This film is absolute ZAAAAKON. One American critic actually described it as featuring "the best decapitation scene ever put to film"—there's this merchant threatening a former subordinate over the corpse of a consul that had been left right outside his tent. A hand and a finger were still gesturing defiantly, but the merchant wasn't exactly holding his head anymore! It is incredibly graphic; the battle sequences are brutal and meticulously detailed, reminiscent of an Akira Kurosawa epic or those intense first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan. The score is also magnificent, perfectly driving the narrative in a way that simply couldn't be better, thanks to a brilliant Japanese composer. This stands as the most expensive production in South Korean history to date, with the entire project spanning over five years of production...
The story is set in 1375, during the rise of the Ming Dynasty and their struggle against the Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty, who are desperate to reclaim their former glory. Every character is fleshed out with such precision and given enough screen time that you never feel like any plot point is left hanging. Both generals—the South Korean one and the Mongolian one—are portrayed by extraordinary actors and remain deeply compelling characters throughout...
As for the setup: a South Korean diplomatic delegation arrives in the Ming capital, Nanjing, led by a royal envoy and a General tasked with their personal protection. The Han Emperor is suspicious of their intentions, suspecting them of being spies, and ultimately orders them to leave. The General manages to survive, though the diplomat does not, which represents a devastating blow to the General’s honor given his failure to protect the mission. Banished by the Ming Emperor, he begins the trek back through the desert toward South Korea. In their culture, such a retreat is a total loss of face, so he views the chance to rescue a princess from Mongolian captivity as his only path to restoring his own dignity and South Korea's standing in the eyes of the Han Emperor. Of course, merely freeing her isn't enough, especially since the Mongols have no intention of letting her return to Nanjing...
The movie captures an era where honor and one's word were worth more than life itself. The most gut-wrenching moment for me occurs near the end when a marksman—referred to in the English subtitles as a "sergeant"—says to the leader, "We failed, my general." The General, remaining cold and completely composed, simply looks at them, draws his sword, and says, "I always wanted to die this way..." By the way, there is no sentimentality here; if it sounds cheesy, it’s only because I’m recounting it poorly. The film runs about 160 minutes in its international cut. It premiered last year at SFIFF (San Francisco International Film Festival), marking its first appearance in the US. I finally caught it this year at SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival). The DVD release is still stuck with Regional 3 encoding (Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea), but you can find bootlegs on eBay. You can check out the trailer easily—it shouldn't be hard to find trailers and image galleries even if the website is in Korean—at
http://www.musa.co.kr Incidentally, Mus in Korean translates to John Wick...
I hope this helps someone decide whether to give this film a watch. It is a gritty, consistent piece of filmmaking from start to finish... A solid 5/5!
