Hyeomnyeo: Kar-ui gi-eok

An epic movie about an epic story. First of all I have to say that the cinematography is amazing. Maybe one of the best I've seen yet. And the battles were fierce. The atmosphere, the lighting, the clothes, the mood, the colours, everything worked so good with the vibes of the story, so credits to the director and his team. However, story wise, the movie was a mess. Following the steps of those sword battle movies that focus more on the battle, and less on the story, even though the tragedy premisses are set early on, the plot of the movie was not something unordinary, it followed a messed up pace, the conclusion was weak and the information provided about the characters little and just enough to keep you watching. So, 8.5 out of 10.

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.

"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.

It could be viewed as a Korean take on the great "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" but the movie has enough substance to stand on its own feet. The cinematic qualities are most impressive. Camera work, lighting, colors...it never stops to look beautiful. If the Shakespearean drama in the story doesn't put you away, be sure to not miss this one. Also, do yourself a favor and watch it in the cinema or at least from a blu-ray. The visual feast you will be getting is worth it. Just a warning: It's not an action movie. It's much more drama than action and even when action happens, it's mostly highly stylized. As for the acting, Byung-hun Lee is the memorable person in this. He really shines as the somewhat confused villain. Rest of the cast I'd probably just describe as OK. My movie-loving heart was glad I got to watch this and is looking forward to future Korean epics. :)

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.