The Great Battle who's directly translated from the Korean title means "Fortress", is a film that was released last year to over a million pre orders sales. The film went on the do well in the Korean box-office, taking the top spot for four weeks straight. It was one of the first films in 2018 to see over five million tickets sold in South Korea. Kim Kwang Sik directed the film while Kim Yoo Jin and Park Eun Kyo wrote the script. Zo In Sung, Nam Joo Hyuk, Park Sung Woong, Sung Dong II, and Um Tae Goo star in the film.
A small Korean army must protect their town surrounded by a fortress from a Chinese army consisting of thousands of soldiers. Korea keeps losing to the large threat so an assassin is sent to murder the leader of the fortress for not taking part in the war….. The retelling of history has never been so bittersweet.
Many viewers who have seen The Great Fortress like the film from what I have seen You can go online and see people raving about how well planned out the script is. Some Korean audiences complained about the false telling of the main character who protected the Korean fortress town. I would expect the film to not follow history. It was probably a very boring reality once you take out the battles. The Great Battle is like every other war film. Especially if you use past Korean films as your reference. What we are shown is very familiar but the battles are fun to watch. The battles feel compelled with the story's strong meaning. Building connections between people then having to protect the ones you formed emotional relationships with is motivation for the will to fight. Each battle brings it's own cinema style of slow motion action and close combat sword fights. Nothing can top the emotion that The Great Battle has in it's characters. I will never forget the scenes where the Korean army is fighting to hold back the Chinese forces. Behind them you can see the innocent people of the town watching the small army that they entrusted their lives to. The plot outside of all of this is like a boulder rolling down a hill. Fast paced from one point of conflict to the next. You will want to sit through this film just for the fancy names given to some of the moves as well as the balance between witty humor and action.
I don't have much to say about the acting. Everyone was good. Just not good enough to be winning major awards in my opinion. These performances have been done before by most of the actors. Well, except for the Chinese people interpretation… Park Sung Woo made his roles has a Chinese general believable thanks to his ability to speak Chinese. Half of the cast had to speak Chinese which was cool to hear. I actually felt an attraction between Zo In Sung and Nam Joo Hyuk's characters. Maybe it was just me…. [INSERT ME LAUGHING.] Another film titled Frozen Flower keeps coming to mind(A film Zo In Sung stared in.).
The battlefield and towns look like a set from Lord of the Rings meets 300. I almost forgot that this is based on real history in Korea until the information caption at the beginning and end of the film. Some of the sets in the film are the most realistic ones I've seen in a long time.
The Great Battle is a normal war film that features a good storyline. The characters are good enough because they were build on the foundation of a strong story. I highly recommend this to war fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment