Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: A skilled fighter must protect a lost prince from an army of assassins that seek to stop him from becoming king.
Review: As others have described, and I must agree, this is essentially a Korean version of a wuxia film. If you don't know what that means, it's basically a kind of sub-genre of Chinese action films (think "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") but has a much broader meaning that you can explore on your own if interested. Personally, I'm not much of a fan of these kind of films for numerous reasons, but that's not to say that trying to be a wuxia film is an inherently bad thing. You simply need to be aware that you may go in expecting a more traditional action film and instead get that unrealistic, stylized form of fighting presented in wuxia films. However, with that said, this film did suffer from some kind of confusion as to what it wanted to be. There was an attempt to bring about a deep and thought provoking story, but, unfortunately, even with a nearly two hour running time, it failed to do anything more than show a typical good vs. evil plot with little to no reason for why the events were unfolding. So, once again, we are dealing with a mixed bag of good ideas dragged down by terrible execution.
Let's start with the good ideas first since that will help contrast the problems more precisely. What I noticed immediately is that the film looks beautiful; there are many great shots, high level production value, interesting costumes, elaborate sets, and an overall strong cinematography. All of the surface level elements are impressive and rival any big budget film out there. The fights and the choreography are pretty good although they are a bit too scattered; there was definitely a noticeable attempt to create distinct styles for each major character so you could see the differences to how each one approached battle. As for the characters themselves, well, the actors do their best to work with the material they're given. I can't fault the actors since most do a decent job of trying to stretch as much depth out of the one dimensional characters they're provided. The only character that gets any real backstory is the lead, Soha, played by the lovely So-yi Yoon, but even she can be summed up as you're typical stoic superhero; she has no flaws, she can't be beaten, she gives everything for the cause, and will lay down her life to save the prince. But where she shines is in why she became the way she is as we learn her parents were slain by the villains and that she was saved by the prince when he was a young warrior. Basically, it's his teachings that led her to be the way she is and that's why she's so dedicated to this mission. As for the prince, nicknamed Sosam, he starts off so fucking annoying constantly trying to get Soha killed, but gradually he returns to his hero roots with Soha's help. Thankfully, the romance is so subtle you could argue there wasn't even one, because, damn it, Soha deserves a better dude! The villains don't make a lot of sense except that they're trying to overthrow the kingdom and implement various mercenaries to do their bidding; the primary group of villains are known as the Killer-Blade Army. The leader of this army, Gun Hwa-pyung, is lame as hell since it's just the main dude from "Face!" But what I really liked was his main henchwoman, Mae, played by the beautiful Gi-yong Lee. So yet again, the main highlight of a film is the babes involved! Should have saw that fact coming a mile away. Finally, there was a great idea regarding the swords themselves and, in essence, the point of the title, but it is not explored properly when it could/should have been the central theme of the story. Basically, many cultures believed the sword was an extension of the warrior and that the sword could become good or evil depending on how it was used to the point that it could even have a mind of its own. This film attempts to address how Gun Hwa-pyung's sword has been empowered by vengeance and that Soha's has only been used in defense, but this all amounts to nothing; it doesn't really contribute to the story except to further show one is good and one is evil which was a huge wasted opportunity for something cool.
So I've already given you a taste of the problems while attempting to explain the good side of the film; this should already give you an indication of why I feel this was a mixed bag. The problems are pretty much all story related; I mean, seriously, this film is bordering two hours long and we can't even get some basic information on the few main characters?! Even though we kind of have a feel for Soha, we don't know how all the villains know her except by reputation. But nope, not even this works since Mae has some kind of personal vendetta against her for no reasons ever explained. Soha said she trained with many people, so, at best, we can assume one of them was Gun Hwa-pyung and that Mae was jealous...I guess? Plus, why is Soha so skilled? I guess we are to assume because she's so pure of heart and takes no satisfaction in killing. Mae could have been an excellent foil to Soha since they're both skilled female warriors, and there was the emphasis that they were rivals, but we know nothing about Mae except that she is mindlessly loyal to Gun Hwa-pyung; perhaps, because she loves him but who knows. Speaking of which, that little bitch kills Mae just to have a better shot at killing Soha! As for Gun Hwa-pyung, how did he learn to fight, how did he survive almost dying, why is he so obsessed with revenge even on people that had nothing to do with his dad's death? For a main villain, we know next to nothing about him, and I learned more about him from other reviews than from the actual film! As I said, Sosam is annoying as all fuck for almost an hour before he finally stops being such a douchebag. Just because he was some war hero as a teen doesn't give the character depth. What would have given him some real development is if we actually knew the reason why he went from that hero to the douchebag we see today. Oh, but all we get is, he was exiled and has to take care of himself. Aww boo fucking hoo! So that translates into trying to get the only person who gives a damn about you killed?! Bitch, I'll take Soha off your hands if you're that eager to get her killed! And I sure as hell wouldn't have betrayed Mae...what's with all these assholes?! If all this weren't bad enough, the movie idiotically kills off Soha after the final fight...ugh!
I was really expecting more from this film since the plot sounded so interesting. But the movie is too long and too boring since all the characters are doing is walking home and dealing with people trying to kill them along the way. Yeah, imagine that was the plot summary: sexy warrior spends two hour movie escorting big baby home so he can save the kingdom somehow even though all his predecessors were assassinated! I have already gone to great lengths to describe the story and character problems, but there is also the fact that the majority of the background characters look like "Pirates of the Caribbean" rejects; what's up with that? Beyond the characters, however, I must reiterate I was annoyed the whole shadowless sword angle was not explored properly since it would have been a better basis for the film. Lastly, the final shot felt like a scene right out of "Braveheart!" On the other hand, the film looks beautiful and was shot well, the fights are pretty good even if it all feels so unbelievable in that wuxia way, the two main girls are beautiful to see in action, the actors do turn in decent performances, and there were some good ideas even if lost at some point. I'd still recommend this film despite the flaws, but it helps to understand what kind of movie you're really getting into so that you won't end up as disappointed as I was.
Notable Moment: The best fight is when Soha and Mae face off in the center of some town. The two feel balanced and there's a lot of passion in this fight. Too bad we never learned why Mae hates Soha so much!
Final Rating: 6/10
Ms. Yoon as Soha.
Ms. Lee as Mae.
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