Memories of the Sword

I just saw another Korean epic called Assassination last week at my local theater so I thought I give this one a shot.

The two movies are similar in their epicness, as they both had great cinematography that made it feel like a painting come to life and they seem to be working a very large story with lots of elements but is not too hard to follow, which is good for me cause subtitles can be too much to read sometimes. The scope of Memories of the Sword was big and long (at two hours and sixteen minutes), and covered a lot of drama.

I don't think I've ever seen Lee Byung-hun, who I know to be a actor from Korea, in a Korean film. He's somewhat a thing in the states, so I assumed that made him a huge star in his native land. It's the first time I did not see him in an action film with his shirt off holding a sword. It's a little misleading for those of us expecting more battle scenes from him, instead he plays more of a dramatic role that evolves romance, which I rarely see in Asian films cause I mostly deal in marshal arts action.

Which the movie does not have a lot of, but the little it does I was very impress with. Overall it was not a bad movie to sit through.

"Memories" seems to be a key word with this film, as memories are not always complete. Just as memories, so too poetry. A poem doesn't need complete sentences to be understood, it's more about the feelings that are conveyed. When I came to this realization, I enjoyed this film much more.

I guess the advertising for this film made comparisons to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? I don't know because I just borrowed this from the library & it wasn't until a couple reviews mentioned it that I heard the comparison. There are similarities, but that is all they are..

Don't focus on that for this film, enjoy it for what it is: a poem in cinematic form.

This was okay. It was nice looking. It could have stood to have more fighting and less long sequences of sorrow. All the sorrow, which I guess is what the plot revolves around, could have been avoided if everyone involved had made less inexplicably poor decisions.

While the Goryo Dynasty in the medieval Korea, three warriors named Deok-ki, Poong-chun and Seol-rang have led a riot against the king and his foreign allies from Kitan, China. But Deok-ki betrays them, which results in the death of Poong-chun. But Seol-rang is able to escape with Seol-hee, Poong-chun's little daughter, and her sword. 18 years later, Seol-rang got blind but she raised and taught Seol-hee very well. Both feel that the time for revenge is right, but Deok-ki is now one of the most powerful men in the country. All of them know, that spilling blood is the only way of redemption. This story is heart touching and lovely full of action

I love all the actors and enjoy historical dramas. Cinematography and martial arts/sword play/fantasy in this one are excellent. For me, the weakness and lowered score are because of murky writing leading to uneven plotting and unclear storyline. It's a shame because the actors deserved better.