Sword in the Moon

I must say: out of all modern korean martial arts movies this one is worth checking out. It wasn't as epic as Musa-The Warriors and didn't develop the characters as well, but it had many nice ideas. Simple story: a elite soldier thought dead, returns after years to end the reign of the Japanese in Korea in medieval days. His counterpart was formerly the best friend he had and now he is out to stop him. The fight scenes are all with sword or different weapons and very entertaining to watch. The motives of the figures are discovered first near to the end. You might need to watch it again to get all the connections right. And me personally...I loved the end. I could watch it over and over again. Maybe a little pathetic, but a real freedom fighter story.... People can be killed, but not the ideas they stand for....

I saw the movie on its North American premiere (July 14, 2004) at the Fantasia Festival. I was slightly disappointed as I had been expecting a more epic, ensemble cast movie along the lines of Musa the Warrior. Instead, the movie concentrated only a much smaller number of characters. Still, the movie was solid, thoughtful and visually intriguing. There were slightly jarring tone shifts from the dominant thoughtful and realistic tone of confused loyalties, intrigue and blood, versus the lighter, more flamboyant, martial arts sequences. It almost seemed as though the filmmakers couldn't make up their minds about whether the movie was supposed to be a martial arts "flick" or a historical epic. The story touches nicely on the issue about the need for loyalty versus the need to adapt to new situations. Is it really worth your life and those of your friends to be loyal to one's master or does there come a time when one must submit to the winds of change? Is there perhaps greater courage in leaving the old ways for new ones? How does one decide? These questions are raised in this movie, and ironically, there is the suggestion that the answer given, may in fact be the wrong one!

Nice movie. At the begining, i thought it's a medieve detective kind hi-fi movie, but the ending totally surprised me. I guess, the whole movie covers too many subjects, each of them can be the main subject,e.g. avenge, friendship, and dream. But it mixed all of them without focusing on any of them. I think, it'd be a great movie if it's built around the ending from the very begining.

Korea, the late era of Joseon dynasty: Gyu-yeob (Jae-hyeon Jo) is a brutal but skilled warrior who starts tracing a mysterious assassin who has been murdering the King's ministers. Soon clues point to the assassin being Gyu-yeob's old military friend Ji-hwan (Min-su Choi) who he has fond but tragic memories of. What is the truth behind the revolutionary killer and his female assistant Shi-yeong (Bo-kyeong Kim)?

As can be expected from a historical epic, the sets, costumes and massive group scenes look authentic and the colours of the cinematography, such as the green forests and blue night scenes are a joy to the eye. Still, it's harder to sink into the world of the film than in, say, Yimou Zhang's masterpiece Hero, largely because of the restless camera-work that would be better suited in an urban modern-day action thriller than a historical warrior epic. The camera spins around the characters, constantly tracks them, shakes as if in the hands of an epileptic and even goes to very blurry slow motion for long periods of time, making the already hectic fight scenes confusing to follow. The calmer, more static shots in the peaceful scenes look very nice though; I wish this approach would have been used more prominently.

Technical direction issues aside, the film's writing isn't really among my favourites of the genre either. As Gyu-yeob is such a cold and aloof warrior, it is difficult to relate to him and his emotions about his long-forgotten friendship with Ji-hwan. Now the lengthy flashback scene detailing their time together interrupts the main plot for too long; perhaps a traditional chronological structure or showing smaller flashbacks more evenly would have worked better. The long-haired Ji-hwan is a stylish character though and easily carries the scenes where he is in. The female Shi-yeong receives less attention and her role doesn't come across a very significant one, despite her implied importance to Ji-hwan.

In summary, I think Sword in the Moon is a visually good-looking, but not very effectively directed epic in which the nature of friendship is a major theme. A calmer style of presenting the action scenes would have benefited the whole significantly and suited the extravagant, even pompous, music better. I guess the characters could also have been fleshed out better, but in spite of my complaints, the film is not terrible and fans of historical sword epics should find it easily watchable – give it a chance if this type of cinema is your thing.

Amazing scenes. Great colors. As a fan of Asian movies I accept this one as a promise for more great ones. I can't say this is masterpiece because I am not into the Korean cinema - i saw only two or three movies , but hey don't forget Kim Ki Dook movies - so they are more than 3 :-) Anyway - Im not sure that I understand the final. But I got the idea - the friendship has not a time for existence. This is something that may have or may have not. I give 5 of 10, because of the idea, the costumes, the atmosphere. Although there is too much blood - I say bloodbath. The beginning was promising - I thought that it would be a medieval crime movie - because of the mysterious murders , but the point of the movie was not that kind. It is too deep to consider. May be I'm kind a disappointed because of the end: just like the "Spirited Away" - manga movie... But that does not mean the movie is not great.