Movie Review: War of the Arrows

Released August 11, 2011. Not Rated. 122 minutes. Directed by Kim Han-min.

I heard some good things about War of the Arrows. There was good praise online and it had won some prestigious awards in South Korea. Unfortunately I did not feel the same way the trailer tried to make me feel. The trailer shows a very intense action drama which I disagreed for the most part. I didn't think it was intense and I was very discouraged by the drama in this film.
War of the Arrows takes place during the second Manchurian invasion of Korea, a bloodier chapter of history. The movie focuses more on the horrors of capturing Koreans near the Manchurian border and how Nam-yi, the protagonist, tries to save his captive sister, Ja-in. The movie opens with the death of Nam-yi's father when Nam-yi was still a child. His father was executed because he was called a traitor. It is unclear why until the middle of the film when the translator shouts to the Korean captives in the Korean language "If you cross this river [that leads into Manchuria], you will be deemed a traitor." Put in the historical context, the Joseon king was at the time weak and unable to protect his own people as stated by Nam-yi. At the same time, the Manchus have begun establishing the Qing dynasty in China and overthrown Han Chinese government. It is very evident in the film that the Koreans harbored a huge resentment towards Qing forces which was true because Korea had originally established a more friendlier relationship with Ming China and viewed the Qing Manchus as barbaric and unrefined. With royalty as hostage, Korea in the Joseon dynasty became a tributary state to Qing China.

My biggest peeve about the film is that there was a lot of unnecessary drama that lengthened the movie to two hours. The story could have been finished in an hour and a half. It tried really hard to incorporate some light humor like when Nam-yi goes on a hunting trip with two other men. The dialogue was neither funny nor interesting. Even the brawl they had became very boring quickly. With the character of Ja-in, they wanted to portray a head strong woman, but I think they did it poorly with her character. Ja-in had so many opportunities to take Dorgun's head, but failed each time. Then historically, Dorgon did not die so easily. Still, Ja-in should have been able to take down a guard or two because she's not just some weak little girl. Many of the characters were very superficial. Nam-yi is driven by his brotherly duty and nothing more to save his family and goes on a Qing hunting party with his bow and arrow. The drama between the characters was poor in my opinion because they go on and on about family. It took too long for the plot to progress that I had to skip through a lot of scenes. Thank goodness I didn't watch it in a theater.

Most of the movie was described in that trailer. Shooting arrows back and forth. Granted I liked the shooting arrows and there was some interesting things about that, but that was all it could offer. A hell lot of scenes with Nam-yi running and shooting down arrows. Viewers praised the parts when Qing soldiers were shot down. I mean, it was really good choreography taking advantage of rocky landscapes to create blind spots. There were some good moments that created climatic entrances like the scene when Nam-yi sees an army of Manchus appear with the imperial flag. The horses just gallop into the land and into Ja-in's wedding roping prisoners by the neck. Even in the very beginning of the movie when Nam-yi and Ja-in are children escaping the guards. It was sad to see the children watching their father being executed before their eyes and that was the only time I felt sympathy. In the end of the film, I could not feel sympathy for the characters. It was somewhat of a cliched ending and a bit ambiguous.

If I had to list some cliches, there are a few. The English movie tagline is too cliched. "A hero is born. A legend begins." Don't they say that about every hero? Nam-yi's one line really bothered me. "My bow is not used to kill." It sounds too confident right there when you have already shot down a bunch of Manchus. And they look pretty dead too. Ja-in calling her brother a coward, but then crying uncontrollably over a wounded Nam-yi. Isn't it like that with all the upsetting family scenes? I honestly think War of the Arrows is not worth the time to watch and that there's better Korean cinema out there. They called the movie the Korean House of Flying Daggers. You know what? I didn't like that movie too because it wasn't my cup of tea.