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Experience an inspirational and breathtaking journey back to Koreas fabled Joseon Dynasty with this stunning, action-packed adaptation of the life of legendary Empress Myseongseong: the inspirational leader who stirred the courage of her nation in the face of seemingly overwhelming foreign aggression. A young woman of noble birth embarks on a dangerous cross-country journey, where she encounters an infamous bounty-hunter. Honour-bound, he becomes her protector and against all the odds they fall in love. A few years later, to fulfill a sacred promise, she must enter the royal court and ascend to the throne as Empress, leaving her love behind. However, when aggressive Japanese forces gather against her nation, the bounty hunter will once again stand by her side as a devoted bodyguard. As the conflict escalates to all-out war, her irrepressible leadership will sustain her people and give them the hope of victory. Tragically, as her reputation spreads, she will become a target for assassination, but one mans courage will make all the difference...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
This film has a lot going for it - engaging characters, fantastic settings and costumes, lovely music, and dramatic fight scenes (admittedly a bit silly here and there). And the plot is not that bad, except for one thing; it feels like we're only getting half the story. The basic outline of an assassin who falls in love with the future Queen of Korea, and then tries to defend in the face of repeated murder attempts by various parties, does hold up well, and the two lovers thwarted by destiny are superb in their roles. But the reasons for the murder attempts, the background history, are skimmed over far too quickly. Given that a Korean audience are probably much more familiar with the actual history than I am as a Westerner, I can't really object to the decision not to go over what to them may well be tired ground. But it does make the story seem a bit patchy, to say the least. What costs it a fourth star from me is that the stories of the main characters are also skimmed over in too much haste (SPOILER ALERT): in the case of the girl all we get to know is that she is considered acceptable to marry the king, and her father is dead. In the case of the hero, we see him as a child witnessing the execution of his mother for being a Christian, and then a few snippets of dialogue to confirm that he is an assassin. Other characters, like the king and the chief of the palace guards, are left utterly blank. So they never become real, three-dimensional people with convincing motivations. And when the romantic tragedy of the assassin, the queen and the king is the major focus of the film, that lets it down too much to be a really great classic. And if what you are looking for is a top-class martial arts epic, this just isn't it. It is amazing to look at, though, and I shall be hanging on to it if nothing else as a piece of moving art. And the blu ray quality is excellent; there are some scenes where the image is very grainy, but that does appear to be deliberate and it does make the filmed scene look like a painted scroll.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
Just looked at the 2 reviews of this film, and am wondering if they were watching the same movie?? The film is quite simply breathtaking...with a great story (if slightly exaggerated), brilliant characters (very well acted), beautiful settings & costume design, amazing action scenes with gorgeous CGI and the music was superbly composed for the film! A must watch! Terrific :-)
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This movie was another great installment on an aspect of Korean history that I had wished to know more about, although factual history was laced with some fiction here. The title aptly applies to the man who fell in love with the woman that later became the queen. Since he could not have her in that way, he swore to protect her and he did in such a noble and chivalrous way. I liked the portrayal of the aspect of Korea history that involved the queen who was open to western influence and her father in law who opposed foreign influence with vehemence. Having watched a few historical Korean Dramas, I often wandered how the modern Korea came about and some aspects of that was well depicted in the movie. A good example of the inseparable triad between duty, loyalty and love. I recommend.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Once seen, quickly forgotten
The opening scenes of this dvd start promisingly enough with the blooming romance of the two main characters, helped greatly by an undeniable chemistry between the two. Read more
Published 11 months ago by DB
Beautifully shot movie with strong perspective on historic Korea
I expected an all out martial arts action movie, but was pleasantly surprised to see beautifully photographed scenery shots unfolding on our plasma tv. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Blu_ray_yes_way
Not sure what to make of this one
I like Asian cinema precisely because of the difference to western movies - the different perspectives, the unexpected endings, the seemingly offbeat humour, even the occasionally... Read more
Published 18 months ago by H. Wills
not as good as I hoped
This is a averaged film with a poor story line. Although worth watching, I found my self wondering. "what's the point". Poor CGI lets down the few action sequences. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Rj1
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