Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In

The younger gens would not appreciate this but those "old" people like us grew up watching so many Hong Kong movies would. It would be a while (or never) to have all these cool actors all in a movie again.

This movie tackled so many complicated storylines and executed them flawlessly while remaining action packed. It was overdone without overdoing it. Honestly one of my favorites now.

the best martial arts movie of the 21st century? maybe.... kung fu-hustle meets the raid. what an amazing ride.

I got here from Corridor Crew's " VFX Artists React to Bad & Great CGi 163"
https://youtu.be/u7K1lIq2EbM?si=CLR3oxvinG9Xb6Hb&t=646 (7 minutes and change, starts at 10:46)

[spoiler]Only expected great VFX, but the ensemble cast and the emotional/dopamine satisfaction[/spoiler]
always helps to have zero expectations

Definitely not your typical martial arts movie. Make no mistake: This is an action movie and is packed with some of the best fight choreography I've seen but this is NOT your typical martial arts film. _Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In_ has to rank as probably the best Asian-produced martial arts movie I've watched, and that includes all of the Bruce Lee movies as well as numerous movies starring Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan, et al. The character development, the raw emotions, the storyline itself...they were all just superb, with some great atmospheric cinematography to boot. In the first few minutes, I was afraid this would be another roll-your-eyes indestructible superhero-type ninja kung fu watch-me-stop-four-guys-with-one-punch martial arts film...and even though I was hoping for something different, I was prepared for that. (I reserve the right to always turn something off if it just gets too bad.) This, however, was a huge surprise and it drew me in very quickly...and the more it drew me in, the more invested I became in each member of the cast. They all did wonderfully at portraying their parts and really deserve to be seen. If you're looking for a great martial arts movie that has a real depth to it, I highly suggest giving this one a shot. It's a bit lengthy, and my one complaint was that the closing fight scene just pushed the envelope a tiny bit too far. But that was easily forgiven due to the rest of the film, and as I've mentioned before, I don't know if Asians consider this great cinema or not. Maybe they can more easily accept - and even indulge - the "evil spirit powers" thing; I don't know. In any event, it was a great film and a very nice surprise.

The movie was actually great, I'm surprised it gets so many negative reviews, sure it started off great then the fights got unrealistic, but still, it was very fun to watch till the very end with a good story, and one thing that surprised me was the existence of the walled city being real, I never knew such a place existed in history, learned something new and had a great time watching the movie.

Serpentine revenge plot. Over the top martial arts stunts. Spectacular visuals. Everything I'd expect from an old school Hong Kong action.

Hong Kong style action movie with just the right amount of fighting.

The first 20 minutes of this are super action packed and kinda rushed but then it settles down for a bit and becomes a lot more character driven than your usual action movie. Everything about the drama and character interactions is formulaic but it kinda works. The characters are colorful and extravagant, the crime bosses are all intriguing and cool, and Cyclone is the standout character. Whenever Louis Koo is on-screen it instantly elevates the movie, he's just so cool and has a strong father presence. The moment when he was first introduced made him an instant badass, probably my favorite moment.

The action isn't top quality by any means but they did surprise me a few times with impressive stunts and choreography moves. What makes them so entertaining though is the over-the-top ridiculousness and the fact that the laws of physics don't apply most of the time, you just never know what they'll come up with next. Third act was peak! Wasn't sold on the villain in the second act but he turned out to be perfect in the end.

The superpowers payed off in the final fight but otherwise I wasn't sold on them the whole runtime (felt like a cheat at some point to beat an unbeatable character) and I think they were poorly incorporated into the mix. The runtime could've been trimmed a little, felt like a lot of scenes went on for too long. Still, I mostly had a good time with this and it more than delivered on the adrenaline.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is an entertaining martial arts movie that delivers exciting action but falls short in some areas. The fight sequences and immersive setting are its biggest strengths, making up for a somewhat familiar story and uneven character development. It may not reach the heights of the genre’s best, but it is still fun and energetic ride worth watching.