The Warrior

There is a nothing like a good epic film. Here is a fine entry to the genre from South Korea, a nation that doesn't normally make these sort of films. Film in China and staring the beautiful Zhang Ziyi it had potential.

Set in 1374 relations between Korea and the Ming Dynasty in China are at a low. The Koreans send a diplomatic mission to resort their relationship, led by General Choi-Jung (Joo Jin-mo). However when arriving in a city he team are captured and exiled from China. Left for dead in the desert their run into a Mongol army party which have captured Princess Bu-yong (Zhang Ziyi). The Korean party save her and hope to return her to Emperor, saving their mission. Within the party is Yeosol (Jung Woo-sung), a recently freed slave who was loyal to his master and excellent fighter with a spear. He and the Princess have an attraction to each other. After freeing the Princess, the Mongols are upset. There were hoping to use her as a bargaining chip against the Ming's China. They chase the Koreans and destroy countryside villages to get her back.

The story and plot are simply and believable within the context of the film; always good signs. Within the group many of characters and relationships are developed, especially Yeosol, the General, the Princess and Jinlip, the veteran of the group. Even the main bad guy has some nobility about him. The costumes and weaponry are excellently done. The warfare was brutal and shows woman and children getting killed, something that rarely happens in Hollywood films. The film is deliciously violence. My only real problem with the film, which lets it down is the action. It is good that the action is violence, but it is so overly edited and the shaky-cam make it difficult to follow. If the action was better then the would have been even better.

If you enjoy films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gladiator, Conan the Barbarian and Red Cliff, you will like this film.

I think it was nearly a year ago that I came across the website and first started anticipating the movie eagerly. The site contained lots of stills from the movie throughout, and every single one of them was utterly beautiful, like it had been painted to perfection rather than captured in motion. It seemed unreasonable to expect the whole movie to look that good, but I was pretty sure that it was going to be impressive. With so much anticipation and hope for a movie, it seems almost inevitable that you are going to be disappointed when you finally see it. All the more surprise then that MUSA meets and surpasses my expectations in every way!

First things first, yes... it really does look that good! All the way through . Like Zhang Yimou's SHANGHAI TRIAD, practically every frame is beautifully composed and rendered, and could easily hang on a gallery wall somewhere. There wasn't a single shot that I could imagine looking better than it did. The production design is incredible, the locations stunning, the special effects groundbreaking (the gore). I can't imagine how much time and money must have gone into its production, let alone talent and dedication.

MUSA is epic in the word's biggest sense - I couldn't help thinking of Homer's ILIAD and ODDYSEY in many parts, and those are basically the two stories that the word 'epic' was invented for. It makes Gladiator, Crouching Tiger etc look positively inconsequential. The movie is also made with an attention to detail that is remarkable. It is certainly the most convincing evocation of [relatively] ancient times that I have seen. You will really believe that you've been transported back to 400 something AD China, where Zhang Ziyi happens to be a princess and Yu Rong Guang a Mongol general. I really felt "Yes, this is what life was like back then. This is how things looked, this is how people behaved".

Despite the epic nature of the story, the central focus is always on a small-ish cast of characters, each of whom is very well conceived and developed throughout the movie's course. I'd guess there's about 15 major characters in the story, and a significant cast of minor characters. The performances are all superb - I'm pretty sure the actors themselves were quite convinced they really were their characters. The believability is enhanced by the costuming, makeup and I guess just good casting - all the different factions involved in the story totally look the part.

No epic would be complete without battle scenes, and MUSA has quite a few. These are all stunningly choreographed and filmed, not in a HK style like Bichunmoo, but in a completely real style. Beautifully shot of course, but the men fight like skilled soldiers really would (I'm sure), and get wounded/killed equally convincingly. The special effects of arrows and blades penetrating flesh are sometimes shockingly convincing. This might be disturbing to some, but it isn't played for titillation - it just adds to the gravity of the experience. It may be a little conspicuous that the heroes all manage to dispatch many times their own body weight in enemies, but you've got to give them *some* leeway for narrative convention .

There is a lot of planning involved in the battles, of a military nature, and this is also very convincing and fascinating. Almost as large a part of the process as the actual getting down to it with the weapons. A very believable insight into how battles were waged in the days when a bow & arrow was as hi-tech as weaponry got.

Hmmm... is there any aspect of the movie I haven't gushed praise over yet? A nod to the soundtrack I guess - good, very fitting. Sound effects in the battles are excellent. Ummm... and the lighting is really good too .

A cursory nod must be made to the films flaws as well though, lest I leave the reader with expectations of *total* perfection. The main flaw is that the movie wanders rather too far into melodrama & a little cliche towards the end. It would probably be kind of cheesy, except that it's all so well done you can't get too upset with it .

There are several kinds of War movies. Some most interested in the romance (I do not know why but there are a lot of them) using the war as a background and others only in the facts and history.

MUSA or THE PRINCESS WARRIOR is probably in between. Because this war and almost everything that happens here is related to an unfinished love story between three characters (if you think is stupid, remember Homer's ILIADA and the reason of the Trojan War).

About seven centuries ago, Chinese got divided and a diplomatic mission from the Koryo kingdom (protected by small group of soldiers), try to make peace with the Ming dynasty. The Ming's army refuses to accept the ambassadors and escort the whole group out of the country. In the dessert, Mongolian's forces attack and kill the Ming's soldiers releasing the Koryo people in the dessert.

An ambitious, very tough (and young) Koryo general, tries to lead his people back to his country, until they found a Mongolian group carrying a Ming's princess prisoner. Engaged by the woman's beauty, he decides to rescue her, justifying his actions as a political opportunity.

Meanwhile, an ex-slave (released by the noble Ambassador before dying in the dessert), itself a great but silent warrior, gets involved in the rescue and after showing his courage and ability in combat, is forced to protect the Princess, creating obvious jealousy on the young general.

Mongolian's of course, will not accept being defeated, so they run after the small group, to recover the princess.

What happens after (the movie is more than two and a half hours long but never boring) is somehow predictably; however this is a Korean movie, so do not expect the silly and forced happy ending. What make the movie worth (a 10 / 10) is the way things are told, the beauty of the images and the poetry surrounding the story.

This movie war movie, but is not glorifying war, but the honor of people fighting for their countries. This is a love story, but a real one, were words are unnecessary and everything that happens is inside every character, but just looking at their eyes, we know what exactly are their feelings.

Halfway through the film, we realize that the line between bad and good guys is not really clear. That the real enemy is sometimes on the same side.

There are a lot of small characters, and everyone gets enough screen time, to make us care about them; sometimes even more than the main characters.

A special mention deserves the numerous war scenes. Using a slow motion, first person shots, quick editing and almost every camera trick you could imagine, you will feel in the middle of the battlefield (and a very scary one ). The blood and violence are much more realistic, than BLACK HAWK DOWN or WHEN WE WERE SOLDIERS, and the impression created is more than those two plus any other recent war related.

In brief; as far as I know this movie did not get a cinema release, but you can find it in EBAY or in some special video stores. DO NOT MISS IT; is probably the best movie of the year.

Musa the Warrior, This Korean epic it's about an brave tale in era of the strongest ... All the elements of this film should be an great entrance's creativeness from the biggest & the greatest gate of the seventh art's , also that gate must be opens & specially for Korean-Cinema only! to given another arts a dose of dramatic realism through this film! actually , the historical exquisite cinematography characteristic has been found in Korea after this film "of course"!!

(( MUSA )) is a great film that combined the same appealing attributes of war and bravery in historical films.

10/10

HOT & GREAT congratulations of us to Korean-Cinema :-)

______(( must see and must own ))______

I'd never heard of this movie until my buddy Eric rented it; that Blockbuster carries it is I guess a good sign. Part Crouching Tiger, part Saving Private Ryan, with just a smidgen of Hidden Fortress and an echo of Xenophon, Musa is a highly enjoyable movie.

The movie begins in 1375 with a failed delegation from Korea to the Ming dynasty. Led by General Choi Jung (Jin-mo Ju), the delegation become prisoners of the Ming, being led off to exile, when the Mongols strike. Suddenly finding themselves free, the delegation decides to rescue the captive Ming princess (Ziyi Zhang, of Crouching Tiger fame) who travels with the Mongols. When they succeed, naturally, the Mongols want her back, and thus begins an arduous trek across the desert, culminating in a Road Warrior-esque fight at a battered old castle where the survivors hole up against their much more mobile but less-civilized attackers.

Musa has action in spades, some of it exceptionally grisly (every archery attack is cause for dozens of shots of gruesome impalings). The battles are tense and tautly filmed and feel more dangerous than most combats of this type. We eschew the beautiful martial arts style so prevalent in many Hong Kong films for a grittier and far more realistic, if a bit bloody, style here. But what Musa also possesses is atmosphere; the locations and the cinematography are top-notch, from the boundless deserts to the broken-down castle by the sea. Musa does an excellent job of selling the world it is set in.

The costumes help with this as well. Not since Brotherhood of the Wolf have I seen such elaborate and effective costuming (the armor and such here was even more intricate and character-intensive than Last Samurai, which is saying something). Each character has his own particular look, is easily told apart from the others, and costuming is ultimately an extension of character, which to me has always been the whole point. These are some of the best period costumes you'll see anywhere.

The acting is all pretty good, though it tends to come from the George Lucas school of `faster, more intense.' One facet I did like is that no one is perfect; the general is a bit of a jerk; his loyal retainer Ga-nam (Jeong-Hak Park), while a mighty warrior, lacks the ability to really think for himself; the princess is spoiled; the slave-turned-warrior Yeo-sol (Woo-sung Jung) is selfless but headstrong, and so on. Even the Mongols come across as human, if a bit savage (which, having done the research, I can attest is more or less pretty accurate).

Musa isn't for everyone due to the violence. But it's a very well done period piece with wonderful visuals that certainly captivates the viewer. It's as good or better than any of the historical epics Hollywood has released in the past few years (with the exception of The Last Samurai), and from a costuming and cinematography sense is very much worth your while to see. Just don't bother tracking this down if you're a little squeamish, that's all.