Hyeomnyeo: Kar-ui gi-eok

I loved this movies plot, but it was a little confusing at time how they put the script together and that's party to the style of movies I am use to here in the USA, That's not to say how this movie comes together Especially towards the end. The plot is amazing the Cinematography is beautiful and the sword fighting is on spot. The movie does jump around a little bit and that is what confuses most people but they're trying to give you a sense of the past that leads to the future and they also change characters names from what they started with to what they end up with so that kind of throws you off but like I said the end of the movie brings it all together beautifully I would highly recommend this movie it's got everything one would want like crouching Tiger hidden Dragon.

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.

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.

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.

A cheerful happy girl named Seol-hee, whom is living in the Goryeo era of Korea, has what seems to be a beautiful adventurous morning. But at the end of the day, after participating in a sword match in the town square, and an odd encounter with a powerful military leader named Yoo-baek, she discovers a tragic, heartbreaking destiny has befallen her: she's been training herself in sword combat to eventually hunt down the murderers of her father, but she discovers her own caretaker, Wallso, is one of the villains who was there when it happened. Long ago, Wallso (then called Seol-rang), and Yoo-baek (then called Deok-gi), were leading an uprising, with Seol's father, Poong-cheon accompanying them. However, when it seems the desire for freedom and justice is about to come true, Deok-gi betrayed his partners, killing Poong-cheon, and Wallso escaping with the infant Seol. In the aftermath, Deok prophesies that Seol will kill him and Wallso when she comes of age. Without a shred of emotion or pity for Seol, Wallso reveals she and Yoo-baek are the enemies she must slay, before kicking her out of the house. Distraught, betrayed, shocked, and heartbroken, Seol tries to deny and drown her future out, but after losing a couple other people, whom were close to her, Seol transforms herself inside, accepts her destiny, and prepares to make her targets pay...with blood!

Kim Go-eun has become one of my favorite Korean actresses! Also having seen her in a thriller film called "Monster", and a TV show called "Cheese in the Trap", she amazes me once more as Seol-hee, first cheerful and free spirited, then heartbroken and betrayed, then born again, battle hard, and out for blood!

This is actually my second time watching this movie. First time, I don't think I payed attention too much, but this time, my focus was better, and I absorbed the story, emotion, and action much better. I enjoyed the other performances, action sequences, and some of the effects very much.

Although a few parts of the movie were still a bit hard to follow, I still enjoyed Memories of the Sword! I'd certainly recommend it for explorers of international movies!