Revisiting Warrior, on Bruce Lee's 50th death anniversary

Born in San Francisco, Bruce Lee had wanted to write and star in a show that would unite the cultures of his two homelands, China and America. (Image via Wikimedia Commons 1.0)

This Thursday (July 20, 2023) was the 50th death anniversary of Bruce Lee (1940-1973), inarguably the most influential martial artist of all time, and one of the globally enduring icons of 20th century pop culture. Through films like Fist of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973), Lee captured the imagination of audiences across Hollywood and the rest of the world, showing us what’s achievable onscreen with a rarefied degree of martial arts skill. Contemporary Hollywood titans like Quentin Tarantino have paid tribute to his work in their own films. Present-day A-listers like Donnie Yen have acknowledged his influence and his towering status among martial arts practitioners.

In 2019, a part of Lee’s legacy found a new lease of life in the martial arts TV series Warrior (now streaming on JioCinema), created by Jonathan Tropper and based on an original concept developed by Lee back in the 1960s. Lee’s daughter, Shannon, is an executive producer on Warrior and she gave the makers access to Lee’s journals, which provided further material. (The third season of Warrior dropped on HBO Max in June 2023.)

The narrative follows Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), a Chinese martial arts prodigy who lands in Chinatown, San Francisco, in the 1870s in search for his sister Mai Ling (Dianne Doan). However, both Ah Sahm and Mai Ling find themselves caught up in the notorious ‘Tong Wars’, long-running bloody conflicts between different gangs (or ‘tongs’) of Chinese immigrants, even as a xenophobic movement led by former Union soldier Dylan Leary (Dean Jagger) threatens all of their lives.

Not to put too fine a point on it—Warrior has a legitimate claim to being the finest martial arts show of the streaming era (and there have been more than a few of late, especially since the mainstream success of Netflix’s series Cobra Kai, a sequel to The Karate Kid). It’s gorgeously shot, well-written, well-performed and the fight choreography is immaculate.

Andrew Koji and Joe Taslim, the two actors at the centre of most of the martial arts goodness, deliver strong performances with Koji in particular conveying a compelling mixture of jock-strength and thoughtful interiority.

This story was a homecoming of sorts for Bruce Lee — he was born in San Francisco, after all, and he wanted to write and star in a show that would unite the cultures of his two homelands, China and America. Therefore, it helps that the lithe, fast-limbed Koji is often the spitting image of Lee during intense fight sequences, the actor’s impressive hand-speed standing out.

During the second season finale, in the middle of a battle royale between all the various Tongs and the Irish mob led by Leary, Koji/Ah Sahm channels Bruce Lee overtly, not only with his clothes and weapons of choice but also by recreating the iconic mannerisms of the late actor (especially the thumb-flicks-nose gesture that’s etched in fans’ memories).

The rest of the cast is a delight as well, especially Dianne Doan as Mai Ling, the young woman who adapts to survive in Chinatown, and soon climbs atop the power hierarchy, ultimately aligning against her estranged brother Ah Sahm. Joe Taslim is another standout as Mai Ling’s lover and champion fighter/Tong enforcer Li Yong — Taslim is the Indonesian actor that action movie fans will recognize from combat classics like The Raid and The Night Comes For Us, as well as his villainous role in the Hollywood videogame movie Mortal Kombat.

While Taslim’s martial arts pedigree was already beyond doubt with these films, with Warrior it’s apparent that his acting skills have also improved by leaps and bounds. His relationship with Mai Ling, his arch-rivalry with Ah Sahm, the proxy-leadership role he is forced to assume within the Tong eventually; all of these present challenging, emotionally loaded scenarios and Taslim nails them all. And his epic battle with Ah Sahm in the season one finale is an all-timer sequence, both fighters displaying an array of hand-to-hand combat styles and techniques.

Over and above its other merits, Warrior also feels like an extremely timely allegory for the anti-Chinese sentiments currently in vogue in America. During the Season Two finale, when Ah Sahm and Li Yong lock eyes in Chinatown, they see the approaching hordes of murderous Irishmen, armed to the teeth. The two warriors and arch-rivals exchange smiles and the slightest of nods, and the viewer understands that internecine rivalries have been laid to rest. The common enemy, the racist white man who wants to destroy an entire community, must be fought first.

If you’re a Bruce Lee fan looking for a well-made tribute that matches the indomitable spirit of the great man, look no further than Warrior. The fight scenes hit hard, but the human drama underneath is every bit as impressive.