Brief Story Line
A group of thieves led by Wu Mu-chi (Kang Ha-neul - Midnight Runners, When the Camellia Blooms TV series etc) were rescued by a pirate ship led by its captain Hae-rang (Han Hyo-joo - The Beauty Inside, Happiness TV series etc) along with her crews that included the first mate Ah-gwi (Park Ji-hwan) and dreamtree Mak-yi (Lee Kwang-soo - It's Okay, That's Love TV series, Tazza: One Eyed Jack etc).
While attacking a Japanese ship, the pirates came across information about long lost treasure and decided to search for it. During their trip, they also captured a con artist Hae-geum (Chae Soo-bin - Sweet & Sour, I'm not a Robot TV series etc) and brought her along.
Meanwhile, a former soldier who became rebel, Heung-soo (Kwon Sang-woo - Hitman: Agent Jun, Sad Love Song TV series etc) & his subordinates were also looking for the treasure to help their cause.
So how would the story conclude? Find them all in this fun adventure movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Just like I predicted, this movie had plenty of hilarious moments involving the gang of misfits led by the captain Hae-rang who was always at odds with the thief leader Mu-chi. The funny scenes were largely involving Mu-chi as well as the pirates crew, in particular the opportunist Mak-yi. The rest of the crew also provided various comedic situation as well, like in the early part near the cave, or my favorite one that involved cooking.
The story itself was not that complicated, but unfortunately there were flash back scenes which were sometimes confusing as they abruptly appeared in certain moments. Luckily the flash backs no longer shown in the second half of the movie. For an adventure film, this one was exciting enough with some cool fighting scenes on the ship and on land. To my surprise, Kang Ha-neul and Han Hyo-joo looked really good during the action sequence. I have no doubt Kwon Sang-woo's ability as I had seen him in action films before. It was even more satisfying watching the quite awesome climax moments. Oh, the special effects were mostly adequate, although they might be better seen on large screen of a theater rather than from small TV screen.
The movie had a pretty long duration with 126 minutes including the closing credits. It did not have any mid or post end credit scene. Aside from the cast I mentioned above, there were also the support cast such as Kim Sung-oh (The Man from Nowhere etc) as Mu-chi's right hand man Kang-seop, singer Oh Se-hun as the archer Han-goong and Park Hoon (Memories of the Alhambra TV series etc) as Heung-soo's subordinate Mangcho. There was also a surprise cameo of a famous star whom I did not realize till my wife told me. All of these characters made the story livelier either with their antiques or the ability to fight.
This film was said to be a sequel to the 2014 movie titled The Pirates which had completely different cast and seemed to be different characters as well. Only similarities I noticed was a female pirate captain who joined with a group of thieves searching for a unique treasure. So I guess this is more like a standalone sequel. Anyway, since I had not seen that one, I could not give a proper comparison. Needless to say though, I did have a good time watching this with my wife as we laughed out loud quite frequently. Btw, this movie was directed by Kim Jeong-hoon whose prior works included Petty Romance and The Accidental Detective.
For me this movie was pure fun. I was entertained by the film which was perfect for stress release after work and enjoyable to see together with my wife who also liked this kind of movie. It would have been even more satisfying for me if there were not too many of those flash back scenes and having less political part which I personally felt a bit distracting. So if you are in the mood for light fun adventure action comedy movie, then this would be for you. But if your preference was something deep and meaningful, likely you would not enjoy this one. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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