Wow

I first remember watching this film on VHS when I was ten years old or so...my parents really liked it, said it had the best car chase scene EVER. But of course the story itself went over my head. It was just images to me, back then. I caught pieces of it throughout my teens (on cable, not the VHS), and never really absorbed any of it--I really had no idea what the story was about, it was just things happening. But hey, short attention span of a teenager, what can you do...
So I caught it on Cinemax the other day, and I'm in my late twenties now with years upon years of film appreciation under my belt. I was in awe.
Such a well-paced, wonderful action film. I'm still trying to figure out how they pulled off some of those stunts. And the car chase scenes...goodness. Absolutely top-notch directing and execution. There is a very unique and impressive flow to this film, and the chase scenes are like way-points connecting it all together.
The story was believable and realistic, same with the characters. The dialogue was NOT expository, but natural and conducive to the story.
There was a great deal of violence in the story, but it was not forced. The violence was always relevant to the story. Because this IS a story about wandering warriors, and warriors shed blood. It is a shame that there was so much collateral damage (lots of innocent bystanders get killed), but at least the film was honest and un-afraid about depicting the violence, and allows you to judge each character for yourself. Not a preachy film, but full of philosophical ideas.
This film is legit.