War of the Arrows

War of the Arrows is not your typical set battle piece - it is a superbly realised take on the classical idea of one man, a true hero in skill and virtue, being chased by a band of elite archers.

The story of a brother looking to rescue his sister and her husband from invaders is well-handled. The last two-thirds of War of the Arrows is simply outstanding - here we have thrilling film with snipers - but snipers who use bow and arrows rather than guns - who give chase to each other - and what a chase!

In addition, above and beyond excellent production values, the acting is a class-above this genre. Even though this is clearly an action film, there is character development, virtue as well as virtuosity, and this reviewer for one was totally lost in the film in a way that no amount of special effects or set wire fights alone can produce - it is simply a thrilling film.

This is a film that does transcend its genre and is clearly one of the better films of the year, bar none.

WAR OF THE ARROWS is an excellent historical action flick with a twist: almost all of the action sequences are centred around bowmen facing off. Now, I've always loved archery when it's depicted in films, so I was delighted to read the premise and watch the trailer for this movie. For me, there's something intrinsically exciting about the look and the skill that goes into wielding a bow efficiently; I'd much rather watch a shoot-out staged with bows and arrows than guns. WAR OF THE ARROWS turns out to be just the film for me.

As usual for the Asian historical epic genre of recent years, the film looks great. Director Han-min Kim crafts a great-looking movie that ably matches the finesse of other recent Korean movies known for their style and substance. The cast are fine, giving their all in emotive turns without ever openly overacting. And the action scenes blow you away time and again.

Okay, I'll admit that the first half-hour is a little shaky. The set-up, although exciting, is followed by a slightly dull "get to know the leads" type scenario which drags a lot. Once the plot begins proper, though, it doesn't let up. There are twists and turns galore, plenty of moments of high drama, and then in the second half of the movie things turn into a virtual re-run of the Mel Gibson epic APOCALYPTO. Think a pared-down narrative, small-scale action – one versus a group – and suspense going through the roof. Yes, it's that good, and even some slightly dodgy CGI doesn't let it down. If only ROBIN HOOD, another recent film about a forest-dwelling archery champion, could have been this good!

This is a stylish and sleek movie that is unduly criticized by many, especially those from other Asian countries as can be seen among other reviews here.

Most do not seem to understand the main point of this movie because they do not know the historical background this movie was set against and consequently they just think this is a ripoff of Hollywood.

The time ... the 17th century. Korea just repelled the Japanese invasion with Ming China's aid which alternated between being an ally and being racist tormentors of the Korean populace.

Manchu(Jurchens) were a nation of fierce warriors from the north, or they thought of themselves that way at least. They had been under the Chinese yoke and just threw it off. They are eventually to invade China proper and to rule over Chinese for the next 300 years. If you saw Last Emperor you will understand this historical setting.

An important thing to remember here is that they were NOT Chinese. Their hatred of Chinese was immense, almost pathological.(and the reason that they invaded Korea was precisely that the Korean court acted like a vassal of Ming China.) This contrasts very sharply with today's Manchu who think of themselves as Chinese.

Just 40 years prior to this event there was the infamous Japanese invasion of Korea and Ming China sent a force to aid Koreans. But this force came from Liatung base, the primary function of which was to suppress Jurchens and Mongols.

Even though that war ended in the victory for Korea and China this created a power vacuum in Manchuria as Ming China no longer controlled the region effectively. This is how the Jurchens(Manchu) rose to power. They were burning with hatred of Chinese for their condescending and racist treatments of their people.

The Korean King who was the crown prince at the time of the Japanese invasion ascended to the throne in the early 17th century. And because of his war time experience he was a practical man and saw the newly arising Manchu as a force to reckon with. He tried to be neutral between Ming China and Manchu.

However he was deposed by a group of Korean nobility and they tried to justify their coup with a more pro china stance. This is how Manchu invaded Korea twice and the second one was more catastrophic as shown in this movie.

So this movie is about the anger of the Korean masses felt toward the effete and effeminate Korean nobility class who were incredibly more loyal to Chinese than to their own people. It is about a war that could have been avoided if the Korean King at the time(generally regarded as the weakest and the most effeminate king in the history of Korea) and the nobility could back their word with action or had a more practical sense.

The Korean government did not help their people, actually did not even want to as long as they could hold onto their power, so the people had to help themselves against all odds. This is the basic premise of this film.

Anyway for those who are not interested in Korean or East Asian history... Manchu are not Chinese and the language they spoke in the movie was not Chinese.(In fact it was the Manchu language which is now dead. It was recreated from the Korean records of the Manchu language. The movie creator deserves some credit for this.)

If you can free yourself from this common misconception that Manchu were just a type of Chinese people you are already half-way there. Manchu were no more Chinese than Mongols are.

I have been on the Korean/Asians movies tip these days and the reason is simple it is hard to find a solid and an interesting movie in Hollywood, you see in a way they are doing remakes and even buying movies that are done in other countries to do them in Hollywood style. Well as a movie fanatic I found my getaway in foreign movies and man was I not entertained. This is one of the best movies of 2011 in Korea (Korean is making its mark in Movie industry) and it boasts with Four Awards The film won four awards in 48th Daejong Awards to Best Actor for Park Hae-il and Best New Actress for Moon Chae-won.) The film is about an archer who risks his life to save his sister from slavery under Prince Dorgan's rule. Other reviews have likened it to Apocalypto but this is nothing like it and Apocalypto doesn't even come close to it and I will tell you why… War of the Arrows is not your typical set battle piece it shows emotions you can see their fear, desperation and panic for example the way they portray death is sad, there is no joy in it even for your enemy, while Apocalypto showed victims and victimization this shows sacrifice and dedication and staying true to your promise no matter the situation. While Apocalypto was on Native Americans and doesn't make you relate to the whole ordeal this one makes you wonder what you could have done faced with the same situation. While Apocalypto showed blood thirsty humans turned to beasts kind of thing for their benefit this one is the survival of the fittest. The common thing in them is obviously the gore and violence. Taking this into consideration I find this one a winner. It is fast paced and will have you glued to your screen from the beginning till the end and what makes it a masterpiece is that the stunts are real it doesn't use you CGI except on the tigers scene which I will excuse as getting the real tiger could have dumbed it down a bit… Overall this is a masterpiece and worth your time

War of the Arrows is not your typical action film. Certainly, much about it is typical. The lone hero, avenging his nation which has been taken over by some other hostile nation, sets out on a journey to rescue his kidnapped sister. In the process, he becomes a hero of the people. Yes, we've seen this before. But where this film truly shines is in it's inspired choice of focus: that of the bow and arrow. This is particularly interesting because archery is something that takes great skill. So, seeing an action film that takes on this weapon as focus is interesting in and of itself. But the film actually succeeds where it might otherwise fail.

As stated before, the film is fairly typical. It takes place during the Second Invasion of Manchu, when China invaded Korea in the early 1600's. The focus is on Nam-Yi, a skilled archer who, along with his sister Ja-In, must flee to a friend of their father's when he is killed. We spend a good deal of time in the beginning of the film seeing these two characters as children and then when they are young adults, but it's mostly somewhat interesting drama that does a decent job of setting up the story. The real meat of the film kicks off in the second hour when Ja-In is kidnapped and Nam-Yi must go after her. Once this part of the story gets underway, the action gets underway with it, and it's pretty damn impressive.

The choreography and cinematography following the battles between arrow slinging warriors is fantastic. There were moments when I had to rewind and play the scene again just to get a second look. This isn't out of poor filmmaking, but because some of the scenes are so damn cool, you want to see them again. And luckily, these scenes are rapid fire and a plenty. From the chases through the woods to a ravine shoot out to the final stand off, you barely have a moment to catch your breath. Although you realize that these men aren't actually as skilled as they come off, there are moments when you're none the less amazed at what's being shown.

Of course, this action would mean nothing if it weren't surrounded by at least competent filmmaking, but there is great skill displayed here. Our actors never feel unnatural, even if the acting isn't to rave about, and the cinematography is fantastic. This film would not work at all if the camera work was shotty, and thankfully it's not. You can savor each moment of fantastic action in calculated, collected shots that take the time to slow down when necessary and catch you by surprise when necessary. Suffice to say, all of this creates one fantastic action film, one of the best I have seen from Asia in quite some time.

If you're a fan of Asian action films, you owe it to yourself to give War of the Arrows a try. It's completely worth the time, even running over two hours. You won't be disappointed.