Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Hansan: Rising Dragon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 13, 2022

Hansan: Rising Dragons is one of those so-called "historical epics" where if you're not already at least somewhat familiar with the history side of things, you may be wanting to consult some reference tome, either online or otherwise, since this is a story stuffed to the gills with supposedly real life characters and events, many which are introduced with text quickly superimposed, but perhaps without enough text to get us relatively brain dead westerners completely up to speed. This film is a prequel to The Admiral: Roaring Currents, which is touted as "the most watched film in Korean cinema history" (whatever that means). I kind of wondered why I wasn't remembering the first film as I watched this one, since I assumed it must have also been released by Well Go USA, who has a kind of virtual monopoly on at least some facets of the Asian market, and perhaps Korea in particular. However, in seeing our listing here I realized the first film was put out by a company that I frankly have never heard of and which doesn't even seem to exist any more (or at least seems to no longer be putting out Blu-ray product), CJ Entertainment. That first disc is evidently either still in print or at least widely available, and it frankly may be advisable for anyone interested in this film to start with that film.

All of that said, while I do in fact now have The Admiral: Roaring Currents on order, I frankly haven't seen it yet, which is why I kind of feel it might have been helpful in unpacking what is a dense "narrative" which I'd argue probably relies on its "native" audience's familiarity with events, and so doesn't really spend all that much time on context in particular. That may even provide obstacles to understanding relatively "basic" facts in this story like ongoing battles between the Koreans and the Japanese. One way or the other, from plot summaries I've read about The Admiral: Roaring Currents it might joked that it offered a naval version of 300, albeit in this instance Admiral Yi Sun-sin (Park Hae-il) defeating 300 enemy Japanese ships with a tiny armada of his own. Hansan: Rising Dragon takes place five years before the events depicted in The Admiral: Roaring Currents, but that in and of itself might suggest then that The Admiral: Roaring Currents provided proof that history can repeat itself, since Yi Sun- sin is once again marauding (if slowly, in very large boats) through the Japanese fleet.

This time, however, he's been using specially designed ships with gigantic dragon heads thrusting out from the prow, heads which are used to ram opposing vessels. Once the breach has occurred, a handy cannon inside the dragon's mouth is able to deliver a veritable death blow. But as is detailed in an early vignette, the mere sight of a mythical beast bursting through the side of a ship is enough to strike atavistic fear into the hearts of Japanese sailors. On the minus side, Japanese admiral Wakisaka (Byun Yo-han) is able to divine vulnerabilities in this supposedly "new technology".

Since it will be a few days until The Admiral: Roaring Currents arrives at my doorstep to hopefully provide a few missing links in my knowledge, I will say I've gone down a veritable rabbit hole of online information about everything from the Joseon dynasty to Yi Sun-sin's long list of sea battles to so-called turtle ships. I actually kind of wished the film had spent a bit more time on these Geobukseon (i.e., turtle ships) and their development, perhaps somewhat akin to what was presented in a more contemporary setting in The Great War of Archimedes, a film about the literal nuts and bolts of battleship technology and design which was also released on Blu-ray by Well Go USA, even if kind of ironically in this instance the film is about Japan rather than Korea. The film also has some structural hiccups, especially in the early going, where things kind of ping pong back and forth in time, which may only further befuddle viewers.

One way or the other, the film has a huge sweeping approach in its presentational approach, and if there may be momentary (or even more than momentary) confusion about who's who(m) and what exactly is going on, there is always a lot to look at (and listen to, courtesy of a really aggressively mixed soundtrack). This is one of those films that at least may provide an introduction to a history lesson that some may enjoy, and in fact as mentioned above it's set me off on some research.

Hansan: Rising Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hansan: Rising Dragon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I've long been on record as stating I personally prefer Red captures to Arri Alexa captures, and according to Michael Reuben's The Admiral: Roaring Currents Blu-ray review, that film was in fact captured with Red, while this film offers two Arri Alexa logos in its closing credits roll. That said, despite my typical curmudgeonly response to some Arri captured films, this is a hugely impressive looking transfer virtually all of the time. I'd rate one potential recurrent downfall as the inconsistency of the CGI, which can vary from at least relatively believable to pretty "cartoonish", but just about everything else in this presentation is really appealing from both palette and detail perspectives. The production design of this film is extremely opulent, and detail on costumes in particular is outstanding. The palette really vibrates with a commendably wide range of hues, but primaries in particular pop with considerable authority. I noticed no compression issues.

Hansan: Rising Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hansan: Rising Dragon follows the long established tradition on Well Go USA Blu-rays of offering both original language (in this case Korean) and English versions in both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 (for a total of four audio options). I'd stick with the original Korean version, since you're going to get subtitles one way or the other because of pretty recurrent on screen text descriptors. Vis a vis that element, there is sometimes but not always Korean script during these moments, and in fact it looked to me that all of the character introductions in English had no Korean script, which may point out how dependent this film is on its audience already having a lay of the land, so to speak. The surround track is really aggressive both in terms of some overwhelming LFE, but also a tendency to keep things "turned up to 11" a lot of the time in terms of vigorous surround activity. There's also almost nonstop scoring which regularly engages the side and rear channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available. In that regard, I may actually be giving this film the benefit of the doubt, because the subtitles offer some really stilted, almost comical at times, dialogue. If the original Korean is actually that clunky, this might provoke occasional giggles.

Hansan: Rising Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Character Highlights (HD; 2:23) offers some very brief introductions. Subtitled in English.


• Secrets of Makeup (HD; 3:41) is a look at some of the character designs. Subtitled in English.


• Staff Commentary (HD; 4:01) is the crew talking about the film. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer (HD; 4:01)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored so that supplements follow one another automatically (so that clicking on Character Highlights is essentially a Play All button). The disc is also authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Hansan: Rising Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you were one of the people who helped make The Admiral: Roaring Currents the "most watched film in Korean cinema history", I can pretty much guarantee you'll not only enjoy this outing, you may in fact be able to make more sense out of it than I've been able to on one viewing. One way or the other, this film offers a nonstop array of fantastic imagery, even if its underlying narrative seems to be rehashing a lot of what made The Admiral: Roaring Currents so successful. Technical merits are solid, and with caveats noted, Hansan: Dragon Rising comes Recommended.