Well, now that people are doing spoilers, I'll elaborate on some of my original post.
First of all, the whole "Greatest thing a warrior can do is not to fight" Zen kaon-type philosophy has been used in storytelling forever. I was a little annoyed not that this was one of the morals of the movie, but that the message was hammered so hard and played like it was some amazing and unique insight.
Secondly, the whole giving oneself for the betterment of the whole community is a very left-wing liberal/socialist/communist philosophy. "It takes a village" and all that. It is ironic that in the US the left accuses the right of wanting to infringe on civil liberties in order to provide national security and power, yet the liberal ideal is to do exactly the same, except through a moral imperative motivated by the sense of serving the greater good. After all, this is why they want to take money out of one person's pocket to put in another's, or to have to community vote collectively on how to utilize resources and property, or whatever other modified form of socialism they aspire to. I realize I'm lumping in a lot of different philosophies here, but there's a common theme running through them.
Thirdly, as I pointed out to my friends when I saw the picture, the movie glorifies this type of sacrifice, and hints that it's not just something warriors should do, but which all people should do. Yet the King himself was not such a man. No, he gets to enjoy the sacrifices of others, so that he may be King for the betterment of all. But why him? Because he's willing? If that's what people want in their government, hey, I'll happily be part of the right-wing power-wielding elite class who run the country for the betterment of all while the left-wing liberals give up their life and liberty to empower the elite to work for the greater good. Wow, what do you know, a Despotic oligarchy masquerading as a Communist state -- just like China, and the USSR before it.
Bruce
Shouldn't this type of crap be floating over in the Zell Miller thread.
On the subject of the movie: If I had actually had to pay money to see this, I would have been pissed as hell. I think our countries new pre-emptive strike policy should be expanded to prevent a second movie of this ilk from showing up on our shores.
Wire-fu is pure evil. Just because it allows you to film all sorts of goofy ass martial arts moves, doesn't mean that you should go ahead and do it. I don't think that many directors have enough brains to use it with the restraint it demands.
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