The Epic War of the Arrows

Cast

Park Hae Il– Choi Nam Yi
Ryu Seung Ryong– Jyushinta
Moon Chae Won– Choi Ja In
Kim Mu Yeol– Kim Seo Gun

Official trailer
Official site- Festive Films
Official Singapore FB Page

The theme song, Moon’s Shadow sang by Kim Mu Yeol

Gist

Nam Yi and Ja In witnessed the massacre of their family when they were young. Wrongly branded as traitors by factions supporting King Injo, the siblings escaped to the countryside to Kim Moo Shin, a good friend of their father’s and also a military official. Nam Yi grew up to be just as good an archer as his father. But he has also turned into a cynical, unambitious man- spending his days hunting, drinking and living by the day. He opposed Ja In and Seo Gun (Moo Shin’s son) marriage as he felt that Ja In would never be happy as long as they are still viewed as traitors.

On the day of the wedding, he left for the mountains to hunt. In the midst of the happy celebrations, the Manchurians of Qing China invaded Korea. Whole villages were hunted down and many taken as slaves. Nam Yi rushed back to the village only to find almost everyone killed and both his sister and her husband, Seo Gun taken away.

Nam Yi sets out to rescue his only sister and in the process takes on the Qing army. Jyushinta, the leader of the invading Qing army who is also an excellent archer is determind to hunt down this mysterious Korean archer.

Will Nam Yi rescue his sister in time and return home safely?

Overview:
I didn’t expect to like it because it’s a historical war movie with not many eye candy. Park Il Hae is rather manly but you can’t really see his face with all those facial hair.

But surprise, surprise! I totally enjoyed myself during the entire 122 minutes even though there was much slaughter, blood and gory. ‘War of the Arrows’ was the top grossing movie in Korea for 2011. But Koreans love historial movies and in particular historical war movies so it didn’t really surprise me.

That the movie was successful was due to the fast pace storyline, the cleaver editing and the great acting by the cast in particular Park Hae Il and Ryu Seong Ryong. Although Moon Chae Won did not have many lines (she was a captured slave in most part of the movie), she was able to shine in those scenes. Moon Chae Won seems to be the title holder now for sageuk after the success of this movie and the drama, ‘The Princess Man’. And I must say she carries off the ‘period’ look well. She looks demure and elegant but is definitely no frail, damsel-in-distress. She can hold her bow and arrows as well as any man, thank you very much. But the scene that impressed me most was the face off between her and the Manchurian prince. She was determind to protect her chastity to the very end. I expected her to threaten to commit suicide (which seems to be the nautural recourse of many women in period dramas/ movies), but no….she fought tooth (literally) and sword!

Seo Gun, Ja In’s husband seemed like a pretty boy with no guts at first. But he proved himself in moments that mattered (when he had to ‘fight’ Nam Yi upon the latter’s challenge to a fight before he would give his consent to the marriage) and the revolt against the Manchurian captors. As well as his love for Ja In. Btw, Kim Mu Yeol also sang he theme song for the movie.

But I guess the real show was really between Nam Yi and Jyushinta as they hunted and fought against each other. Whilst the latter is shown as being cruel to the Koreans, he is portrayed as a loyal leader and friend to his men as seen from the crucial cliff-hanging scene. Neither is he arrogant (like the prince). If this story was told from the Manchurians’ point of view, he would be the good guy.

I haven’t seen many of Park Hae Il’s movie but I remembered him most vividly in the movie, ‘My Mother, the Mermaid’ with Jeon Do Yeon, where he was rather dashing in a shy way. ^^ But his acting is as good as I remember him to be in the 2004 movie.

What made this movie exciting and gripping was the fast pace hunt and …. the choice of weapon- the arrow and bow. The urgency of the chase was made even more nail biting as you sat at the edge of the seat wondering when and where the arrows would be coming from. Would Nam Yi be killed or would Jyushinta and his men be shot down..one by one.

The movie is not without the usual cliques and err… incredible moments… like the tiger attack or the bad guy who just wouldn’t die.

Still that final showdown scene, shot in panaromic style was beautifully and breathstakingly done. There was almost a poetic elegance when Nam Yi shot the final arrow.

Seeing men on horseback galloping across the open field never cease to set my heart a flutter…even if they are from the enemy camp. There is such an air of manliness and sexuality about it.