Cinemax’s ‘Warrior’ series packs a punch

If you enjoyed the addictive tight script, suspenseful plots and exceptional cast of that hugely popular Cinemax series Banshee, then you are going to love Warrior, which kicked off with its first episode this week.

Based on the writings of cinematic martial arts legend Bruce Lee, the part-fact-part-fiction show is a historical piece set in a brutally lawless San Francisco circa 1878 and centres around the massive influx of Chinese immigrants to the city.

In an effort to escape poverty and the extremely harsh economic conditions in the southern part of their country, Chinese foreign nationals started arriving in the US during the 1840s. San Francisco served as an entry point to California, where most of them found work in agriculture, railroad construction or mining.

Hoon Lee and Olivia Cheng in Warrior. Picture: Cinemax

However, life was not always easy for the scores of Chinese crossing “the salt” (ocean), even in San Francisco’s Chinatown which, today, is the largest and oldest Chinese community in North America and outside of Asia itself.

It is here that our protagonist, the nimble-fisted and footed Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), is inducted into the Chinese gangs that vie for primacy the community. But his gang membership is simply a means to an end as he searches for someone who “crossed the salt” before him.

His search leads him to an unexpected place, an array of unforeseen complications and divided loyalties.

Unlike Banshee, which unashamedly crossed the line between believable and obvious fiction, Warrior is American history brought to screen with edge-of-your-seat storytelling, great period costumes and sets, and martial arts sequences so superb that Bruce Lee himself would be proud.

Andrew Koji in Warrior. Picture: Cinemax

Written by Banshee co-creator Jonathan Tropper and developed and directed in parts by Justin Lin (who also directed The Fast and the Furious movies), Warrior also features Hoon Lee – Job, the drag queen butt-kicking genius hacker in Banshee.

Also among a stellar cast are Olivia Cheng (Marco Polo), Jason Tobin (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), Dianne Doan (Vikings), Kieran Bew (Beowulf), Dean S Jagger (Game of Thrones) and Joe Taslim (Star Trek: Beyond).

And the best part is that, while there are no tell-tale signs in any of the episodes, the first season was shot exclusively in Cape Town.

Episode 1: The Itchy Onion and Episode 2: There’s No China in the Bible are already available on streaming and, just like Banshee, there is loads of action, graphic violence and explicit sex – so parental guidance is strongly advised for Warrior.

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