The Age of Shadows was directed by Kim Jee Soon who is well know for being a director that has done a wide range of genre of films. Actors Song Kang ho and Gong Yoo star in the film with a special appearance by popular actor Lee Byung Hun. The film was chosen as South Korea's selection in the 89th Academy Awards but wasn't nominated in the category for best foreign film. The film's release in South Korea was met with great success. It topped the film box office for three weeks straight.
A Korean gang of rebellions try to survive in the time that Japan invaded South Korea. Lines have already been drawn between Japan and Korea but these brave souls try to create a resistance.
Nothing about The Age of Shadows interested me in terms of storyline at first. I watched the first teaser trailer when the film was being released in Korea and it looked like all the other films that deal with Japan combined with Korea's history. Assignation was the last straw in a line of other "western" themed Korean films for me. I just wasn't excited for this film at all. Then I watched the film and the plot plays out well but not anything that Korean film watchers haven't seen before. The group of people in the resistance against Japan are smart yet emotionally geared toward saving face as Koreans.On the other hand, the plot focuses mainly on the Koreans who joined the Japanese side to stay alive. Saving face is the last thing these people are thinking about. They just want to live to see another day. Even though some of them are helping their fellow Koreans in secret. Watching the characters weave around the Japanese rule without being caught was an interesting experience. Conflict sets in when the Japanese gets wind of the happenings behind the scenes. Of course, its in human nature to not go down without a fight. The gun fights or action scenes were right up there on the same level of Assignation but more visually graphic. The film can be visually graphic in a violent nature that isn't recommend to be seen by people who can't handle gore. What was with this film and human toes? Little spoiler there… Don't worry though. This doesn't give away much. Back to the plot, The Age of Shadow's kind storytelling begs to stay true to reality. You don't get a process of storytelling that goes easy on viewers. Instead everything is a harsh cruel reality that won't insult Korean viewers. They know of the history that the people during that time went through. Harsh might be an under statement in fact. The story is still unoriginal to me but I could make it through the film because it was created to be an exciting watching experience.
The shots were done on location of a set. I've watched so many historical Korean films that I could tell right away that it was a man built set. Obvious effort was put into making the sets look real. From the dirt roads tot he traditional foundation the houses were built on. Other than that, the film takes a drastic shift in location. More than a few scenes are spent on the train that was more beautiful than the set. The inside of the train was most likely a set too. You guys know how films make fake locations look real. The forest scenes looked like the same forest that been in every other Korean film. Same for the mansion and jail scenes. Been there, done that. Good job to the camera man for making the gun fights look as stylish as possible.
The acting for everyone consisted of dead give away roles. These roles didn't challenge any of the leading cast and I'm sure the director picked each actor based on the projects they worked on before. I only watched this film for the cast. Gong Yoo and Kang Ho was popular enough to pull in a decent audience just based on popularity. Both actors bring a ernest substance to their characters to display characters that would never give up pride in their country or race. I noticed that the film chooses to highlight the violence more than the performances however. Acting ability is needed to make shooting another person believable too.. All the costars did well holding their end of the performances with the veteran actors.(Gong Yoo isn't quite a veteran yet but he will be in the years to come.) Never felt so much conviction from actors playing the villains. They got into those roles by wearing them like a second skin. I only expect the best from actors that work with Kim Jee Soon and Song Kang Ho.
The Age of Shadows is a film geared toward people who like action. Gun fight to more specific. I liked the film but didn't love it. If you haven't seen a lot of Korean films then you might like the film more than I did.
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