The Warrior and the Wolf (aka Lang zai ji) (2009) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, USA 2009
Director: Zhuangzhuang Tian
Cast: Maggie Q, Jô Odagiri, Chung Hua Tou
Rating: -
Language: Mandarin
Release Date: 2 October 2009 (China)
Running Time: 1 hour 33 minutes

The Movie Review

The Warrior and the Wolf film still 1


The WARRIOR And The WOLF -aka- LANG ZAI JI
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

I don't know which one is worse... a very tame sex scene or a very wild pack of CGI wolves.

Set in ancient China, The Warrior and the Wolf is about a kind-hearted young warrior named Lu Chenkang (Joe Odagiri) stationed in Kunlun mountains under the leadership of General Zhang (Tou Chung-hua of Lust Caution (2007)), who has been fighting the nomadic tribes for over a decade on behalf of the Imperial Court. When stuck in a village because of the heavy snowstorm, Lu gets to know a mysterious woman of Harran Tribe (Maggie Q). Apparently, though Lu is hesitant in killing his enemies, Lu is actually a rape-happy kinda fella. Seeing this only woman in sight, Lu rapes her over and over until one day he eventually saves her from death, thus making them really falling in love. And then... Ummm and then... Heck! I don't even know wtf this movie is trying to convey. Well... And then, that's it. Apart from some mysterious connection between the Harran tribe and wolves, the friendship between Lu and his pet dog, and also the bonding built between General Zhang and Lu, then we actually won't see anything important.

I like to describe a movie just to let my readers know what they're going to get from it, but I seriously and honestly flabbergasted on how weird this movie is... Basically we are watching nothing but artistic attempt on making a motion picture. In the beginning we see a quite intense battle scene, not for long though... And then the story shifts into another seemingly unrelated subplot, and then it skips again, and again, and again, and I just wanted to throw something at the screen! What is this movie trying to convey? And then between viewing intense snow storm and dense viewing of white and grey (colours of snow and rock) everywhere you look, Lu begins to make love (or date-rape perhaps) with a hot woman (Maggie Q). And then talk some more and whew.... It's just freakin' fu*kin' boring! It seems we are forced to follow the cluttered imagination of the filmmakers..

The Warrior and the Wolf AKA Lang zai ji is based on a novel titled Rosai-ki written by Yasushi Inoue. Probably this movie is worthy for those who have read the novel and eager to know how it's 'translated' into a motion picture. Those three lead cast are acting very decently, but there's nothing for them to develop or to improvise. One person chasing wolves, two people yelling at each other, many people facing CGI sand storm, silent.. silent.. and silent... I really don't recommend this other than to Maggie Q biggest fans, just don't hope anything explicit out of her love making scenes.