One-Percent Warrior review by Bobby Blakey
Well Go USA continues to be the go-to distributor to the biggest variety and best in Asian cinema, especially the martial arts genre. Their latest film, One-Percent Warrior features Versus star Tak Sakaguchi along with Sho Aoyagi, Itsuji Itao, Kenjiro Ishimaru, Keisuke Horibe and premiere Jeet Kune Do master Ishii Togo with action choreography by Kensuke Sonomura from ABC’s of Death and Deadball director Yûdai Yamaguchi at the helm. Could this film bring the unique action it promises, or will it miss its que?
One-Percent Warrior follows a legendary, aging action film star who is drawn into the real world of violence when feuding yakuza gangs infiltrate the set of his directorial feature debut. Caught in the middle of a chaotic battle with an increasing body count, he must face whether his martial arts training is enough to save him.
Tak Sakaguchi continues to bring interesting projects to the action drama with one of his latest being Crazy Samurai: 400 vs 1 that was all one take. This time around it’s not playing up the one shot gimmick but taking on the world of the action star to do something familiar yet original. The film sets up the story like a documentary with it being bookended as such before getting into the meat of the real action in the core of it all.
The story is simple and relatable for those that have visions or are aging out of the spotlight trying to find their way back in their own way. His attempt to infuse real action into the movies propel him into the real world of action and unleashes a nonstop barrage of fight sequences that are a blast to watch. The
film is all over the place at times, but it’s all about the action here and it delivers it in spades.
The fight sequences are creative and unique looking to top each one that came before it. Not all are perfect, but the ones that work are excellent. There is a specific sequence using a flashlight like a blade that might not seem to make sense, but when you see it kicks all kinds of butt. It all leads to a well-executed one on one fight that wraps it all up on a high note.
There are some interesting twists and turns throughout the film as it takes things in an unexpected way. It brings more depth than you would expect in a film like this and while you might see it coming still makes it better all around. This is far from a perfect film but delivers exactly what it sets out to and I for one enjoyed it.
Decide for yourself and grab your copy of One-Percent Warrior available now on Blu-ray and DVD from Well Go USA.