During the flight home to Jakarta last week, I was browsing through the inflight entertainment of Garuda Indonesia which unfortunately had not been updated for more than 2 months and mostly the films (even TV series) have been watched by me. But then I noticed this movie which somehow eluded me few times earlier. I thought a war movie might be nice for a change and there was no other worthy option anyway, so I gave this a try. How was the movie? Let's get more into it now.
Brief Story Line
Set in the year 645AD during the Tang Dynasty in China, their emperor Taizong (Park Sung-woong - The Dude in Me, Monstrum etc) led an army of 500,000 men to invade Goguryeo (one of the ancient kingdoms of Korea). When they were almost reaching the capital, they encountered a rather small city of Ansi which Taizong thought would be easy picking.
However, Ansi fortress was protected by Yang Manchun (Jo In-sung - Something Happened in Bali TV series, The King etc) who was a charismatic leader and supported by many capable generals under him, such as his second in command Choo (Bae Sung-woo), axe unit leader Hwalbo (Oh Dae-hwan), swords unit leader Poong (Park Byung-eun), archer unit leader Paso (Uhm Tae-goo) and the leader of all female soldiers Baekha (Kim Seol-hyun). There was also a young cadet named Samul (Nam Joo-hyuk - The Bride of Habaek TV series etc) who had a special assignment and personal agenda. General Yang was really good in strategy and was not afraid of facing Taizong even with his army of only few thousands men.
So what would happen to these brave soldiers of Ansi fortress? Find them all in this breathtaking war action movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Wow, that was one fantastically done war action movie. I got to be honest that I did not have high expectation, especially since I did not recognize the names in the main roles (yes I never saw a South Korean TV series and not that many movies, so forgive me for not knowing that they are actually pretty big names). Anyway, after seeing the movie, I was very satisfied with it. I really loved the battle scenes which I thought were awesomely done!
The great thing about the movie was there were few small battles with one major battle finale that was a real climax. I was in awe with each battle as it always provided something unexpected. The angles taken by the director was great combined with some perfectly timed slow motion scenes that made me want to scream of excitement. Yang Manchun's use of bow and arrow was really fabulous and reminded me of Legolas from Lord of the Rings & The Hobbits.
Aside from the great war scenes, what truly amazed me was the battle of wit and strategy and the quick thinking of Yang Manchun in the most critical situation. The David and Goliath feel was also maximized smartly by the director Kim Kwang-sik in only his 3rd movie and I have to applaud him for keeping us interested with the film till the very end. And it was not all battles either, as there were some drama (even romance) as well. The supporting characters were mostly great in their portrayal of the characters which made us feel attached with them. I loved the small banter between Hwalbo and Poong, the personal struggle of Samul, the obvious appreciation of Ansi's people towards Yang Manchun and many more which brought some emotional feel. Btw, my wife also watched this after I recommended her and I noticed she had some tearful moments few times too.
Some special effects were awesome with the explosions sequence well done. The fight involving many soldiers were also amazing and realistically made. Strangely though, despite that many battles, I did not feel it to be gore, probably due to not much of blood spatters shown. But there was one thing that I personally felt could be better, which was the characterization of Emperor Taizong as I could feel the dialogues spoken not in the native tounge of the actor portraying him, most likely because he is a South Korean.
I understand later that the movie was based on some real history with real people like Taizong and Yang Manchun, while the rest were fictional characters created for the movie. Oh except for 1 military leader in Goguryeo named General Yeon (Yu Oh-seong). But I also did feel some dramatization of certain parts which gave a sense that it was purposely done to give dramatic impact and possibly did not really happen. However as a movie which was supposed to entertain us, it did not really matter to me, unless probably for some audience who prefer movies that are historically accurate.
So if you have the chance to see this movie anywhere (online streaming, cable TV or any other platforms), give this one a try. Or you could always fly Garuda Indonesia and watch this there. LOL. I think they might still keep this film in few weeks to come if the past 2 months are any indication. Now if you are fans of war movie where the protagonist only had limited power against a much bigger opponents, then you would love this one. Obviously if you are fans of Jo In-sung, you would certainly enjoy this even more. Hope you love this film as much as my wife and I did.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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