Bichunmoo (2000)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Young-jun Kim

Writer:

Young-jun Kim (writer)

Release Date:

1 July 2000 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

Ai mo, fukushû mo, kono tsurugi ni yadoru [Japan]

Plot:

A sweeping, epic tale of a martial arts warrior who attempts to defy a kingdom to be with his love.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Martial Arts | One Word Title | Based On Comic

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Hyeon-jun Shin	...	Yu Jinha
Hee-seon Kim	...	Sullie
Jin-yeong Jeong	...	Namgung Junkwang
Dong-jik Jang	...	Lai
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yu-jeong Choi	...	Lady Yeojin (as Jin-hie Choi)
Ju-bong Gi	...	Kwakjung
Bang Hyep	...	Namgung Sung
Hak-cheol Kim	...	General Taruga
Ju-yeon Kim
Su-ro Kim	...	Ashin
Han-garl Lee	...	Changryeon
Hyeon-kyeong Ryu
Tae-hwa Seo	...	Saijune

Also Known As:

Flying Warriors (literal English title)
Out Live (International: English title)

Runtime:

Hong Kong:118 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | Australia:MA | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:R16 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13

Company:

Taewon Entertainment

Fun fight sequences and enjoyable style marred by a overbaked story

I hate to say it, but I actually enjoyed pieces of this film. I think there are some redeeming points to it, like some fun action sequences and spades of coolness. However, the story is a huge mess.

Essentially, this film is a Corean take on the martial arts fantasy genre. Set in China during the period of decline of the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty, the story deals with a swordsman, who learns of a secret legacy and possesses a much desired and incredibly powerful combat technique. Throw in a star-crossed love, conflict between the Yuan and Chinese forces opposed to their rule, a 20 year timespan, a love quadrilateral, lots of combat and a kitchen sink and you have a story that has way too much going on in its less-than-two-hour runtime.

On the plus side, there is a lot of action to enjoy and it's surprisingly engaging. Special effects (on the computer graphics side, not on the actual physical effects) are a little disappointing. On the physical effects side, the wire-work is pretty fun to watch, but some of the effects, especially how people are killed, are a little to cartoon-like for my taste (albeit, this is still in keeping with genre rules, so it's a personal issue with the genre). Furthermore, the visuals reek of coolness and the costuming and design is pretty fun overall.

The downside is that the story, adapted from a comic book, tries to cover far too much ground and moves at a pace so quick that it cuts out a lot of detail, necessary for the cultivation of characters and story, to pack in as much of the comic as possible, and only in two hours. Unfortunately, the plot line itself is very reminiscent of a soap opera, with lots of false death irony and cookie-cutter tragedy that while you might be shocked at first, you get so used to ridiculous plot reveals that you start to find it either tedious or comic rather than meaningful. And it's all rather overly melodramatic. Granted, this might have come from its comic book origins, although I've read that the story doesn't stay faithful to its source, but in the end, it strongly weakens the movie, which, if simplified more and focused more on a single part of its larger history, would've been more interesting.

So, in the end, it's a sort of enjoyable martial arts fantasy, with lots of the martial arts and fantasy that draw people to the genre, splashed with cool and attitude. Unfortunately, with such a messy, plot-hole ridden, melodramatic, overly complex and bordering on camp story, you lose a lot of the effect. I can't recommend it, but if you like this kind of stuff, you might find this enjoyable too. After all, if Hollywood can make epic films about stories in other countries (sometimes well and oftentimes not-so-well), Corea can too. 6/10.