Le règne par le sabre

First thing first: "Shadowless Sword" doesn't have much of a plot. Nothing much happens, which is pretty ridiculous considering it is a 2 hour movie. Basically, you could describe it as one long trek/chase sequence, periodically interrupted by the fight scenes, a la "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown" or the 2nd half of "The Island".

Having said that, the fight scenes are the main point of this movie, right? It is rare to see something new or original in martial arts movies, but here the filmmakers have a great eye for visually interesting fights. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and contribute a lot to the fights themselves. For instance, a lot of stuff breaks: pillars, tiles, and other objects all explode violently from destructive weapon swinging (think of the "Matrix" lobby scene but with swords instead of bullets). Roofs are there to enable aerial battle, and even being submersed underwater can't stop the sword fight from continuing!

I saw an extended version of 116 minutes (apparently there is a 104 minute version as well).

First off, the title makes you expect something else. I expected this "Shadowless Sword" to play some pivotal role, but no show. This film should better be named "Back to Balhae" or something, because that's what it's all about: a trek to Balhae. The storyline is pretty thin, but a martial arts movie with an original and strong story is a rare thing, so you shouldn't be too surprised about that.

Technically this movie is very beautifully shot, with excellent art direction and costumes. The stuff on screen really is exquisite and should satisfy costume-aficionados and the artists among us. The actors do a good job too, no overacting or amateurish stuff, but at times over-directed it seems. The two main actresses are very pretty, so very nice to look at. Clearly intended to attract the mainly male target-audience, I guess. No ugly women to be seen, not even with the extras. The fighting scenes are very enjoyable, but they miss the rawness and directness seen in HongKong martial arts movies. And unfortunately some stuff badly copied from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. And overall the pace of the movie was excruciatingly slow. I hope the director and editors will learn that even pretty shots shown too long do get boring.

So bottom line: Don't get me wrong, it IS a rather enjoyable movie, no question about that. But you'll forget in a week or two. Good shot by the Koreans at the Wuxia genre though. Keep 'em coming!

Well, what can I say -- great movie. The comparison to House of Flying Daggers of course is inevitable ;-) Shadowless Sword is more humorous (but not comedy-fun), there is a bit of adventure theme, the story is simpler (so there is less who-is-who guessing), and has two dazzling beautiful (!) women as leading characters. I almost would say I like Shadowless Sword more if only director didn't made special effects awkward.

Maybe it is just me, but I expect that after hitting objects can explode, but not after cutting. And here some objects fall apart (with great speed and energy) what looks amazing (with proper music) but some... explode, which is not funny, not spectacular, not magical, not mysterious -- it is simply bizarre. It is so out-of-place that it spoils every fight scene when director decided to put explosion after sword cut. Pity...

I saw this film had an average rating around 5 the other day, so I figured I'd chime in on it, because I think a 5 is a bit harsh. I enjoyed the film, it has some decent fight scenes, and the acting is fine imo. Yeah, it borrows a lot from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, House of Flying Daggers, etc..., but I enjoyed the film regardless of that.

I really liked Ji-Woo Choi(who played Yeon Soha) in this film. She was great in the fight scenes and had a seriousness about her character that she portrayed very well. One thing I didn't like was some random oddness in the film. Could have been the script or it could have been the director, its hard to tell, but there were times where there seemed to be a comedy direction out of nowhere during some fight scenes and conversations and whatnot. I felt the film worked better as a serious drama, and the random comedic parts didn't fit in well imo. Also I felt the explosion kill move that is seen a few times throughout the film was a bit corny as well.

Anyhow, I think a rating of 5 is a bit harsh. House of Flying Daggers, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Hero are three of my favorite films, and while this film is not in a class with those three, its worth watching if you enjoyed those three films. I think a 7.5 is a fair rating for this film, rounded down to a 7.

This is a great little film, lots of action to keep you glued to your seat. I wasn't bored for a second. The beautiful So-yi Yoon is reason enough to watch this film as she acts as a very convincing bodyguard for the hapless prince. She is the best warrior of Balhae sent to bring him back to take up rulership after all the other Princes are killed. The female villain isn't half bad looking either. The villains are all very cartoon like but the fight scenes are really well done, so if you like this genre of film and if you enjoyed 'House of flying daggars' you will enjoy this film as long as you aren't expecting an in-depth storyline. The only downside of this film for me was the silly flying through the air scenes, I know they are part of this type of film but it spoils it for me. It is probably why I preferred 'House of flying daggars' to 'Crouching tiger, hidden dragon'. So I would certainly recommend this film and would definitely watch it again.