The Great Battle Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

The Great Battle Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 31, 2018

“Great” is one of those words with somewhat disparate meanings, which is why some younger folks may get raised eyebrows when they hear World War I referred to as “the great war”. The Great Battle certainly doesn’t lionize the carnage of war, instead emphasizing its magnitude, and in fact the film is filled with skirmishes, both relatively “great” and “small”. This is another historical epic that may play better for those with at least some acquaintance with Korean history, since the film is evidently based upon a real life incident in the seventh century which is played here in somewhat the same manner as 300, a film overtly referenced in a pull quote on the back cover of the release, but which may also remind some other viewers of another film about a stalwart band of survivors holed up in a hopefully impenetrable fortress, Masada. Unlike 300, at least parts of The Great Battle’s gargantuan set pieces seem to have been done practically, or at least practically with a bit of CGI augmentation, with what look like actual locations (instead of green screened illustrations) as background material. That may help to give the film a bit of a visceral edge that the more “cartoonish” seeming 300 might have had, but the film may falter a bit in its attempts to weave actual living, breathing humans into its tale of siege and survival.

The Great Battle may well be kind of intermittently confusing for those without a background in Asian history, as mentioned above, but as I did background reading on the so-called “siege of Ansi” in preparation for writing this review, I discovered that there is a host of questionable data points involved in this story, ranging from where it took place to the names of some of the participants. Among those uncertain names is one of the main characters of this piece, a warrior named Yang Man-chung (Jo In-Sung, labeled as “Zo” in the fine print on the back cover of the release), who actually doesn’t figure into the story in its early going. Instead a young soldier Sa-mul (Nam Joo-hyuk) is shown in a huge opening conflict where Sa- mul’s noble qualities are amply displayed. Even after Sa-mul and his fellow combatants are forced to retreat when it turns out they’ve been lured into a trap, Sa-mul carries one of his best friends on his back, thinking the guy is just badly wounded, when it turns out he’s actually dead. So much for war being “great” (in that “other” meaning of the word).

Sa-mul’s commander is a tough as nails sort named Yeon Gaesomun (Yu Oh-Seong), who tasks Sa-mul with a bit of subterfuge. Sa-mul is to infiltrate a fortress at Ansi, not (as might be expected) to rally the troops and provide extra defenses against the Tang Dynasty, which has designs on what I am assuming is a northern section of Korea, but instead to assassinate Yang, who evidently had some kind of “history” with Yeon. What’s kind of odd about this plot point is that it’s deliberately set up, and then once Sa-mul arrives at the fortress and begins to matriculate into activities there, it’s kind of shunted off to the sidelines as a number of other, sometimes needless, subplots ensue.

This odd tendency to introduce elements and then not develop them properly (or at least as fully as some might hope for) is evident throughout the film, including with a character who seems inherently fascinating, a kind of Korean “Cassandra” that the Tang forces have captured and whose prophecies are valued by Tang commander Li Shimin (Park Sung-woong). Some of this may admittedly not really matter all that much to adrenaline junkies, since the true calling card of the film may be its action elements, and in this regard, The Great War does approach “greatness” in both senses of the word. While stylistically things are a little rote at times (Korea evidently just discovered Sam Peckinpah, as evidenced by a ton of slow motion carnage, and, yes, I’m kidding), the battle elements are typically well staged and rather bracing, especially in the almost mind boggling use of cavalry forces to maraud through infantrymen. That said, The Great Battle will probably not provide much of an actual history lesson to those who don’t already know the story.

The Great Battle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Great Battle is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Once you get past the seemingly unavoidable banding noticeable in several production company mastheads, this is a very sharp and well detailed looking presentation. I haven't been able to track down a ton of technical information on the shoot, other than that Phantom high speed cameras were evidently utilized for the ubiquitous slow motion elements, but one way or the other, the presentation offers consistently very good detail levels, especially in close-ups. Things often looked just a little blanched to my eyes, as if contrast had been tweaked a bit, and that tendency, along with some fairly "arty" framings (some of which can be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review) can tend to mask fine detail levels at times. A lot of the film plays out in browns, beiges and ochres, but within that general palette range, things look reasonably vivid and well suffused.

The Great Battle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Great Battle features enjoyably bombastic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes in Korean and English, though after sampling the English language track on and off throughout my viewing experience, I'd personally recommend sticking with the original language track, simply because the voice acting on the English track wasn't as compelling to me. Otherwise, the two tracks are very similar if not absolutely identical in terms of overall mix and amplitude. The set pieces provide plenty of opportunity for excellent surround activity, but even in some of the quieter moments, the frame tends to be stuffed so full of characters that there's often a very engaging spill of effects and background noise that engages the side and rear channels very effectively.

The Great Battle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Production Commentary (1080i; 3:00) is a kind of oddly named very brief EPK with interviews and behind the scenes footage.


• About the Characters (1080i; 3:55) offers some brief information about some of the characters and the film's story.


• Teaser Trailer (1080p; 00:49)


• Trailer (1080p; 1:39)

As is usually the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the supplements have been authored to follow one another automatically. After the trailer for this film plays, the disc has been authored so that trailers for other Well Go USA releases follow automatically. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

The Great Battle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm frankly still a little confused about some elements of The Great Battle, but I'd add that even if you understand every jot and tittle of this enterprise you may still feel it's a bit overstuffed and overlong. There seem to be two different films at play here, one action adventure epic and another, ostensibly more thoughtful, enterprise about duty and loyalty. That mishmash may mean that only parts of the film work for any individual audience member based on which particular element they tend to favor. Technical merits, especially audio, are fine for those considering a purchase.