I LOVE watching PERIOD PIECES.
And I LOVE watching FOREIGN MOVIES.
The South Koreans have been making some excellent films and I enjoy watching them.
This is an EXCELLENT FILM!
The WORLD is new to most viewers - the 17th Century Korean peninsula and Josean Kingdom loyal to one Empire but under attack from another.
The STORY is an old one - a king and his army retreat to a mountain fortress awaiting the arrival of reinforcements to defeat an attacking army. The soldiers of the fortress fight off several attacks and the king hatches a plan to save the day. But the plan hinges on a lowly blacksmith getting a message to his approaching army coordinating an attack.
The CHARACTERS are a combination of something new and something old: A King, his loyal (and not so loyal minsters), his army commanders, and his people on one side and a cruel Emperor and his army on the other.
There is plenty of COMPLEXITY and CONFLICT - even in the King's court as his court is divided between fighting the Barbarians (and facing sure annihilation) or bowing down to them in servitude.
There is also plenty of action as the two sides clash on the battlefield repeatedly.
But the outcome is now what the viewer expects. However, we are left in no doubt as to whether it was the right or wrong outcome when we see a little Korean girl, at the heart of the story, at the end of the story enjoying her own happing ending.
THIS MOVIE IS TRULY SOMETHING OLD DONE IN A NEW WAY!!
And I LOVE watching FOREIGN MOVIES.
The South Koreans have been making some excellent films and I enjoy watching them.
This is an EXCELLENT FILM!
The WORLD is new to most viewers - the 17th Century Korean peninsula and Josean Kingdom loyal to one Empire but under attack from another.
The STORY is an old one - a king and his army retreat to a mountain fortress awaiting the arrival of reinforcements to defeat an attacking army. The soldiers of the fortress fight off several attacks and the king hatches a plan to save the day. But the plan hinges on a lowly blacksmith getting a message to his approaching army coordinating an attack.
The CHARACTERS are a combination of something new and something old: A King, his loyal (and not so loyal minsters), his army commanders, and his people on one side and a cruel Emperor and his army on the other.
There is plenty of COMPLEXITY and CONFLICT - even in the King's court as his court is divided between fighting the Barbarians (and facing sure annihilation) or bowing down to them in servitude.
There is also plenty of action as the two sides clash on the battlefield repeatedly.
But the outcome is now what the viewer expects. However, we are left in no doubt as to whether it was the right or wrong outcome when we see a little Korean girl, at the heart of the story, at the end of the story enjoying her own happing ending.
THIS MOVIE IS TRULY SOMETHING OLD DONE IN A NEW WAY!!