War Of The Arrows

War of the Arrows (Choi-Jong-Byeong-Gi Hwal) (2011) 

Runtime: 122 minutes

Directed by: Han-min Kim

Starring: Hae-il Park, Ryu Seung-Ryong, Mu-Yeol Kim, Chae-won Moon, Han-wi Lee

From: Several different companies, including Dasepo Club

In short, this is a movie I've known about for awhile and I've heard praise for it from various sources, yet it wasn't until tonight that I finally got to watch this Korean film via Netflix Instant. To steal the plot description from someone on Letterboxd:

“13 years after the King Injo Revolt, the Chosun Dynasty is attacked by the Chung Dynasty of China. A young man named Na-mi leaves his demolished village to find his young sister, Ja-in, and her finance Su-koon, who were to wed on the very day of the attack. While on his mission to rescue her, he is being traced by Jushinta, a fierce Chung Warrior, and his band of malicious men who are out to stop him. Na-mi has but a day to rescue his sister before she is taken away to be a slave.”

To elaborate, the opening of the movie is the aforementioned Revolt; brother and sister are escaping a village, where their father is killed for being a traitor. That fact weights heavily on Na-mi, as you might expect. They go elsewhere and that's where they grow up and you go to present day.

I agree with the praise I've heard; this is a quality film. At first the protagonist seems like a real loser and not a cool guy despite his great archery skills. This is due to the guilt he's always had over his background. But, once the Mongols attack and they do some awful things, Na-mi rises to action and he becomes an honorable dude and someone you're happy to cheer for. Really, you're happy when all the people connected to the village at least try to fight back against the antagonists and you see quite a few bitchin' and awesome things done by not just Na-mi but also from Ja-in, Su-koon and some others; heck, even the villains have some badass dudes and they do some impressive things. That makes their battles real interesting. A lot of it is bow & arrow action from multiple people, but there's also sword action. You often see blood spraying out, which was good times to me.

Besides the quality action scenes (which are done well and as they're all interesting and not what you see everyday, they are always intriguing to watch) that are filmed well, the story doesn't always go where you think it will (cliches are not always on the menu) and the score isn't what I usually hear but it fit and it was nice.

Overall, I definitely did enjoy the movie and I am glad I finally saw it. I will return Wednesday afternoon; it may be real late in the afternoon but I'll try for that not to happen.