The Treacherous

Well pun aside (sorry for that or not), it is not always the case that it gets better with more. You have more to choose from sure, but you have to make sure to please everyone (on another pun, but I just had to, right?).

This may feel like it has a lot of - not sure how to put it ... let's say the Treacherous and 10000 concubines does sound like there is going to be a lot of nudity and more. While there is more than a fair amount of nudity and sexual situations (including thigh crushing action, which unfortunately never really gets paid off), this also has a lot of action too. Which includes blood and violence - of course there have been way more explicit movies in both regards. But combining those two things (with historical setting), may not be everyones cup of tea.

Korean movies have no issue to show more than just violence - and they do make really good movies. This may not be the best they've done, but if you do like the Eastern genre, you will like the movie too. I watched the longer cut (not sure what was cut from the theatrical cut), so not sure how this will compare to the shorter cut, if you watch that.

Note: Check me out as the "Asian Movie Enthusiast" on YouTube, where I review tons of Asian movies.

The Treacherous (2015) (South Korean Drama).

After being engulfed with insanity and revenge, a prince demands beautiful women (regardless of age, marriage status, or social class) to be rounded up for his personal pleasure – this caused widespread anger in the kingdom. One of the would-be sex slaves makes an impression, but his long-time friend also has eyes for her. This film has some serious balls, and will likely offend many viewers with its immoral male characters, its wild tonal shifts, and its depiction of women (who inexplicably become very willing to be sex slaves once they enter the palace). However, this is way more interesting than one might think. Although this is primarily a drama, it does have a few highly entertaining doses of humor. There's a lengthy, hilarious "training" sequence where the women are formally educated in the art of sexual pleasure. The prince is a psycho nutcase, which provides some entertainment value in itself. Of course, there are some disturbing moments of graphic violence mixed in, which creates those oddly captivating tonal shifts. Despite the plethora of sexual references, there are only a small handful of sex scenes shown (one of which is a fairly graphic girl-on-girl intercourse). Performances are solid; the story and characters have an engaging dynamic. This film is beautifully shot and has a great visual style about it, with outstanding production values and set designs. A particularly abrasive film from South Korea, but I couldn't stop watching.

A slow and overlong historical drama from South Korea, telling the story of one of that country's most sadistic kings and his mad reign. It's a little similar to CALIGULA in that respect and the king's two corrupt advisors serve to only increase the drama in the film. However, like Tinto Brass's film version of the Caligula story, this film focuses on the sexuality of the situation to its detriment. It could have been really interesting had it focused on the political intrigue in an engaging way, but instead it merely wallows in explicit sexuality and the degradation of women, which isn't something that I particularly wanted to see.

If your an audience member that wants to see a historically accurate film about one of the most sadistic and tyrannical King in Korean history. This film will not be for you. However this is a color, vibrant and super erotic and sexual film. Sometimes the plot just didn't seem all that focused at times and I just didn't really know what direction this film was trying to go. Is it a vengeance movie or is this suppose to be an exploitation film like "Caligula". However it's a uncomfortable movie to sit through, because the cinematography and the design of the setting and costumes is done really well. So when it comes to the really uncomfortable sexual parts it can really grab the audiences attention. It's quite obvious the director wanted to arouse and shock the audiences and that is clearly the direction it was going despite the super oppressive elements of this movie. However there is porn for that, except this sometimes seemed like a really high quality porn with really good acting. Overall if you are looking for a fantasy like movie that takes place during the Joseon dynasty. And has a lot of uncomfortable sexual and erotic elements in it, this might be for you. Also nothing against the up and coming actress Lim Ji-Yeon that is hitting the big screen, but her acting just wasn't impactful enough to carry the climax. I say this since it would be nice to see Lim Ji-Yeon making other movies that doesn't revolve around her exposing herself to sell tickets. I give this movie a 6 because I didn't feel bored all the way through, and because of the good costume design, setting, acting and cinematography.

6/10

I was expecting to look bad due to the budget, but the acting, special effects and quality was amazing, the gore/violence scenes were the best I've seen, the sexual stuff was very questionable and often times really hard to digest (subjective to everyone), but sometimes its pretty comical, pretty good movie overall.