Yeokmo - Banranui sidae

For those who are used to the sweet smiling Jung Hae In of Something in the Rain and other romantic dramas, this period costume action movie will come as an eye opener. Although he is recognizable it's such a differnet type of role. Made in 2017 this is a one man against the odds type sword fighting action movie. A soldier / prison guard single handedly takes on a rebellion that leads from the prison to the palace. Too many impossible battles take place. Jung is an unlikely choice not being the usual look or type for this kind of movie. But his underdog appearance is part of the charm and uniqueness of the movie. One slim guy can get so many bad guys. The plot isn't too complicated but some scenes don't flow well to another and the viewer can get lost momentarily. It's utlimately not a terribly good movie. Mainly for Jung's fans.

"Age of Bood" was an okay movie.

The story was interesting as an idea and there were some solid scenes here and there, but the presentation of the events and the character was just not good. That's why the result was flat. The action scenes, however, were good. The visuals were top notch as well.

In addition the performances were great. Especially the lead actor was extra good, with excellent action scenes. The ending was emotional and deep too.

So, overall, six out of ten.

A conceptually interesting movie, that fails in its tone, pacing and believability. The fight choreography is competent but sadly adds to the aforementioned problems.

The initial tone might make you expect a comedy, something light-hearted or maybe a "dramedy". Characters are introduced as seemingly goofy and useless. I assume it's done to subvert expectation and surprise viewers with the coming events. The idea seems good to me, but isn't executed to best effect. The first 15 minutes made me feel like watching an episode of a very generic TV series with failing humor, but somewhat intriguing characters.

Once the action begins, everything seems a lot more promising. The fights favor flashiness over authenticity and there's a few too many edits, with the camera jumping around, mid-action. Yet, the action looks fairly good, featuring decent movie martial arts, and all moves are readable despite the editing. It's fun to watch, at least for the time it stays believable. Here's where pacing and plausibility get in the way, though. On a very theoretical level, it might seem sufficient to just have a well choreographed fight sequence, for entertainment. Like a boxing match or MMA cage fight. That works in sports for a couple of reasons. The primary one probably being that the specific audience has an interest in that specific type of fighting style. In a movie, it's generally smarter and a lot more efficient when the individual fights themselves tell a small story that the viewer can relate to, rather than just to have a fight where opponents exchange blows until winner and loser are defined. Jackie Chan understands this element perfectly. His choreography always has more to get invested in and it's not exclusively humorous.

The Age of Blood does little to make the fights relatable and takes a clumsy approach at trying to create tension. It's putting all of its weight onto the assumption that the audience wants to see the underdog win. That concept loses impact when there are sequences where you might be left wondering why characters are even fighting, when there were reasonable options to avoid conflict. After several of those incidents, the movie begins running on empty. The protagonist's motivation is so unclear that he even questions himself, at some point. And the story does not have enough substance to support repetitive action without tension.

Considering how the movie starts, character development could have been a saving grace. But although we learn more about the characters, they never seem to change along the way. What's left is a sequence of decent action scenes with lacking focus, intriguing characters played by competent actors and a thin story, based on real events. Enough for some mild entertainment, but hardly memorable.

Props to the stunt/action team, including all participating actors, though! They did great work for what I assume was a relatively low budget.

Love Jung Hae-in, a favorite, as I work through his Kdramas. Nice seeing him in a period pieces & being his badass best. I am enjoying him in more kinds of roles. The cast shows a great many actors that I am getting very familiar with from other dramas. His work seems to gather really good character actors in supporting roles. His acting skills have made him one of my very favorite actors. The settings were rich and lovely, too. Watching Kdramas are becoming a guilty pleasure while trudging on the treadmill. I hope to see more of Mr. Jung in further period based Kdramas, romcoms and the like!!

The plot is messy, but the cast works hard to overcome the gaps and goofs. I stayed with it for Jung Hae In, whom I've never seen as a bad-ass super hero before. He's wonderful, and I would like to see him in more action roles along with his sweet RomCom characters.