from your victim's slit throat, and he is hesitant to teach her the skills of the sword. Meanwhile back in the East, Yang's former clan is shown to be hunting for him. His former Saddest Flute and his ninja army take the same boat to America. Saddest Flute declares that to find Yang in such a large country, you have to wait and listen.

One day, Yang sees Lynne placing flowers on a grave. He asks Eight-Ball about it and he explains that 3 years ago, when Lynne was a teen, the town came under siege by a corrupt Colonel. His preference to rape women with healthy teeth prompted him to choose Lynn as his victim while her father was held to the ground, mother and baby, and brother forced to wait outside. When Lynne was brought to the Colonel in a kitchen, she manages to escape him by throwing a pan of potatoes frying in grease on his face. She runs outside and he shoots her through the chest. Her father struggles to get free and is also shot dead by the Colonel, while her mother, holding her brother runs over and both are killed.

When the townspeople found them and buried them, they found Lynne still alive. Since then, she has made it her goal to avenge the murders. She wants to learn how to fight and kill, and practices throwing knives. Yang surprises Lynne  by showing her that her knife throwing is halted slightly by her sight, not her arm, and he gives her a successful lesson by blindfolding her. She is clearly falling in love with Yang and gives him a charm necklace that belonged to her mother.

He is clearly moved by her story, so he gives her 2 scythe knives, telling her that they are for defending, not killing. He tutors her in the desert, and she eventually becomes skilled. He shows her how to use a katana, but she notes it's welded to the scabbard. He tells her it's so that his past cannot hear the sound of the lives he has taken, and if his past finds him, there will be no more music. In a flashback, it is shown as a young boy, Yang was given a puppy from his master and was being trained to be the strongest.

Yang continues to live his life peacefully in town with April until Christmas rolls around. When the townspeople are celebrating, Yang and Lynn go to the desert to 'dance' in their swordplay. That's where he tells Lynne that she has not won until her enemy's heart stops. Lynne kisses Yang on the mouth, catching him off guard. She runs away, smiling at him, and he sits down, shocked, staring at his lips in the reflection of the sword.

Meanwhile, the Colonel is back in town and wears a mask to cover the scar. He tortures a clown by placing a bucket of water on his head and having men shoot at it. Then he places a glass of whiskey on him, but Ron comes along and drinks it.  Ron is dragged through the town by a whip around his neck, being pulled by horses. The Colonel then instructs a lineup of women for their teeth, and chooses a Latina woman whose husband begs for mercy. He then shoots them one after the other.

Eight-Ball and other carnies tie Lynne in a cellar for her own good. Yang removes her blades, agreeing with the carnies. She manages to free herself with a concealed knife in her boot. The Colonel has the Latina woman's daughters cleaned up to be raped, but Lynne, disguised as a prostitute, offers herself instead. She fools him, thinking she will be able to kill him when he reveals he recognized her after smelling her neck. His men rush in to hold Lynne down to bed. While back in the laundry, the carnies run in looking for Lynne and Yang knows where she is. He grabs an iron and shatters the seal on his katana to free it. Far awy, Saddest Flute jerks up from meditation, sensing the seal break, and is aware of Yang's location.

Just as she is about to be raped, Yang busts in through the window, expertly and easily kills everyone in the room except Lynne and the Colonel. As Yang turns to kill him, Lynne says she will do it but Colonel grabs her and  jumps out the window, using her as a cushion for the fall. When he gets up, he escapes. She sees him fleeing on a horse and she closes her eyes and throws a knife, landing it in the back of his head. When the townspeople pull off the mask, this reveals that it was only a lackey of his, being especially scared in case he returns with more men. Yang is about to leave, when the townspeople ask him to stay and help. The people are worried that they can't defend their town. But Eight-ball has a secret stash of guns and explosives that belongs to Ron. Ron is shown to be an expert marksman, shooting a bowling pin down from hundreds of yards away. Yang asks Ron while preparing why he has quit. Ron explains that he was once a criminal, using his skill to rob banks and trains. His career ended when the woman he loves was shot during a gunfight. Ron advises men like him and Yang that the best thing they can do for their loved ones is stay away from them, that they are like flowers and him and Yang are like sand. The day before the battle, Lynne comes to Yang and asks him to leave with her after the fight, and to think on it.  Later on, Yang comes to her house, giving her his own twin short swords, explaining that those are to kill. He tells her to come close, caressing the side of her neck, and ends at her heart, saying to remember these places; they are the fastest way to kill an enemy. She says she will remember.

The day comes and the Colonel arrives with men to charge the town.  Yang stands across from his flower garden, waiting. As they approach, they are met with explosions. From miles away on the Ferris Wheel, Ron is sniping sticks of dynamite hidden in the garden as they come. Yang rapidly and stealthily disposes of the men. The outlaws are lured to the ferris wheel where Yang and the carnies ambush them. Ron slides down to safety on a cable, after which the wheel is destroyed, killing many of the Colonel's men. Thinking it's safe, the carnies come out, only to be attacked. The Colonel's men chase the carnies into the center of town where the Sad Flutes appear out of nowhere. Saddest Flute instructs them to kill. Yang looks to Lynne holding April and tells her to run. The carnies manage to get away before the bloodshed between the ninjas and outlaws.

Yang runs after Lynne and must cut down several ninjas before following her to the laundry. Meanwhile, the cowboys in town manage to shoot some ninjas, but are engaged in lethal battle. In the laundry, Lynne hands April to Eight-Ball so she can help Yang. While he is killing a ninja, she saves him from another sneaking in. They are safe for the moment until they hear shots and run to Eight-Ball, who has been shot and is dying, saying he couldn't protect April. He dies and the Colonel is seen carrying her into a building, yelling to his men to make sure that no one gets in.

The Sad Flutes pursue massively, and most are fended off with machine gun fire, but the outlaws are unable to stop Yang, who brutally kills them. He comes into the room to find the Colonel holding a gun to April's head and leaps up to slice the barrel of the gun in half mid-firing. Catching April from falling, Yang steps aside to let Lynne fight the Colonel. After a tense fight, Lynne manages to finally drive a sword through his back. Yang and Lynne exit the room to find the Saddest Flute sitting across the carnage at the end of the hall. He tells Yang that April is the enemy, and asks if he would ever tell April that Yang killed her parents, her whole clan and observes that Yang ran away from his old life of killing to kill more. He says Yang does not belong there. Yang claims he does and will not kill April. Yang and Saddest Flute go to the desert in the sunset and duel to the death. During flashbacks, it shows Saddest Flute training yang as an adult in pouring rain, drilling him through adolescence in snow, forcing child Yang to kill the puppy he was given, declaring Yang's biggest enemy would be his heart, and that  as an assassin, he must kill what he loves. He then cuts Saddest Flute's throat.

Lynne tells Yang she won't be coming with him, and tries to hand him April, but he refuses. He makes the baby laugh once more and gives Lynne a caring look. Yang turns to the sunset, and Ron tells him to "Keep walking, sandman" Ron narrates that the warrior never stopped walking, to put as much space between him and the little lady he loved as possible, showing April, then Lynne. The scene moves to a snowy, glacial world. Opera plays from a small fish shack where a hooded man in a parka sits. Another approaches and asks how much for fish. The sitting man kills the other, knives falling out of his hands as he collapses. Yang stands up and goes to his shack, where he takes a pendant from Lynne, his katana disguised as a snowman's broom, and April's pacifier, and sets the hut on fire. Walking out to the snow, a group of ninjas leap out of the snow, Yang unleashing his katana as the scene ends.

Cast
Jang Dong-gun as Yang

What are they putting in the water in Asia to make these guys so sexy????

Geoffrey Rush as Ron

Kate Bosworth as Lynne

Danny Huston as The Colonel

Tony Cox as Eight-Ball

Ti Lung as Saddest Flute
Ash Jones as Rug
Analin Rudd as Baby April
Nic Sampson as Pug
Ryan Richards as Slug
Matt Gillanders as Geyser
Eoin McDonald as Hell Rider
Chontelle Melgren as Young Lynne
Wayne Gordon as Killer Klown