Bichunmoo

OK, this movie is no Lord of the Rings, or even Crouching Tiger.

So what? It might not be a masterpiece of world cinema, but it's rather fun.

The plot is cheesy (big plot holes as well) and the love story severely cliché, however the art design and sets are beautiful, the fights fun enough (though a bit puzzling), the leads are all appealing and there is melodrama and angst galore.

Yeah, you could do better (Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Musa). But if star-crossed lovers, revenge and period movies are your thing, and you don't mind a few bits where the plot is confusing and/or over-the-top, you can do much worse than Bichunmoo.

I'm mixed about this one, honestly. As far as Korean cinema goes, this is a decent one, important for the Korean film industry as it was another big-budget-esque sweeping epic, (though one of the first for its fantasy style) and was a hit in Korea. If "Shiri" announced to the world that Korean cinema was a world player, "JSA," "Tell Me Something" and this, "Bichunmoo" solidified that sentiment.

But a film does not necessarily work because of these facts. The simple matter is that "Bichunmoo" isn't anything too special. Sure, there "Crouching Tiger" comparisons come into play, but honestly, even without having to be in "CTHD's" shadow, Bichunmoo still wouldn't be all that great.

The story revolves around Jinha, a young man who grows to be one of the greatest warriors of his time, and his love for a woman. As chance may have it, complications arise, and they're separated, in which time she learns to move on with her life, and he adopts a new name, and identity.

The account above is a very crude and general overview of the story. In actuality, the story is much more complicated. Yes, he adopts a new name, but there are other things at play; Mongol Forces, Anti-Mongol Forces, the girl's husband and children, and the protagonists partners as well as his ex-but-may-not-quite-be rival.

And this is where the cracks start to show. The film is very, VERY busy. Too much occurs, too quickly. Yes, Korean filmmakers are told almost by necessity to cut down the running times (in order to get more showings in) but this is ludicrous. The film moves at an amazingly brisk pace, that more then once, I was confused. It also doesn't help that a very crucial and important scene is cut out of the print I watched which states that Jinha has changed his name, introduces two major characters, informs us that he's sided with anti-Mongol forces, gives an outline of the group's attack, and explains who the hell those guys that are fighting with Jinha are. Had these been retained, I as well as many others would not have been as confused.

And in moving this quickly, much of the attention is lost, and one never cares for the characters. The two characters in love received no sympathy from me, and I became so restless that I was tempted to fastforward to the next fight scene.

But anyhow, but fight scenes, choreography, and cinematography all are excellent. They are not polished, but I believe this was intentional. The film does not rival by any means the best Hong Kong martial swordplay films, but they are well done, nonetheless.

All in all, Bichunmoo is an entertaining film, but not a great film. It left me feeling a bit hollow, and as stated earlier, attempts to accomplish too much. Had they split the movie into two, and taken their time with the story, it would have been much better.

Well, I bought the DVD and afterword's I read the reviews on IMDb before I saw it, and they're not good, so my expectations was really low.

But I liked it. The story line is a bit confusing and a bit to cliché, but its still good.

The fighting scenes are great though. Yes, there might be some blood spurts as in the old movies(and Kill Bill), but so what? Its one of those movies you have to see, if you like martial arts ad sword fighting, but if you're going for a love story with some action, choose another one.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongolian Empire with the descendants of Genghis Kan rules China. In this environment, the poor Jinha (Shin Hyun-June) is raised by his uncle that teaches him the secret martial art of the Bichun. The daughter of a concubine of the powerful General Taruga (Hak-cheol Kim), Sullie (Hee-seon Kim), is raised with him and they have a crush on each other. When her mother dies, Sullie's father brings her to the Taruga House and she tells Jinha that she would wait for him. But the general promises her to the powerful Chinese lord Namgung Junkwang (Jin-yeong Jeong) to increase his power with the alliance. When Jinha's uncle is lethally wounded by warriors that want to know the secrets of Bichun, he discloses the Korean royal origins of Jinha. While traveling to meet Sullie, Jimha befriends Junkwang without knowing that he is the man that will marry Sullie. Sooner Jinha is betrayed and almost dies; along the years, he fights against the Mongolian Empire. When he meets Sullie again years later, she discloses a family secret to him.

"Bichunmoo" is a movie with a promising beginning and wonderful art direction, costumes and soundtrack; unfortunately it is also too long, with a confused screenplay, and melodramatic like a soap opera. In a certain moment, the story becomes messy with many betrayals and confused situations and it is hard to the viewer to know who is who. In 2000, "Bichunmoo" was the most expensive Korean movie ever made. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Bichunmoo, A Saga de um Guerreiro" ("Bichunmoo, the Saga of a Warrior")

this film seems to be divided into two parts, the one is the martial arts, political part, which is cool and the other is the love story which is far too sappy.

the plot is simultaneously thin as paper yet so convoluted as to be incomprehensible, starting with the main character's nose. the story runs something along the lines of "Hero comes from ancient dynasty, knows martial arts secrets, and is in love with a forbidden woman. meanwhile said woman is key to labyrinthine politics involving Mongolian warlords, Chinese Warlords, corrupt officials and everything in between." the double crosses go on endlessly, until it's rather tricky to tell who the hell is betraying who. meanwhile the whole tepid "I loved you once but now you're a murderer, No i'm not you betrayed our love" thing drags on.

the fight scenes are fantastically choreographed but poorly shot. characters fly at each other and slash in a graceful sword dance, but the camera tries to match their acrobatics, resulting in an eye hurting riot of movement. the hero's undefeatable signature move (i almost expected him to cry out "Hado-Ken" whenever he uses it) is used way too often, and leaves every fight with a predictable close. it's other problem is that fight scenes are scattered liberally throughout the film, with no correlation between the quality of a fight and its importance, so many of the best fights (an incredible scene as the hero's war band descends on an enemy fort) are used on the most mundane plot points, with average fights for the more important scenes (including a terribly weak climatic fight). the other problem is that since the hero's fighting style is so effective (even without the street fighter style finishing move) that he uses the same moves in every fight, with little to no variation, all the fights end up shockingly repetitive.

meanwhile the hero alternates between a quivering lipped softie, and stony faced mannequin. one of the villains fairs much better, and, annoyingly, wins our sympathy far more effectively than the hero does.

this may sound an unfair blasting of the film, and i wish i could sound more even handed, but the film could seriously have used some comic relief (one joke in two hours is not too much to ask) some editing (way too much sepia toned slow motion) and just some good old fashioned still cameras (ones that didn't back flip with fight scene) my rating 5/10, potential but mostly squandered