![]() While the script is generally well written and intelligent, it’s convoluted in places, taking a long time to explain itself and often falling back on clumsy exposition and an over-use of flashbacks. The narrative is complex and multi-layered, with hidden motivations, confused identities and all manner of scheming from the start, and the film does take a fair bit of patience and concentration. After Deok Gi uncovers her identity in a sword fighting competition, Seol Hee learns the truth about the death of her parents and sets out on a bloody path of revenge.Īlthough at its heart Memories of the Sword is essentially a fairly straightforward tale of vengeance, Park Heung Shik certainly packs in a great deal of plot, and there’s really a lot going on. ![]() A couple of decades later, Deok Gi is the head general of the army, haunted by the memories of the past though still keen to advance his position, while the now-blind Seol Rang has changed her name to Wallso, raising the child Seol Hee (Kim Go-eun) in secret and teaching her to fight. Things didn’t work out as planned, with Deok Gi having turned snake against his comrades in arms, leading to the death of Poong Cheon and forcing Seol Rang to flee with his young child and precious sword. The film is set during the Goryeo era, when freedom fighters Deok Gi (Lee Byung-hun), Seol Rang (Jeon Do-yeon) and Poong Cheon (Bae Soo-bin) led a desperate uprising against the hated king. While its premise is certainly nothing new and the genre playing field is already more than overcrowded, the film does at least boast a top notch cast, headlined by Lee Byung-hun ( Inside Men), Jeon Do-yeon ( The Shameless) and upcoming talent Kim Go-eun ( Coin Locker Girl), with a large and impressive supporting cast that includes Lee Jun-ho of 2PM, Bae Soo-bin ( 26 Years), Lee Kyung-young ( Assassination), Kim Tae-woo ( The Pirates) and Moon Sung-keun ( Haemoo). Vengeance and betrayal are very much the order of the day in Korean period drama Memories of the Sword, co-written and directed by Park Heung Shik ( My Mother, the Mermaid). The same preparation would be advisable for the final duel between Hong-yi and Deok-gi, when the film’s fixation on slow-mo gets so obsessive that probably half of the fight consists of shots of the heroine and villain literally frozen in place.Revenge and betrayal in a Korean historical drama with an all-star cast… Still at least you can make out the action in this portion of the film, but you’d do well to prepare to endure the camera literally zooming in and out every five seconds in the third set, which is how events play out when Hong-yi storms Deok-gi’s fortress at the climax. In one moment, the combatants look too guided, in another they’ll bound along like they’re jumping on a trampoline and in another, they’ll just morph into CGI cartoons. The second set mostly takes place in the latter third, beginning with a training sequence where Hong-yi spars with a sword master while both of them use the power of wire-fu to run up bamboo trees – shucks, if only I could remember where we’ve seen THAT before! Comparisons to “ Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” aside, this is some of the goofiest and most uneven wire-fu that’s been done in a while. Somehow, someway, the fact that an action sequence is completely worthless if the viewer can’t coherently see what’s happening on screen continues to not be a universally accepted fact among action filmmakers. The first comes in Hong-yi’s initial few skirmishes in the first third, each one completely undone by terrible editing and excessive shaky cam. ![]() The sword fighting sequences in the film fall into three separate categories of how not to do it. Not that the film gets any more exhilarating whenever something’s actually happening onscreen. ![]() Hong yi puts her foot down Hong yis training goes airborne A novel approach to sword sparring A rare moment of remorse from Deok gi Deok gi casually dodges an assault
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