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Enter the Warrior's Gate (2016) - Movie Review

3 stars

A beautiful princess-in-waiting.  A bullied teen ready to explore his angst.  And a magical box with transportation powers to Imperial China.  Enter the Warrior’s Gate is a fish out of water narrative on TWO fronts, cleverly tackling both the ancient and modern world in its running time as a teenage boy comes to the rescue in a flick that draws prolonged influences from both The Karate Kid and The Last Starfighter

How’s that for all your retro needs?

If all of this sounds like Spielberg-approved ingredients to an Amblin Entertainment flick circa 1984, well, you aren’t that far off the mark.  If only it had the same charm.  While fun and spirited, this family friendly offering has its limitations.  The fantasy amps up the violence – complete with a running gag involving a henchman who literally guts and kills when misinterpreting his bosses’ intent – and tries to match it with more and more humor.  Sometimes you chuckle and sometimes you groan.

While less successful than other now well-aged knockoffs in the genre, Enter the Warrior’s Gate is indeed a throwback flick, but with way more violence than one might expect.  Parents be warned; the adventure within gets fairly dark.  It’s hard to imagine a pre-teen who wouldn’t get a kick out of this gaming fantasy, though.

The on-screen shenanigans – involving martial arts and (of all things) breakdancing – largely works, too.  You just have to keep in mind the intended audience.  Much of this production, a pricey effort from a partnership between France and China, aims for the stars as one frustrated teenager finds himself battling real warriors in an ancient land AFTER successfully keeping watch over Empress-in-waiting Su Lin (Ni Ni) in the modern world.

There’s a chance a couple of adults might be tickled, too.  The action flick is highly imaginative as it immediately thrusts us into a world of magicians, midlevel weapons, and armies, yet also dazzles with impressive bicycle stunts when allowed to roam free in the real world.

The fantasy film, directed by Matthias Hoene (Cockneys Vs Zombies) and co-written by Luc Besson, is – warts and all – exactly what it sets out to be: simple entertainment for pre-teens who love a bit of the fairy tale fantastic in their adventure.  This charming tale, led by the charm of gamer Jack Barton (Uriah Shelton) is – thanks to a magical box – transported to a warrior’s land in the ancient East.  Warrior Zhao (Mark Chao) and he are to the princess from a mean-spirited (but amusing) marauder, who goes by the name of Arun the Cruel (Dave Bautista).

For your viewing convenience, the fantasy is ALREADY available for purchase and download, bypassing a domestic release after earning over $3 million overseas.  This is NOT a straight to DVD dump.  With Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets on the horizon in July of this year, perhaps studios just don’t want to flood America with too much Besson.  Who knows?

Enter the Warrior’s Gate is a fun (and utterly forgettable) time-travelling yarn, even if its running time is more impactful than its overall longevity.

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Enter the Warrior's Gate (2016) - Movie Review

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for martial arts fantasy violence
Runtime:
108 mins
Director
: Matthias Hoene
Writer:
Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Cast:
Mark Chao, Ni Ni, Dave Bautista
Genre
: Action | Fantasy
Tagline:

Memorable Movie Quote: "This has been in may family since, forever"
Theatrical Distributor:
EuropaCorp USA
Official Site:
Release Date:
May 5, 2017
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
No details available.
Synopsis: A teenager is magically transported to China and learns to convert his video game skills into those of a Kung Fu warrior.

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Enter the Warrior's Gate (2016) - Movie Review

 

 

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