If you grew up in the ’90s, two properties became a large part of pop culture:Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesandMighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Both franchises took the world by storm due to a mix of adolescent protagonists and martial arts action, not to mention live-action movies that vary in terms of quality. Naturally,there were also attempts to cash in on this success. Some of those attempts were memorable in their own right, while others are best left forgotten. One of the weirdest attempts had to be 1997’s’Warriors of Virtue, which earned a scathing summary fromGene SiskelandRoger Ebert.
What Is ‘Warriors of Virtue’ About?
Warriors of Virtuecenters on Ryan Jeffers (Mario Yedidia), a middle schooler who longs for adventure. Due to having a disability in his leg, he can’t participate in most sports, so he turns to comic books and the stories his friend Ming (Dennis Dun) tells him while working at a Chinese restaurant. One day, Ryan is dared by older kids to cross a raging undercurrent in a water plant. He’s knocked into a whirlpooland ends up being transported to the magical land of Tao. Ryan then learns about the Warriors of Virtue, a group of warriors dedicated to defending the mystical Lifesprings of Tao from the warlord Komodo (Angus Macfayden). The kicker? The Warriors are giant anthropomorphic kangaroos. Keeping in line with the Power Rangers theme, each Warrior of Virtue represents one of the five elements, and the combination of said elements helps turn the tide in their final battle. While the practical effects used to bring them to life are impressive, they’re the stuff of nightmareswhen viewed up close.
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Ronan, Pfeiffer and Rudd — quite the trio.
Siskel and Ebert weren’t fans ofWarriors of Virtue. Ebert referred to the film as generic junk made for the international action market that was “a cheap hybrid of Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles,” andfound its production design impressivebut criticized the story for being too derivative.They were far nicer to the film than other critics, since one writer grew so distressed at a screeningthat he vomited.Warriors of Virtueended up being a box office bomb,only grossing $6.5 millionagainst a $56 million production budget.
‘Warriors of Virtue’ Is a Fever Dream of a Movie
Warriors of Virtueis a film that defies description. In nearly every fight scene, directorRonny Yuthrows up a blurry filter and slows down the action to a crawl. This ends up sapping what should be the most exciting parts of the movie of their energy. Why would Yu, who was best known for turning out martial arts epics likeThe Postman Strikes BackandLegacy of Rage, take such an approach to his American film debut? On top of that, Ryan isn’t a very interesting character; he’s basically your standard kid who gets teleported into a mystical realm, and even then he doesn’t seem to have any special skills. But the true standout of the film is Angus Macfayden. Macfayden always chooses to go over the top in any scene he’s in.The delivery of his dialogue, combined with his outlandish outfit, makes him feel like the unholy union of Loki and Rita Repulsa.
Part ofWarriors of Virtue’s woes came from the fact that its producershad never made a movie before.Dennis, Ron, Chris, andJeremy Lawwere surgeons, while their father owned the toy company that made theWarriors of Virtueaction figures. They put up the bulk of the production costs, yet weresurprisingly nonchalant not turning a profit. “We didn’t go into it for that. We had a passion for something,” Dennis Law said when asked aboutWarriors of Virtue’s dismal opening weekend.Warriors of Virtuewould surprisingly receive a sequel,Warriors of Virtue 2: The Return to Tao. This time, the Warriors were portrayed by human actors rather than wearing kangaroo suits, while Ryan Jeffers was now a teenager practicing martial arts. But due to its predecessors' failure, it went straight to DVD. In the end,Warriors of Virtueis a reminder that certain properties work for a reason, and trying to replicate their success is often a roadmap to disaster.
Warriors of Virtue
