Warriors of Virtue (1997)

Director:

Ronny Yu

Writers (WGA):

Dennis K. Law (characters) &
Ron Law (characters) ...

Release Date:

2 May 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Adventure

Tagline:

In a world beyond your imagination a battle for the universe has begun.

Plot:

A young man, Ryan, suffering from a disability, wishes to join the other kids from his schools football team...

Plot Keywords:

Kung Fu | Based On Toy | Chinese | Martial Arts | Family Relationships

Awards:

2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Nov. 17	7:30 AM	SHOW
Wed. Nov. 25	6:40 AM	SHOW

Cast

Angus Macfadyen	...	Komodo
Mario Yedidia	...	Ryan Jeffers
Marley Shelton	...	Elysia
Chao Li Chi	...	Master Chung (as Chao-Li Chi)
Jack Tate	...	Yun
Doug Jones	...	Yee
Don W. Lewis	...	Lai / Major Keena
J. Todd Adams	...	Chi
Adrienne Corcoran	...	Tsun
Michael J. Anderson	...	Mudlap (as Michael John Anderson)
Tom Towles	...	General Grillo
Lee Arenberg	...	Mantose
Dennis Dun	...	Ming
Roy Ceballos	...	Willy Beest
Jason Hamer	...	Mosely

MPAA:

Rated PG for fantasy action violence and some language.

Runtime:

France:103 min | USA:101 min

Country:

USA | China

Language:

English | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Iceland:LH | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:12 | Australia:PG | Brazil:Livre | France:U | Germany:16 | Spain:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Company:

China Film Co-Production Corporation

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Several characters in the film mispronounce the word "tao". The "t" in "tao" should be pronounced like a "d".

Quotes:

Ryan: It's pretty hard to soar when you have a broken wing.

Movie Connections:

References Huo tou fu xing (1992)

Soundtrack:

A Beautiful Morning

wonderful production, lame storytelling

Like most users here commented, Warriors of Virtue had wonderful production design, but the story leaves something to be desired. Maybe it's because of how the writers "kiddy-fied" the story. The action is typical of what you may see from some Hong Kong movies. There's the incredible feats of stunts like jumping tall buildings in a single bound, running over water, and high-powered martial arts. You should especially see the beginning of the movie how chef Ming cooks. It's all done with a semi-slow mo technique. Unfortunately, someone must have a terrible obsession over this technique because you see this way too frequently and in the presence of many falling leaves. Thus, after a while it really gets tiring. The production is pretty good for indoor sets. The production people creates a convincingly large army. It's too bad the story just lack the punch and simply relies on action (slow-mo action at that).

The verdict: 2.5 of 5 stars.