Der Admiral - Roaring Currents

The Admiral Roaring Currents is a very good period battle picture in the same vein as John Woo's Red Cliff. Although this film is quite large in scope, it is a smaller scale epic than the massive masterpiece Red Cliff. Choi Min Sik of Oldboy and I Saw The Devil fame is an admiral who command the small in number naval fleet versus the massive invading Japanese fleet. The few stood against many is a common and effective theme in this sort of film. Forgive my ignorance, but my knowledge of Korean/Japanese history is limited. So I have no idea how historically accurate this movie is. I did enjoy it regardless and in my opinion, I thought this film is very good. The storytelling and acting is solid and the film looks real sharp as well. The battle/action scenes are in abundance and while there is CGI used in the film, it is used well and classier than most Hollywood productions. I did think this film needed more blood as this is a battle picture. However, this is a minor critique as this film is indeed roaring. It also is in my book a very engaging and well crafted movie.

Almost seems like the Korean version of 300 with an underdog nation going to battle with a power that's overwhelming, but thanks to their admiral, who shows no compromise, they journey ahead into one of the best naval battles I've seen on screen.

At times the story did get too sappy. For the most part, the filmmakers went for art over realism to make the emotional scenes very dramatic, but those battleship fights were worth the built up of the tactical aspects of war that began the film, which was mostly really great speeches from the admiral to rally the troops.

Not bad South Korea.

Recommend reading about Yi Sun Shin before watching this movie. It's relatively difficult to follow the first half of this movie if you don't know something about him. Do yourself a favor and wiki Yi sun shin. It will give a quick glimpse into the man and back drops of this conflict. All historical accounts indicate that one ship went against superior numbers and he won. There are a lot of dramatic interpretations, but you will experience general gist of how he exploited fear in his own men and Japanese navy which suffered heavy casualties by Yi over 6 years of war. One other note: Korean uses a flat bottom ship. Japanese uses more traditional design. Korean navy has zero turtle iron clad ship in this engagement. That should be enough to enjoy one of the best ancient naval battle captured by this movie.

For me this felt like a mix between "Lincoln" and "300". Mainly because it's not as in depth and really realistically done like "Lincoln" but it isn't as over the top as "300" either. Some audiences seem to have liked "War of Arrows" better. But I personally enjoyed this film a bit more. The first half of this movie is basically the build up before the grand battle. Where team Korea has the odds completely against them in battle. But despite the obstacles in their path, the men still go to battle in order to fight and protect their country. The story in my opinion is about perseverance and having the will power to go on even when you feel that the odds are against you...And I liked that. Although if they put more emphasis on the Admirals planning and strategy, it would have made the movie better. Mainly because Admiral Yi is known not only for his courage and willpower, but a amazing strategist. It isn't a superbly well made movie when it comes to the story, character development and direction. But it's a very watchable movie that still has a bit of a impact. So yeah, I recommend this film.

7.8/10

The South Korean film, The Admiral, was an enormous hit in its native land. It made over $100,000,000 dollars--which might not sound like much in a country as large as the US or China, but this means that about 17,000,000 Koreans went to see this film, or, nearly about 40% of the country! It is clearly the most successful film in the history of Korean films. Fortunately, this film is now available abroad, though I was a tad disappointed to see it dubbed into English. Mind you, it's a pretty good dubbing...but I hope that the DVDs will come with the option of playing it in Korean with subtitles.

The movie is about one of the greatest naval victories in history--a battle very rarely talked about in the West. In 1597, at the Battle of Myeongnyang, Admiral Yi Sun-Sin only had about a dozen ships-- against as many as 200 invading Japanese ships...and somehow he prevailed. In comparison, it's much like the victory of the English against the Spanish Armada just a few years previous or the modern Battle of Midway--an amazing and very lopsided victory. But how did Yi do it? How was he able to use his wits, the currents as well as a lot of luck to turn the tide in favor of his demoralized navy? See the film and find out for yourself.

If you find this film in a theater, by all means see it. After all, it is HUGE in scope and does best with as big a screen as you can find. This also means that if you see it on DVD, it's best to watch it on a big screen as well--and perhaps this means taking it to your friend's house if they have a 70" HDTV! It's because the best thing about this movie is its scope--and you just have to see it to believe it. Seeing over a hundred ships (many of which are actually computer-generated--though you won't be able to tell because it was done so seamlessly) is reason enough to see this war film! It also is crammed with everything you'd expect in a film like this--action, blood and lots of heroism. It's the sort of rousing film that I could see energizing the Korean movie-goers. This also is a bit of a strike against it overseas. I know that not everyone cares whether or not the outnumbered Koreans won this battle--and many folks would probably rather see the next Iron Man movie. But, for what it is, it's a heck of a good film and deserves to be seen...and it might just surprise you if you give it a chance.