theotherself
Joined Nov 2002
Welcome to the new profile
Our updates are still in development. While the previous version of the profile is no longer accessible, we're actively working on improvements, and some of the missing features will be returning soon! Stay tuned for their return. In the meantime, the Ratings Analysis is still available on our iOS and Android apps, found on the profile page. To view your Rating Distribution(s) by Year and Genre, please refer to our new Help guide.
Badges2
To learn how to earn badges, go to the badges help page.
Reviews2
theotherself's rating
Years from now, Musa will be remembered as an epic action flick that cost the Koreans a lot of money to make. And that's a pity, because it could have been so much more. The action certainly is impressive - heads are lopped off, soldiers lose their limbs, blood spills everywhere. But the nature of the script was such that many issues could have been explored, from class struggles to fatalism to the beauty of doomed love, which would have layered the story, essentially about exiled Korean envoys trying to return home from China, with greater introspection and meaning. Instead, these are sacrificed in the name of fast and furious action and ironically enough, excess sentimentalism.
What are the motivations of General Choi and Furong? He speaks of being afraid of falling short of expectations, she tells of escaping from the palace because she hated the feeling of being stifled - and it ends there. Certainly frustrating. The slave Yeosol who accepts and yet fights against his fate is a metaphor for all great things that could have been. He is as Russell Crowe was in Gladiator, but missing the depth.
That said, there couldn't have been a better anti-hero than the brooding Yeosol. What actor Jung Woo-sung couldn't do with the poor characterization, he makes up for with the way he wields his spear and loves with stoicism. That alone is worth watching this film.
What are the motivations of General Choi and Furong? He speaks of being afraid of falling short of expectations, she tells of escaping from the palace because she hated the feeling of being stifled - and it ends there. Certainly frustrating. The slave Yeosol who accepts and yet fights against his fate is a metaphor for all great things that could have been. He is as Russell Crowe was in Gladiator, but missing the depth.
That said, there couldn't have been a better anti-hero than the brooding Yeosol. What actor Jung Woo-sung couldn't do with the poor characterization, he makes up for with the way he wields his spear and loves with stoicism. That alone is worth watching this film.
The beauty of Xin Dong is in its understated portrayal of first love - just a simple story of an ordinary boy and girl, and the events that happen years after their heady adolescent love runs its course. It's not always a happy film, but neither is it a sad one; kind of like life, really. Some poignant touches sets this film apart from the many others of the same genre, and the celluloid-perfect leads play their roles surprisingly well, especially Gigi Leung as the innocent and slightly gawky Hsiao-rou. It's uneven though, with some unnecessary scenes that greatly slow down the pace of the movie. But then comes the absolutely classic ending, one of those that make your heart ache for that moment, and which you remember for a long time to come.