The Swordsman

Even though Joe Taslim smiles a lot as a proud villain, but overall this movie delivered what to be expected, or as expected by me. This not a kind of wuxia movies while the swordmen are flying around the tall trees with their blades. This a believable wuxia fight movie, where the swordmen could be exhausted catching his breath. The period pieces also feels authentic, and the story also in the right pace. Some scenes are too dark and need more lights though. Try it, you will love it, especially the Indonesian actor as the villain, Joe Taslim speaking Korean!

"For me, my daughter is the country and everything in it."- Tae-yul

9/10

Tae Yul, once a great swordsman now injured lives in the mountain with his daughter. As his eyes injury is getting worse, the daughter decides to come down from mountain. Somehow she finds herself in the midst of a political plot and gets abducted. Tae Yul now must fight hordes of swordsman and assassins to save her. With his injuries and his past catching up to him can he save his daughter?

A lot has been jam-packed in the short runtime of the film. Story starts peacefully, we get to see the father and daughter in the mountain living peacefully. When they eventually come down from the mountain we get to see the change in political arena as a group of slave traders from Qing Dynasty stirs trouble in the Ming Dynasty. Initially Tae Yul ignores but all hell breaks loose when the daughter gets abducted. This is where the real fun begins. Violent and bloody fights with swords against dozens of villains. There are some flashbacks that indicates that Tae Yul is not as simple as he seems. There are two badass swordsman which stands in Tae Yul's way. Both the boss fights were great.

The film looks great, loved the cinematography. The fight scenes were great. As the film progresses the fights get more intense. The sword fighting choreography is absolutely outstanding and the action sequences are satisfying. What I really liked is the BGM, they added so much to the mood of the film.

Intense, violent and compact. A very satisfying watch. I am surprised how much the director managed to show in such a short run time. It is a fantastic action film. I loved the main leads silent but deadly demeanor. The fights are very satisfying and almost feels like the man from nowhere but with swords. Recommended.

This movie has some very good sword fighting sequences n some good cinematography but apart from these two, there is nothing more to it.

At times, the film does transport viewers to that era.

The sword fight sequence where our hero is alone fighting with a sword, while the opponents are with guns n far too many is a bit far fetched.

I found the story, some of the characters and their shifting of loyalty, a bit convoluted as i have not read anything in history about such kingdoms.

So the makers shud have at least opted for a full blown action n mayhem route.

Joe Taslim looked menacing though but his footage ain't that big.

Everytime I feel i need a break from Hollywood bs to watch a south Korean action movie i always go for the one with Jang hyuk in it and he never let's me down Simply amazing acting from the lad,no one is better at acting the emotionally broken swordsman as this guy You should all watch the film,enjoy

One thing that really gets me in Good Guy vs Bad Guy films is when the "Bad Guy" over plays his snarky nature with an arrogant smirk. The bad fellas in this are just ate up with this characteristic. It is great, at least for me, because it makes me dislike the character that much more and I feel more drawn into what's going on.

This was a well made film. It has some well choreographed swordplay and martial arts but there is also an underlying story that offers some emotional drama so it isn't all action. It is well put together making it suitable but it could have benefited from a little more detail about our main characters. I would've liked to have seen just a bit more in that regard.

I would totally recommend this if you are into Korean period films with great sword play. I don't think you'd be disappointed.