The Slave Hunters

Firstly the cinematography is high quality like a big budget movie. Beautiful countryside and settings. The chase parts are exciting and the main love triangle is actually quite involving unlike some older melodramas. But the quiet moments and the subplot and some secondary characters are boring. You can fast forward through them. 16 episodes would have been better than 24. Some chasing around is repetitive. The cast is right for their roles. Jang Hyuk and Oh Ji Ho are convincing. The men look and behave like men and the women look like women. Lee Da Hae is sweet and believable and her character isn't annoying. Their story is quite passionate. Unlike the recent costume dramas where often the men are too androgynous looking, the cast here looks convincing. As far as big epic Joseon dramas are concerned this is a change from the usual ones that are stuck in the palace with the court intrigue and concubines and eunuchs. Worth watching.

This show was above fantastic. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and gave up sleep just to watch one more episode. The cast was perfection!!

This my favorite korean drama.Is an amazing and Jang Hyuk with action he does he's so good.I like the story.

This tv show is the antithesis of Hollywood's nonchalant and lack luster production of cinematography of the 21st century. This tv show defines a true nature of grit and the gripping emotions of containing its audience in 'awe' that kept us asking for more. This highly underrated film is a treasure and one of the best tv shows out there. Thank you for making a great story on the big screens.

The slave hunters is a melodramatic historical drama with a lot of fighting scenes in a time of the rise of guns. A time when slavery was normal and escaped slaves were hunted, thus the title. It is somewhat slow despite the number of fights (excellent ones, but on times too many for me) because of the lengthy takes of melodramatic scenes. This is a show that might be better not to binge to fully enjoy. The dialogues are good and there are important ones not to be missed to understand the politics and tactics, but I often had to rewind and stop to be able to read the subtitles, as too much info was pressed into one scene while the next showed up before I could catch on. The romances and the love triangle are somewhat exhausting... do not watch the show for them, even though the love story set the cause for Daegil to become a slave hunter. Some parts are overacted, but not to the extent to be annoying. And maybe a bit of an epilogue about Daegil's bros would have been nice. That's about all for the negatives.

On the positives we find a lot to spoil the eyes. Well built bodies of our warriors get enough screen time in good angles to value their efforts, great scenery of Korea's beautiful nature, hilarious fights, jumps and runs over rooftops and other obstacles. The story shows a wide range of human interaction and life, humorous, funny, raw, cruel, dirty, bitter, sweet, naked, false, genuine, literate, dumb, intelligent... and shares lines of wisdom while pondering on deep questions: Is it possible to change the world for the better, is it enough to change the political system or do people need to change? Is a classless society possible or will the pursued become perpetrators when in power? Is it possible to have a society where people are not exploited? It shows the warmth in the rotten and the coldness in the seemingly pure. All this makes it stand out of other historical dramas and makes this show excellent.

No need to say it's well directed and well acted by all and Jang Hyuk excels in incorporating his role in every aspect.

Be in the right mood to watch it, as it's not a feel-good show.