01-11-2015, 12:45 PM
A fine martial arts period K-flick now available on Netflix. It's a tale from the Joseon period (said like I know K-history but I don't at all) when tyrannical rulers oppressed the poor. A Robin-hood like band of thieves start a peasant rebellion, very Robin-hood - there's a fighting monk like Friar Tuck (who conceals a blade in his walking stick - not a spoiler, you can see it in the trailer below), a maid Marian (who is super kickass, and an archer - Koreans excel in archery even today), a Little John (who wields one of my new fav weapons, basically a shot-put on a cord, great of brutal ultravi). The main character, a butcher, uses double modified meat cleavers.
This won a lot of Asian awards from organizations I've never heard of and featured a lot of actors I didn't know, but it was very enjoyable. The villain is played by Kang Dong-won, who was Woochi in another fine MA K-flick, one of my favs of the genre actually (see <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3002">viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3002</a><!-- l -->). He's a master swordsman, so there are plenty of great sword fights. The fight choreography was fun and sanguineous, and the characters were well fleshed out, even the villain. It's long - 2+ hours - but epically visual. And like most K-flicks, it takes the surprising turn now and again in the details, little scenes that feel fresh in their presentation. The dialog is hilarious - I've not yet seen a K-flick drop so many Mother F-bombs. Quite entertaining on many levels. The sets aren't as impressive as some of the panoramic shots. I think there's only one dog, eating cadavers (you can see that in the trailer too). No bollywood...not even. The soundtrack echoes spaghetti westerns, not so much Ennio Morricone, but just that twangy guitar style, and that totally works for this film.
[youtube]jIjOOzsN-9Q[/youtube]
This won a lot of Asian awards from organizations I've never heard of and featured a lot of actors I didn't know, but it was very enjoyable. The villain is played by Kang Dong-won, who was Woochi in another fine MA K-flick, one of my favs of the genre actually (see <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3002">viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3002</a><!-- l -->). He's a master swordsman, so there are plenty of great sword fights. The fight choreography was fun and sanguineous, and the characters were well fleshed out, even the villain. It's long - 2+ hours - but epically visual. And like most K-flicks, it takes the surprising turn now and again in the details, little scenes that feel fresh in their presentation. The dialog is hilarious - I've not yet seen a K-flick drop so many Mother F-bombs. Quite entertaining on many levels. The sets aren't as impressive as some of the panoramic shots. I think there's only one dog, eating cadavers (you can see that in the trailer too). No bollywood...not even. The soundtrack echoes spaghetti westerns, not so much Ennio Morricone, but just that twangy guitar style, and that totally works for this film.
[youtube]jIjOOzsN-9Q[/youtube]
Shadow boxing the apocalypse