Jeontoo

I know this is a Korean movie, so it is to be expected that the Japanese will not exactly be the good guys. And that would be perfectly okay. But the level of evilness and sadism with which they are portrayed is so extremely exaggerated, it's comical. You can see them laughing like cartoon villains while committing the most heinous atrocities you can imagine. All characters actually are very cartoonish, the entire film doesn't really seem to know what it wants to be. At times it feels like an action movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, in the next scene it's a serious war movie again. It's a mess.

I think this is possible because of grand locations. 'The Battle of Bong-o dong' is the story about the land being stolen. It repays with the most glorious and most Korean landscape it can offer. The last scene where Korean armies appear one by one, all united for one purpose overwhelms me because of its scale. The bird-eye shots of each soldier in rough and rugged mountains and gorges made me speechless. A director of cinematography, a director of art, a director of action, and especially one who's in charge of finding and scouting locations deserve commendation. These vivid, energetic, dynamic, and powerful action complements some faults in the story development, which happens rarely for me. Magnificently, tragically, and poignantly beautiful.

Many of the reviewers here seem to take this movie seriously, as though it matters whether it's history or propaganda. I think they are missing the point.

There are movies for which these sorts of questions matter, but this is not one of them! It exists in the same sort of space as a Tarantino movie, like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, or Inglorious Basterds.

For these movies, history is not the point; homage to a certain type of earlier movie is the point. Your villains were bad? Well my villains are worse! Your action was extreme? Well my action is over the top! You used a trope without realizing it? Well I use 50 tropes and am aware of every single one of them!

There are even the usual Tarantino-esque scenes playing with language, in this case an otherwise bizarre scene where the different soldiers all ruminate on their different dialect words for potato.

Given this, does it work as a Tarantino'esque movie? Yes, but... It manages to hit most of the Tarantino notes but I found the wordplay to work less well than in a Tarantino movie, and the storyline+action to be a lot more confusing. Both of these may reflect the fact that I don't speak Korean (so I'm relying on the subtitles) and know pretty much nothing about the country except the basics, so the names and place names meant nothing to me; perhaps to a native Korean these elements fit together a lot better?

Overall I think it's an interesting watch in terms of seeing how other filmmakers are taking and adapting American techniques.

Tedious. Another big budget movie overflowing with nationalist, anti-Japanese pride. Japanese are portrayed as one dimensional, evil caricatures.

Lovely cinematography, sets and costumes but I think it could have been a little shorter than 2hours 15 minutes. Lots of testosterone fuelled violence and tension. Nothing graphic except for a couple of fake heads rolling on the ground. No nudity.

What price freedom? Its an individual as much as a collective question. That's the context "The Battle: Roar to Victory" resides within.

This is an unambiguously patriotic film but its clearly defined reason to be, put it head and shoulders, above films that talk about patriotism but fail to explain its purpose.

In this instance, its the Japanese Empires imperial ambitions. Invading Korea and as this film shows, brutally subjugating its people. An historically accurate representation of, at times, harsh policies, that continued into WWII where often forced Korean recruits, were used, essentially, as canon fodder.

This film is, unsurprisingly, not an easy watch. Its visceral at times and that bloodiness extends to civilians, as well as those who have taken up arms. What it does demonstrate emphatically, is why these people fight and what they are fighting for. Of course, what is asked, is how much are they as individuals and a group, willing to sacrifice?

Military action is non stop, frenetic, brutal, interspersed with moments of deeply felt emotion and courage. Cinematic's are remarkable, bringing the battle scenes, that define this film, to life. I found it at times a mesmerising watch that drew me in and held me till the closing credits.

Another film for South Korea to be proud of. 9/10 from me.