Jade Warrior (film)

Infobox Film
name = Jade Warrior


caption = Film poster for "Jade Warrior"
director = Antti-Jussi Annila
producer = Petri Jokiranta
Tero Kaukomaa
Jonah Greenberg
writer = Antti-Jussi Annila
Petri Jokiranta
Iiro Küttner (story)
narrator =
starring = Tommi Eronen
Zhang Jingchu
Krista Kosonen
Markku Peltola
music = Samuli Kosminen
Kimmo Pohjonen
cinematography =
editing = Iikka Hesse
distributor = Blind Spot Pictures
released = flagicon|Finland October 13, 2006
flagicon|China October 24, 2006
runtime = 110 minutes
country = FIN
CHN
language = Finnish, Mandarin
budget = €2,7 million
website = http://www.jadesoturi.net
amg_id = 358940
imdb_id = 0416871

"Jade Warrior" (Finnish: "Jadesoturi", zh-cp|c=玉武士|p="Yù wǔshì") is a Finnish-Chinese co-produced movie. It combines elements of the wuxia genre with Finnish Kalevala mythology. It was directed by Antti-Jussi Annila.

The movie opened in Finland on October 13, 2006 with 40 copies. The film debuted at #2, right after "The Devil Wears Prada". It opened in China on October 24 with 150 copies in 70 cities. Jade Warrior is the first Finnish movie to be released in movie theaters in China. In addition to China, the movie's international distribution rights have been sold to more than 30 countries. [Aamulehti 10.10.2006, sivu B20]

Plot

Inspired by a well-known Finnish epic called "The Kalevala", the story opens with a down-on-his luck wannabe blacksmith who gets dumped by his girlfriend. She tries to dispose of his collection of Asian artifacts and body carbon at an antique dealer, but this sets off a mythical series of events that holds the girlfriend back from leaving town. His body carbon causes a mythical chest to open and that causes the blacksmith to remember a past life where he was a half-Chinese half-"Far Northern" (Finnish?) warrior, fated to battle a demon in China, threatening to enslave all of humankind.The warrior was fated to be rewarded with Nirvana on dying in that lifetime if he killed the demon.The warrior is abetted — and then ultimately disheartened — by a female warrior who has captured his heart. The woman unexpectedly finds her lost lover who is the warrior's friend.Thus the warrior uses a magical chest to imprison the demon and escape Nirvana. He then commits suicide to be reborn as the now wannabe blacksmith, who is being instructed by a now freed demon to build the Sampo, a machine that will open the gates to hell.The blacksmith's remembering and the sampo building are transposed to each other. Finally the blacksmith realises what he has done and knows his complete past life and, with his lady love now potentially returned to his side in a Finnish incarnation, he decides to fulfill his original quest and kill the demon. The movie involves enchanted boxes, spectacular sword fights, and supernatural events that come together — simultaneously — in an isolated cabin on the outskirts of Helsinki and in the rural Chinese mountains.

Cast

*Tommi Eronen - Kai/Sintai
*Markku Peltola - Berg
*Krista Kosonen - Ronja
*Zhang Jingchu - Pin Yu
*Elle Kull - Weckström
*Taiseng Cheng - Demoni (as Cheng Taishen)
*Hao Dang - Cho

Reviews

*"CineFantastico.com" [http://www.cinefantastico.com/film.php?id=361 link] es icon
*"Cinematic Happenings Under Development" Rating|3|5 [http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=movies&id=7669 link] en icon
*"The Hollywood Reporter" [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003122405 link] en icon
*"Twitch Films" [http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/007462.html link] en icon
* "Up Against the Wall" [http://upagainstthewallmag.com/ISSUE06/JadeWarrior.html] en icon

oundtrack

According to the [http://www.freerecordshop.fi/pages/productview.asp?productid=1154565&navid=2 Finnish FreeRecordShop] website, the soundtrack was released on October 11 2006.

References

External links

*fi icon/en icon [http://www.jadesoturi.net/ Official website]
*en icon imdb title|id=0416871|title=Jadesoturi