7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In 19th-century Korea, a bounty hunter becomes the bodyguard of the queen he secretly loves.
Starring: Cho Seung-woo, Soo Ae, Jae-jin Baek, Kim Young-min, Kim Min-heeForeign | 100% |
Action | 46% |
History | 20% |
Drama | 8% |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Korean: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Considering what a gigantic impact Asian cinema has had on Western audiences over the past couple of decades (at least), isn’t odd, maybe even a little embarrassing, that Westerners still know so little about the history of Korea? Filmgoers who get a least a little of their history lessons from epic films can recount all sorts of facts or quasi-facts about this or that Japanese Shogunate or this or that Chinese Dynasty, but most would be left stuttering at the ticket office if pressed to provide any information about historical Korea. For modern day westerners, Korea is largely (and rightly or wrongly) the land of General MacArthur, the 30th parallel, the demilitarized zone and that most peculiar of despotic tyrants, Kim Jong-Il. Few Westerners have probably ever heard of Empress Myeongseong, but she is something of a legend in her native country, a late nineteenth century leader who managed to offset built in societal prejudices against her gender to become a unifying figure and one who helped chart Korea’s course as it made some halting steps toward the modern world. The Sword With No Name makes no bones about fictionalizing, even romanticizing, the Empress’ story, and it does so at some cost to its historical accuracy as well as the film’s inherent tone. This would have been the perfect Jackie Chan commodity a couple of decades ago, as the Empress is helped by and falls in love with a semi-comedic bodyguard type who does everything he can to ingratiate himself into her formal life, while hoping against hope he can have some sort of private life with her as well. The film wants to be everything from a lavish romantic quasi-historical drama to a martial arts fest to a goofy slapstick comedy, and those disparate elements are sometimes distinctly at odds with each other. But at its foundation, The Sword With No Name is a fascinating, sumptuous looking vehicle that allows the viewer at least a glimpse at a world with which very few in the West have much experience, giving the viewer just enough history to pique interest and perhaps provoke further study.
Say what you will about The Sword With No Name's fanciful blend of fact and fiction, there can be little doubt that the film itself is often achingly gorgeous, and this AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 presentation in high definition supports that sumptuous look every step of the way. Colors are both appropriately robust and jaw-droppingly saturated, but also allowed to have a painterly aspect in many, many beautiful scenes, both interior and exterior. The production design of The Sword With No Name is one of this film's strongest elements, and to say that everything pops magnificently on this Blu-ray may actually be a bit of an understatement. Both sets and costumes are almost three dimensional at times in their presentation here, and the visceral impact of the imagery is apt to take your breath away. Fine detail is also exceptional, especially in some extreme close-ups, where everything from facial hair to actual goosebumps on the actors' faces are easily spotted. Several interior palace scenes are cloaked in darkness, but shadow detail remain strong and crush is negligible.
Two lossless audio options are offered on The Sword With No Name on Blu-ray, the original Korean language track presented in a Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mix and an English dub presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Though the English dub offers some impressive immersion and fairly consistent surround activity, I recommend sticking with the original Korean track for a couple of reasons. First of all, the dubbing itself is not very artful, with typical mismatches between lip movements and the interpolated English. Perhaps more disturbing (and kind of comical) is the fact that several Western actors in the film evidently spoke English on the set, but very slowly and haltingly, so the dubbers have to give sometimes absurd line readings to match those lip movements. The Korean track, while obviously much narrower, presents more or less the same amount of dynamic range and offers the same excellent fidelity. Dialogue, a nice underscore, and some excellent sound effects are well prioritized, sound crisp and are all discretely handled and easy to hear.
I'm a sucker for films that look spectacular but which may be somewhat lacking in dramatic fiber, as my love of Speed Racer no doubt eminently proves. The Sword With No Name squanders its potential of telling the real story of the Empress, instead giving viewers a typical star-crossed class conscious love affair that isn't necessary in either historical or actually in dramatic terms. But putting both that and the sometimes amateurish performances aside, this film is simply so incredibly gorgeous at times that its faults become less and less relevant. It's eye candy to be sure, but it at least is eye candy built up around a fascinating and little known bit of Eastern history (albeit radically fictionalized for this film treatment), and that at least gives it the aura of the exotic. The Sword With No Name may be about as "historical" as The Sword in the Stone, but with imagery like this presented so awesomely on Blu-ray, it's hard not to rate this film Recommended.
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