Even had the afflicted female element added in. Glaring, stoic, taciturn Korean hero, broad brush evil il-Boon Sarum, happy go lucky peasants, trod upon peasants, boardroom table posturing, sword play, androgynous ninja. All the standard elements in Korean TV mini series. High speed row boats and cheesy FX. The Admiral Yi series from a few years ago went into the man in more detail.
shareI agree that the film was riddled with cliches and some cheesy elements (notably the telepathy bit), but I thought it was pretty enjoyable anyway. Loved the ships and most of the naval battle itself.
shareI went in with absolutely no foreknowledge of the historical event it's based on and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The first hour was a bit slow as they setup the various characters, their motivations, and how the war had been proceeding. However, the second hour was near non stop action until the closing scene. A bit overacted in some parts, yeah, but still a good movie.
shareThat wasn't telepathy. The wife was deaf and could read lips.
Of course, reading lips at that distance isn't plausible, but just wanted to clear up the telepathy misunderstanding.
WHAT A DUMBA## REVIEW
shareIt's a typical hipster review. "Androgynous ninja snipers are so last year. Everything is a cliché of a trope wrapped in a stereotype. There's nothing new under the sun, I might as well leave this planet now". Jadedness as a lifestyle.
shareI have no idea what tastentier means as a term or expression, but I totally agree about the hipster evaluation thingy. Is tastentier a secret counter dis-encounter-hipsteresque word? And just when I thought there was nothing new under the sun, you made me want to stay. Bravo! All I see is roses now. No thorns, whatsoever. So, after digesting all the psuedo intellectual meanderings, I watched the movie. It was really entertaining. Well made, acted and written. Mostly. I'm submitting a dissertation to Harvard tomorrow on this movie's theme and lack of definable female, half naked tropes. It's disturbing. 😎
shareThe high speed had me bursting out laughing. Then to top it off they start screaming to row harder to go faster, from then on I couldn't really take this serious anymore and yes it got worse with high precision 16th century sniper rifles, high precision canons, everyone has hawk eye vision that can see for miles, strange sort of telepathy between characters. Once the naval battle begins it's best to dumb yourself down a bit otherwise you'll get frustrated.
Oh nooo, man...crap, I just pre-ordered this...Oh well, If I end up not liking it much I'll sell it on ebay. Thanks
share[deleted]
Agreed. Of course it's over the top. It's a movie not real life. If we had a realistic naval battle portrayed in this film, we'd get bored long before it finished as it would take quite a few hours with a naval battle of this scale. Why can't people think of movies as entertainment? If they want realism they should go and watch a freakin' documentary!
The only gripe Inhave is the uneven pacing. It is like watching one film for a hour and then watching else for the next. Definitely a film of contrasting halves. However, I say ignore the naysayers and let yourself be entertained for a couple of hours.
- I had to watch it twice to understand it fully.
- Backstory text in the opening scenes is up for only 3 seconds per page - too fast.
- Some plot connections depend upon recognition of a person's face whom you've seen for less than 5 seconds, i.e. in the escape from the japanese war camp.
- Overall the leadup to the war could be perhaps 5 mins shorter. I watched my wife and son watch the movie, and my 13 year old boy almost didn't make it to the naval battles due to boredom.
- Cheesiest parts are the 30-second time dilations in the middle of all action to present a flashback or to provide some brilliant insight into the battle.
- It is never explained what is a Turtle ship or why it is even called a Turtle ship. This is the major failing of this movie.
The most fun part of watching the movie was rewatching it with my wife. She kept saying, "Oh god it could not get any worse, right?" And each time I was privileged to say: "Wrong!"
Very good movie overall that I guarantee Hollywood could not make half the movie in a trial of 1000 years trying to do a remake.
It is never explained what is a Turtle ship or why it is even called a Turtle ship. This is the major failing of this movie.