Wuchak Released in 2011, "War of the Arrows" is set during the second Manchu invasion of Korea where Korean Nam Yi, an expert archer, pursues the Manchurians to save his younger sister Ja-In, who was dragged off by the invaders.The tone is akin to 2006' "Apocalypto" and, while the plots are similar, the protagonist in "War of the Arrows" is the hunter rather than the escapee; not to mention his loved ones have been captured by the enemy and torn from their homes, not hidden somewhere near their village. Imagine the excellent TV series "Vikings," but with way more action and set in 17th century Korea. This is a top-of-the-line adventure/action flick with awesome forest cinematography, superb costuming, effective score, convincing acting and consistent thrills. All you have to do is persevere through the first half hour and then it's non-stop-thrills from there. There are some flaws, like the villagers being wholly surprised by the Manchurian attack to the point of obliviously performing their regular activities to the very moment the horsemen strike by the sword; even a wedding ceremony is completely surprised. Why sure! The chasm sequence is also weak because the warriors wouldn't be able to successfully jump across unless it was 20' wide or less, but it looks much wider. Then there's the lame tiger CGI. Despite these negatives, this is an eminent adventure/action flick.Unless you speak Korean you'll have to click on the English audio or subtitles on the DVD. The film runs 128 minutes and was shot in South Korea. GRADE: B+

forlornnesssickness Its simple story is unfolded in Korea of the 17th century, the mid- period of the Chosun Dynasty. In 1623, Kwanghaegun was dethroned by the Injo revolt and immediately replaced by his cousin King Injo. Young Nam- i's father, a military officer, was killed being labeled as a traitor, and, as ordered by his father before his death, Nam-i managed to escape with his younger sister at the last minute. They went to their father's friend living outside the capital, who took a great risk by raising them as the part of his household while hiding their identities.13 years have passed. Both Nam-i(Park Hae-il) and Ja-in(Moon Chae-won) are now grown-ups. Although still protected well, Nam-i has virtually no future except enjoying the hunt with his servants or polishing his archery skills, for it is impossible for him to enter the government due to his background. Meanwhile, Ja-in is happily going to marry Seo Goon(Kim Moo-yeol), the only son of their protector who has liked her since they were young, and Nam-i is happy for his sister.However, in the middle of their wedding, the vast army of Qing suddenly invades their town. Unlike King Kwanghae-gun, King Injo made an unwise diplomatic choice of disregarding the rising power of the Qing Dynasty which would soon replace the Ming Dynasty in China. He paid a hefty price for underestimating Qing; he had to personally surrender to the Emperor in legendary humiliation while many of his people were taken to Qing as the prisoners/hostages. Ja-in and her groom are among them, and it is Nam-i's mission to rescue them from the Qing army and take them back to their country. He is willing to eliminate anyone standing on his way with his bow, but it won't be easy. While he is mostly alone, there is the elite force led by the Qing general Jyu Sinta(Ryoo Seung-yong), who notices Nam-i's uncanny talent right from their first encounter and recognizes him as a worthy opponent to him and his men.The film relatively lags while establishing the characters and their situations during the first half, but, once everything is set and ready, it kicks into high gear to the full speed. You may find the use of shaky cam in period drama distracting, but it is right approach because it is necessary for the characters to move fast and think fast like Jason Bourne for their survival and win. While rarely losing the sense of the direction, the movie is filled with energy to tighten our attention to what is going on the screen. Being real is always important for this kind of action movies, and the director Kim Han-min and his crews do deserve the praise for their accomplishment. You can see the people in the movie are really running in the mountain forests, or, in one gripping scene, jumping over the cliff to reach to the other side across a ravine.And I was very amused by how the arrows were used in the film. The arrows are more flexible than bullets, so some seemingly impossible trajectories are possible at least in the movie. While I believe the arrows on the screen are CGIs in many cases like the bullets in "Wanted"(2008), these arrows look real and destructive, and they are not shot mindlessly. The characters usually shoot their arrows based on quick calculations and their instincts – that makes the confrontations between them look like a deadly chess game between the expert snipers with rifles.The characterization is broad, but the performers have strong presence to pull us into the plot. Although it is the national conflict at first, the story ultimately becomes the personal conflict between the characters determined to stop each other with their all hearts and brains, and we become involved in it. Park Hae-il is a believable action movie hero of the 17th century; you can sense he will even descend to the bottom of hell to save his sister and his friend. Moon Chae-won is also good as the bride who is as resourceful as her groom. In the action movies made in these days, the female characters no longer stand back from guys' actions, and Ja-in does not disappoint us with her quiet but defiant attitude to her enemies.The villain is always one of the crucial factors determining the success of the action movies, and Ryoo Seung-yong, who was impressive as the leader of North Korean military unit in recent South Korean movie "The Front Line"(2011), gives a forceful performance with his penetrating eyes and steely will behind them. He and other non-Chinese actors are pretty much believable with their Manchurian dialogues at least in my view(Machurian has been almost a dead language since the Qing Dynasty engulfed China and then assimilated itself into the Han Chinese culture, so few will find faults in the movie). I find it interesting how the movie allows them to have some human sides. They are not vicious monsters, and they have an understandable reason for being a lot furious about Nam-i and others who meddle with their business. Though they are quite determined to kill our hero, you may feel a little sorry for them.Sidenote: As some South Korean critic pointed out, there is a major historical error in the movie with Qing prince Dorgon, who is depicted as the character more or less than a petty bad guy. Unlike his fictional counterpart, he lived longer and did lots of thing to solidify the Qing Dynasty as the regent prince. That does not spoil the entertainment, but I think it is not bad to know about such a historical fact before watching the movie.

bob the moo I was in South Korea recently and was chatting with colleagues there about the films I had seen from their country – a rather humbling experience since I knew so few. Anyway, this film came up since it had recently been very successful and, after some internet searching, I found the English title. I was only able to get hold of an American dubbed version of the film, although I was keen to see the film on the recommendation of my colleague. The film is a thriller set during the invasion of Korea by the Manchurian, archer Nam Yi sets out to rescue his sister Ja In, who has been kidnapped by the invaders.The plot sets up a chase featuring a lone bowman against a small unit also trying to stop him from his rescue and it offers the potential for plenty of excitement. Indeed this is what it seems to be focused on because the film has little room for anything but forward motion in regards the chase and the arrow action. Unfortunately this aspect of the film is nowhere near strong enough to make it be as much of the film as it is. Running to over two hours, the film doesn't provide as much plotting or character as I would have liked to engage me for this amount of time. The action isn't good enough to take up the slack. The nature of the delivery suggested some arrow-fu style action would be on the cards but it is rarely up to scratch. Occasionally there are tense moments which are well-delivered, but otherwise the action failed to move me. It lacked tension and thrills and really did come down to quite a lot of scenes of people running from one another; there are standoffs and individual moments which worked very well but the majority did not.Overall The War of the Arrows didn't convince me as the blockbuster it was in its own country. The dubbing didn't help for sure, but the greater damage was the workmanlike plot being combined with action which is never as balletic or thrilling as it needed to be to carry the long running time.

Gamma Scalpa An excellent period action movie. Grippingly directed with great cinematography. Kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. The acting was very good though I always feel I'm unable to truly judge this aspect for subtitled movies. Having said that I really connected with the lead despite most other characters appearing fairly shallow.I had the feeling that this movie has a far bigger budget feel for the amount of money that might have actually been spent on it. If that is so, the producers should receive great credit.All in all, if you're a fan of Asian action movies you will enjoy this. If you are unfamiliar with the genre, this will be a great movie to introduce yourself.