Legend Of The Shadowless Sword

Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review

By: The Dweeb

August 2008

DVD Features Video: 2.35:1 Audio: Korean Dolby Digital 5.1, Korean DTS 5.1 Character introductions Behind-the-scenes featurette Picture gallery Music video Theatrical release: 11/18/2005 DVD released on 8/12/2008 by New Line Home Video Running time of 116 minutes Starring: Lee-Gi-yeong, Yun So-si, Shin Hyeon-jun, Choi Ji-woo, Lee Seo-jin Director: Kim Young-Jun Plot: The kingdom of Balhae is in turmoil. A new king must be found, so peace and prosperity can be brought back to the region, but assassins from Killer-Blade Army, sent out by the neighboring kingdom of Georan, have been busy murdering the royal family, and now there’s only one rightful heir left: An exiled prince, Jeong-Heyon, who has turned his back on his destiny. The beautiful but deadly female warrior Yeon Soha is now sent out to find this last prince and bring him back, so Balhae can once again stand united against its enemies.

Following in the tradition of great Asian martial arts films like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, House Of Flying Daggers, and Hero, Shadowless Sword brings everything to the table to give an epic historical yet fantastical tale of familiar themes of honor, duty and to some extent love. This film collaboration between and Korean and Hong Kong production houses creates a distinctly Korean film with lots of Chinese flavor, the ‘wire fu’ combat sequences are just mesmerizingly intricate and swift. Many of the sequences reminded me of Japanese Anime, with the extreme poses and close ups.  Although the film is entirely in Korean, the plot is simple enough to follow via the subtitles and leaves plenty of room to enjoy the ass kicking.  Typically I find certain foreign films very hard to follow along with, but this is not the case for Shadowless Sword.

With the film taking place in ancient Korea, this gave the film production ample opportunity to showcase magnificent landscapes, richly decorated sets and some of the best costuming this side of the Pacific.  Again, the camera provides a visual feast for us to enjoy as the story unfolds, coupled with almost non stop martial arts combat sequences this film unexpectedly delights and surprised me.  Although the film borrows much from the earlier films mentioned with the wire fu combat, it is decided turned up a notch here almost to the point of becoming more comic bookish than rooted in reality (If that can even be the case in the first place.).  The violence goes over the top during certain points, but the scenes taking place under water or on roof tops were certainly memorable.  I could have done without the exploding corpses in a shower of red however, that’s treading on Tarantino territory vis a vi the Kill Bill films.

Still, this film as an ensemble piece has many interesting characters, although mostly they are one dimensional and seem to only function with a single purpose before being dispatched. There is a high body count as you can guess so the numbers start to dwindle by the end. But our main villains and heroes are what keep this film going, and the writing suggests there’s an entirely unexplored back story with these people who seem to cross paths quite a bit.   There is the reluctant prince in hiding Jeong-Heyon (Seo-jin Lee), whose hand is forced into service when his new warrior bodyguard (So-yi Yoon)  comes to protect him from assassins. The other team known as the Killer-Blades, yes it could almost be a sporting event, leaves no body uncut in its mission to knock off our poor prince. These are really some dastardly people they have to contend with here, even when they start having second thoughts.

As I said before the film provides some spectacular viewing, both in cinematography and action sequences. The best part about it is that the use of CGI is kept to a minimum and does not distract from the overall viewing experience. That’s some pretty awesome stuff they were able to accomplish with just using wires to move the actors, why can’t Hollywood stick with the less is more mantra?  On the technical end of things the transfer to DVD is damn good. But has that been an issue for new movies ever? There are also a few extras included which provide for some interesting viewing. You get to see these actors out of character and costume, in a more casual setting. The short documentary is done guerilla style and is almost uncut.  You don’t get much of that on American DVD’s, those actors are “always on”, and each piece is usually highly polished so to watch these provides an interesting juxtaposition.

If you are afraid of watching something foreign, something different  or would just like to get more familiar with the booming Asian cinema world this would make for a nice introduction. I don’t think you will be disappointed as this film would rival any Hollywood historical epic. I really enjoyed it, and most likely you will too, as long as you can stomach some of the violence.

Reviewer’s Opinion: RENT IT!!