Everyone in this movie wants to get their hands on the secrets of Bi Chun Shin Gi Sword Fighting; that's because once you've learnt it, you can make your sword go all glowy and send out bursts of energy that decimate your enemy. Luckily for Jinha, he and his 'uncle' have the only copy of the manual, and they aren't sharing with anyone.
Jinha is the only surviving member of the Yu family (who were wiped out by the evil General Taruga and his men whilst searching for the book). He and his pretty childhood sweetheart, Sullie, want to get hitched, but their plans go awry when Sullie is forced to leave the region by her father (who just happens to be the same nasty warmongering general who slaughtered her boyfriend's mum and dad). She vows to meet Jinha every full moon, but things go from bad to worse when Namgung Junkwang (snigger!), an influential aristocrat, declares an interest in Sullie and gets the full backing of Taruga.
When Jinha pitches up to meet Sullie, he fights Junkwang but is shot down by Taruga's archers. He falls over a cliff into some water and is presumed dead. Of course, he survives and, after being nursed back to health by a friendly stranger, he sets his sights on revenge.
Bichunmoo is a Korean film with a distinctly Chinese feel to it. The fights utilise the wire-fu techniques seen in many a Hong Kong (and, more recently, Hollywood) epic, whilst the story does its best to capture the romantic melodrama seen in countless Wuxia Pian movies. However, thanks to its complicated storyline, overlong running time, and difficult to follow fight scenes, it is only a partially successful attempt. The look is right (beautiful cinematography and a photogenic cast), there are some nice gory moments (arterial spray is always welcome in a film of this nature), the music is great and the plot contains all of the necessary elements (revenge, death, betrayal, love), but somehow it just doesn't quite gel as perfectly as one might hope.
The MTV-style editing during the action scenes is overdone, resulting in a visual mess of flailing limbs, blowing leaves and flapping cloth, and the story meanders aimlessly at times, making it hard to stay focused on events. But my major quibble is with Jinha's resurrection and subsequent reappearance as the leader of a team of mysterious assassins. Almost immediately after Jinha is pulled from the water and given a face-pack(!), the story shoots forwards a decade; Sullie has married Junkwang and has a son, and Jinha is in charge of a small army of bad-ass warriors. No explanation is given (I believe that the film was edited heavily to reduce the running time from three hours to just under two, but when the film suffers this much for it, this is no excuse).
With a tighter script, and better handling of the action, Bichunmoo could have been something special, but as it stands, I can only bring myself to give it 5 out of 10.
Jinha is the only surviving member of the Yu family (who were wiped out by the evil General Taruga and his men whilst searching for the book). He and his pretty childhood sweetheart, Sullie, want to get hitched, but their plans go awry when Sullie is forced to leave the region by her father (who just happens to be the same nasty warmongering general who slaughtered her boyfriend's mum and dad). She vows to meet Jinha every full moon, but things go from bad to worse when Namgung Junkwang (snigger!), an influential aristocrat, declares an interest in Sullie and gets the full backing of Taruga.
When Jinha pitches up to meet Sullie, he fights Junkwang but is shot down by Taruga's archers. He falls over a cliff into some water and is presumed dead. Of course, he survives and, after being nursed back to health by a friendly stranger, he sets his sights on revenge.
Bichunmoo is a Korean film with a distinctly Chinese feel to it. The fights utilise the wire-fu techniques seen in many a Hong Kong (and, more recently, Hollywood) epic, whilst the story does its best to capture the romantic melodrama seen in countless Wuxia Pian movies. However, thanks to its complicated storyline, overlong running time, and difficult to follow fight scenes, it is only a partially successful attempt. The look is right (beautiful cinematography and a photogenic cast), there are some nice gory moments (arterial spray is always welcome in a film of this nature), the music is great and the plot contains all of the necessary elements (revenge, death, betrayal, love), but somehow it just doesn't quite gel as perfectly as one might hope.
The MTV-style editing during the action scenes is overdone, resulting in a visual mess of flailing limbs, blowing leaves and flapping cloth, and the story meanders aimlessly at times, making it hard to stay focused on events. But my major quibble is with Jinha's resurrection and subsequent reappearance as the leader of a team of mysterious assassins. Almost immediately after Jinha is pulled from the water and given a face-pack(!), the story shoots forwards a decade; Sullie has married Junkwang and has a son, and Jinha is in charge of a small army of bad-ass warriors. No explanation is given (I believe that the film was edited heavily to reduce the running time from three hours to just under two, but when the film suffers this much for it, this is no excuse).
With a tighter script, and better handling of the action, Bichunmoo could have been something special, but as it stands, I can only bring myself to give it 5 out of 10.