The Great Battle

This was a great find on Netflix. It reminded me of the battles in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Helms Deep and Minas Tirith. It is subtitled but the story couldn't be easier to follow. Highly recommend it.

The title exactly describes this movie: A great battle.

While watching, you definitely will be reminded of great battles scenes from Middle Earth (but obviously without mythical creatures) like Helm's Deep or Minas Tirith. Perhaps you also get a small feeling of being in Jerusalem during Kingdom's Heaven.

A charismatic cast of characters with somewhat unique personalities ( look out for the Gimli-Legolas friendship), a small defence army fighting a nearly hopeless fight against an overwhelming number of attackers, a plot which serves the needs of such a movie, an atmospheric score and - of course - great and diverse battle scenes with many bad dass moments.

Do not expect big history accuracy - but honestly I think this was also never attempted or wanted - and you should also not look for a historic depiction in such a movie.

Overall, a war movie worth watching if you know what to expect and if you sometimes just want to see spectacular fight scenes with a nice and easy to follow story in Asia.

I'm a fan of historical Korean films, but it took me a while to watch this one because it's not available in Prime Video for Philippines.

Having its ties with Jumong, my all-time favourite, set incredibly high standards for the film. In my opinion, Jumong series stands as a remarkable masterpiece in the Korean entertainment industry.

However, The Great War didn't manage to inspire the same level of thrill and amazement. The battle scenes were, indeed, engaging and compelling from start to end, confirming it as an enjoyable watch and definite entertainment.

Although, if one attempts to match this to the epic loftiness of the Jumong series, they might find it falling short.

The Great Battle (2018 Korean movie streaming currently on Hi-Yah) is a gem of a picture got a very limited US release (at the same time as Venom). It is hard to find , but worth tracking down. This is the Korean version of 300 mixed with Braveheart. What it may lack in historical accuracy it makes up for in style and jaw dropping battles many of which rival the Two Towers

It is visually appealing, packed from top to bottom with action and combat, dressed in appealing costumes, and backed by a stirring soundtrack by Yoon Il-sang.

Giving this an '8', although parts of the film were definitely a '10'. Early in the film, I was confused by who was who, and which side was which. Possibly this is not an issue for Korean viewers, as it is part of their history.

Non-Asian speakers have to keep glued to the subtitles, which is not a huge big deal but can occasionally distract you from the characters. Acting is quite good; you really come to have great respect for the defenders of Ansi.

Estimated budget was $15 million; if done in Hollywood, would have been closer to $200 million. Outstanding battle scenes!