The Treacherous

Well pun aside (sorry for that or not), it is not always the case that it gets better with more. You have more to choose from sure, but you have to make sure to please everyone (on another pun, but I just had to, right?).

This may feel like it has a lot of - not sure how to put it ... let's say the Treacherous and 10000 concubines does sound like there is going to be a lot of nudity and more. While there is more than a fair amount of nudity and sexual situations (including thigh crushing action, which unfortunately never really gets paid off), this also has a lot of action too. Which includes blood and violence - of course there have been way more explicit movies in both regards. But combining those two things (with historical setting), may not be everyones cup of tea.

Korean movies have no issue to show more than just violence - and they do make really good movies. This may not be the best they've done, but if you do like the Eastern genre, you will like the movie too. I watched the longer cut (not sure what was cut from the theatrical cut), so not sure how this will compare to the shorter cut, if you watch that.

Note: Check me out as the "Asian Movie Enthusiast" on YouTube, where I review tons of Asian movies.

The Treacherous (2015) (South Korean Drama).

After being engulfed with insanity and revenge, a prince demands beautiful women (regardless of age, marriage status, or social class) to be rounded up for his personal pleasure – this caused widespread anger in the kingdom. One of the would-be sex slaves makes an impression, but his long-time friend also has eyes for her. This film has some serious balls, and will likely offend many viewers with its immoral male characters, its wild tonal shifts, and its depiction of women (who inexplicably become very willing to be sex slaves once they enter the palace). However, this is way more interesting than one might think. Although this is primarily a drama, it does have a few highly entertaining doses of humor. There's a lengthy, hilarious "training" sequence where the women are formally educated in the art of sexual pleasure. The prince is a psycho nutcase, which provides some entertainment value in itself. Of course, there are some disturbing moments of graphic violence mixed in, which creates those oddly captivating tonal shifts. Despite the plethora of sexual references, there are only a small handful of sex scenes shown (one of which is a fairly graphic girl-on-girl intercourse). Performances are solid; the story and characters have an engaging dynamic. This film is beautifully shot and has a great visual style about it, with outstanding production values and set designs. A particularly abrasive film from South Korea, but I couldn't stop watching.

I was expecting to look bad due to the budget, but the acting, special effects and quality was amazing, the gore/violence scenes were the best I've seen, the sexual stuff was very questionable and often times really hard to digest (subjective to everyone), but sometimes its pretty comical, pretty good movie overall.

I didn't know anything about this being a true story, as some reviewers have said here, before watching this. As a narrative story I found this a little all over the place. I was never sure who was who and whose side they were all on, although I think that may be lost in translation and more of a 'me' thing.

The acting of the king was simply ridiculous, crazed one minute and crying the next.

The sets, the cinematography and the costumes are wonderful and although the story may be difficult at times, the film is always a delight to look at.

References to this being the Korean Caligula on the right track. This is not a film for the feint of heart.

The overall feeling is on the third level. I'm not familiar with the history of the stick, I don't know what exaggeration is. The whole film reflects the political characteristics through red-picking and coup. As long as the wind turns fast, it will always be a winner. The rhythm and pictures are good, but the plot always feels very fast, and there are always some inexplicable background sounds in the source of the movie, which seriously affects the viewing.