Agreement:100% of 1 voters agree with Min's reviews Gender: Female Location: Pennsylvania
Bio: I feel very drawn to the Korean culture, which is how I found HK Flix. I especially enjoy Korean historical dramas, both movies and tv series. Being a professional psychic and medium, I like movies with a mystical element (but they have to have a good plot!). I like comedies, too (that includes the 3 Stooges). Korean traditional/ancient sword, stick and flag arts fascinate me.
Volume 2 of this series is somewhat disappointing; while Lee Seo-Jin is still good, he is also limited to looking worried or thoughtful, and flashing a beautiful smile occassionally. At this point, I wonder if it's the script or the director, who also directed "Dae Jang-geum" (A Jewel in the Palace), since so far the story is more about Song-Yeon (Han Ji-min) than the future king, Jeongjo.
I'm less than impressed with her performance, as it is unimaginative, and limited to pouting (as are all the actresses portraying the damos in the art dept in this story), looking confused, stuttering, and saying "huh?" or "what?". After a while, it's really irritating. Again, it could also just be the script and/or the director, especially since many actors and actresses from "Dae Jang-geum" have shown up in "Yi San".
The addition of odd background sound effects seems mismatched to this series; the costume, props and sets often outshine the performers. The scant handful of truly good performers are outnumbered by the campy, stereotyped ones. Strangely, there are scenes in volume 2 involving secondary characters that don't add to the story, and they seem to be more "contractual obligation" scenes than anything else.
This is an enjoyable movie with a familiar storyline; watch it a couple of times and you'll recognize it. A young man searching for himself is transported through time and dimension to a different world where he meets 3 friends. They travel together to a mystical castle while fending off a witch's attacks and face the powerful Jade Warlord. In the end, the young man goes home (a better person, of course), and finds some of the people from his adventures are living in his own world.
The movie is well done, though it appears that it was really made for the "big screen", and loses a lot of its marvelousness when viewed on a TV screen. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are great to watch together, not just in their fight scenes, but in the camaraderie of their acting scenes. Thank goodness these two gentlemen had the foresight to learn acting! In fact, they are better than some of the other actors in the movie. The special effects are great, as well as the makeup work on Jet Li and Jackie Chan, who play dual roles in the movie.
No, it's not a typical "martial arts" movie (some of which seem to have been written by and for seventh and eighth graders and subject their casts and viewers to the ordeal of their acting attempts), but it's a wonderful story for those of us who know that the Universe is filled with the unseen and the unknown.
By the way, the "extras" included on the US SE 2-Disc Set are worth watching at least once, especially the background on the filming locations and "how it was done". Also interesting is hearing the writer speak about how the story came to be written.
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People who gave this a bad review are not into true Chinese movies. This movie was awsome for those of us who love the Monkey King. Hey!! that was Cheng Pei Pei's daughter that played opposite of our hero. Reference, Golden Swallow
This movie is a riot! I'm sure that at the time it was made, it was considered quite an epic, big budget movie. By today's standards, the effects, costuming, and make-up could still be considered quality with a few exceptions.
The opening of the film is clever, as a band of entertainers start out telling the story; then we are transported to the place and time to follow the tale. Too much singing for me (another musical--ugh!), but great mysticism and clever humor as we follow the Immortals in their quest to eliminate the bad guy and make everything right in the human world again.
There are brief side stories along the way, just to make it interesting. For some reason, though, the big budget must have run out at the end (or appears to), because the vampire's hair style looks like a 1970s disco fright wig, with matching eyebrows and wild make up. There's also some sort of wild creature that is obviously some unfortunate actor on all fours wearing a shaggy arrangement of skins (most likely fake fur).
All in all, though, it's a pretty neat story, very entertaining.
The Sword [1971] (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure This is a great mystical martial arts sword story, very entertaining. I found it intriguing to watch the metamorphosis of the young man as he falls further and further under the spell of the sword in his possession. Eventually, he alienates himself from everyone, forsaking everything for the sword. In the end, though he gets what he thinks he wants, he learns the terrible lesson of having lost everything and everyone. Interestingly done, though I'm not so fond of it having been made a kind of musical. The sword fighting scenes are inconsistent, thus weakening the story's credibility. They actually used the "sword under the arm" trick during one scene, and even though the extra "died" in a fairly convincing way, it made the scene ludicrous. But I guess it got the point across. People who like this style of movie will probably love every minute of it.
I found "Yi San" a very entertaining series, at least after watching this first set of disks. I bought it primarily because Lee Seo-jin was so good in "Damo"; he is just as good in "Yi San" (though it does appear that he may be a little too mature to portray a 20 year old). Most of the characterizations are excellent, with great comic relief, though a few appear almost cartoonish, which detracts from the believability of the story. Knowing that lengthy series are sometimes edited for DVD distribution, I wonder if the DVD version edited out parts which may have added to character credibility.
The beginning of the story is well written and well-performed by the child actors, whom I found refreshingly non-obnoxious and very talented. The shocking death of Crown Prince Sado at the hands of his father, the king, is a strong contrast to the innocence of the young leading characters. It also makes me wonder exactly what kind of person the king was. Later, the story becomes a bit confusing with so many people involved in conspiracy, but remains interesting. The painfully restricted Confucian attitude that dominated Korea at that time shows in the horrified response to Song-Yeon (a "mere art damo") being able to draw and paint on her own. Yi-San, known for his original ideas and fairer rulership, sees nothing wrong with his friend's talent, making him even less popular with the palace crew and creating more ammunition for the conspirators.
I'm eager to see the next installment of the series.
Tell Me Something [6-Movie Set] (product link) Horror / Drama This is a great movie for those who enjoy police mysteries. A series of puzzling, gruesome murders all link back to one woman, leading the police on an intriguing chase. There are a few "ewww, gross" moments where I had to cover my eyes (some of these Korean films are little heavy-handed with the theatrical blood). Enya's haunting, beautiful song "Boadicea" gives a different perspective on the murderess during a flashback. The film is well-paced and the script is well written, all the way through to the creepy conclusion. It keeps the viewer guessing, "did she or didn't she--is she or isn't she?"
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