[yasr_overall_rating]
As Master Cempaka and her four disciples – orphans of her enemies, now heirs to the Golden Cane – prepare for the new warrior guardian to ascend, an act of villainous betrayal threatens to destroy the clan and destabilize the realm.
Having spent most of her life as a traveling warrior, Cempaka (Christine Hakim) has fought many battles and annihilated each and every one of her opponents. Feeling guilty for having taken the lives of some of her adversaries who had children, she took it upon herself to take the kids with her and raised them the best she could, teaching them martial arts so they could take care of themselves. Now in her old age, she informs her four kids Gerhana (Tara Basro), Dara (Eva Celia Latjuba), Biru (Reza Rahadian) and Angin (Aria Kusumah), that one of them is going to inherit her Golden Cane and with it, the training of a technique so unrivaled, it vanquishes all who dare oppose its power.
They all assume that Biru, the eldest of the four, will be the chosen one but when Cempaka chooses Dara, Biru and Gerhana can’t help but feel feel betrayed and leave. Some time later, as Cempaka is teaching Dara the final and most important technique, Biru and Gerhana ambush them, kill Cempaka and steal the Golden Cane. Dara and Angin, the youngest of the four, manage to escape and are rescued by a young warrior named Elang (Nicholas Saputra), who takes them to his village that is hidden away from civilization. Desperately seeking vengeance on Biru and Gerhana, Dara is informed by Elang that she is not ready to fight them just yet and if she waits, he will take her to the White Dragon Warrior, Cempaka’s partner from many years ago who is the only remaining person left alive who knows the final technique.
But anger eventually gets the better of her and in her haste to exact revenge, Angin is killed and she is hurt pretty badly. Elang rescues her and gradually nurtures her back to health and when she is stronger, he begins to teach her what Cempaka was unable to finish. Finally, he tells her that the White Dragon Warrior was his father and that he has since passed on and now he is the only person alive who knows the final technique. He begins to train her and when the time is right, both make their way back to the village that Biru and Gerhana now run and challenge them to a fight to the death.
“The Golden Cane Warrior” is absolutely beautiful to look at, its colors are vibrant and the cinematography is breathtaking, perfectly illustrating its thrilling and exhilarating fight choreography. In many Asian-themed martial arts extravaganzas, the action is positioned center stage and I think that’s why so many of them never really draw you into the story, it’s all flash and no substance but director Ifa Isfansyah carefully balances both so that you come to care about the characters and the story they are telling so when they are placed in peril, you genuinely care for them. If more of today’s filmmakers kept that squarely in mind, we would have a better selection of films to choose from.
Available now on DVD and Blu-ray
