Musa (; lit. "The Warrior"), released as both The Warrior and The Ultimate Warrior in English-speaking countries, is a 2001 South Korean epic action drama film directed by Kim Sung-su, starring Jung Woo-sung, Ahn Sung-ki, Joo Jin-mo and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi. The semi-historical story follows the adventures of a Korean peace delegation as they try to get back to Korea through the inhospitable deserts of northern China. The film is regarded as being one of the biggest motion pictures in the history of South Korean cinema. At the time of its production its budget was the largest ever for a Korean film. It features a high degree of historical accuracy in period costumery, props, settings, and most unusually, language; that is, everyone speaks in their native tongues or through an interpreter conversant in a lingua franca. The film was the 8th highest-grossing film of 2001 with over two million tickets sold. Plot In 1375, a small diplomatic mission from the Korean kingdom Goryeo travels to Ming China to meet the Hongwu Emperor, but they are arrested in retaliation for the death of a Chinese diplomat in Goryeo. They are put in chains and taken across a desert. However, Mongol raiders suddenly show up and kill the Chinese soldiers transporting them, while killing some Koreans in the process. The Mongols ride off, leaving the rest of the Koreans to die of hunger or thirst. The head of the Korean soldiers in the group, General Choi-Jung, takes command because the two diplomats are dead. Later, they discover that the Mongols have kidnapped the Hongwu Emperor's daughter so they ambush the Mongol convoy and rescue the princess. Yeo-sol, a former slave of one of the diplomats, defeats the Mongol general Rambulwha in single combat, but allows the latter to live and escape. The Koreans flee with the princess, determined to return her safely to the Chinese capital, Nanjing, to atone for their diplomatic failure. The Mongols give chase in the hope of recovering the princess and presenting her to their Khan while the Koreans head towards a coastal fortress the princess tells them about, where they expect to find safe haven. Along the way, the Koreans pick up some Chinese peasants who are also fleeing from the Mongols. Fighting their way through Mongol search parties, the group experiences many internal conflicts stemming from social class, love, and honour. The lower-class soldiers chafe