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2000, director Kim Young-jun wowed and befuddled
viewers and critics alike with "Bichunmoo",
a swordplay movie with a ton of action but an
undecipherable storyline. Kim's follow-up, 2005's
"Shadowless Sword", fairs much better in
the screenplay department, in that you can
actually follow the film's plot threads, and
there's certainly more than enough action to
satiate any martial arts junkie. Having said that,
the story, though much more coherent this time
around, is unfortunately bland and predictable,
right down to its melodramatic ending, posing
swordsmen, and high-flying sword duels.
"Shadowless Sword"
is set in 10th century
Korea
, where the ruling dynasty, the Balhae, have all
but crumbled under invasion. A resistance army
remains, and in order to lead them, lone female
warrior Soha (So-yi Yoon, "Arahan")
is dispatched to find and bring back the last
remaining member of the royal family bloodline,
Prince Jeong-hyeon (Seo-jin Lee). You'd think
since the job is such a monumentally important
one, they would send more than just one woman, but
maybe that's just me. Alas, the Prince, who has
been exiled for the last 15 years, is a back-alley
dealing scoundrel who makes a living buying and
selling stolen wares, and is not exactly King
material, much to Soha's consternation.
Soon, the two are on the run
from badass assassin Kun (Hyeong-jun Shin, the
star of "Bichunmoo"), who is on their
tail with his army of masked ninjas (they even
throw shurikens!) and deadly second-in-command,
the beautiful and very loyal Mae (Ki-yong Lee). A
quite predictable chase through the countryside
ensues, with Soha and Jeong-Hyeon attempting to
say one step ahead of the assassins, although
curiously this never amounts to much. To wit: ten
minutes of Jeong-Hyeon and Soha bonding is
immediately followed by the band of assassins
miraculously finding them, or laying in wait ahead
of them. The duo escapes to fight another day, of
course, or else there wouldn't be a movie.
Much of "Shadowless
Sword" will be sold on the basis of its wild
and stylized martial arts, of which there is
plenty. Action lovers will certainly not be bored,
as much of the film revolves around the hunted
running, stopping, bonding, fighting the hunters,
and then repeat process. As such, the film has a
predictable air about it that is at times
disappointing. That is, if you cared about such
things as convincing romance, original character
development, and all that other high-falutin'
stuff. If not, then "Shadowless Sword"
more than lives up to its promise of sword fights
by the gallon -- and then some.
Star So-yi Yoon was no doubt
cast on the strength of her performance in 2003's
fantasy martial arts movie "Arahan", and
she remains a very capable, physical actress, if
not exactly charismatic. Faring much better is
Seo-jin Lee, whose affable turn as the Prince in
scoundrel's clothing keeps the film lively, as he
attempts to elude not just his pursuers, but also
his bodyguard. There is a curious interlude where
the two meet and clash with a "gang" (as
Seo-jin Lee calls them) of what looks like rejects
from Zhang Yimou's "House
of Flying Daggers". One wonders what was
the purpose (aside from some winks at the audience
that escapes me), as the sequence amounts to very
little.
As the main villain of the
piece, Hyeon-jun Shin has done better work, and if
anything his Kun could pass for the twin of his
villain in the fantasy "Gingko
Bed", right down to the exaggerated hair
style, wardrobe, and evil disposition. Plus, I'm
not sure if Shin's eyes are naturally dark, but it
really looks like the man is wearing mascara
throughout the film. The film's best, and untapped
character, though, has to be the female assassin
Mae, played by the exotic Ki-yong Lee.
Unfortunately Mae gets very little development,
and her character's singular personality is her
undying loyalty (and unrequited love, perhaps?)
for Kun. She's so loyal, in fact, that she even,
as the saying goes, takes one for the team. Now
that's what I call loyalty!
Movies like "Shadowless
Sword" lives and dies by its promise of
action, and in this area the film more than makes
up for the pedestrian screenwriting. Still, even
this aspect of the film is mired somewhat by Kim's
insistence on shooting the action scenes in such a
frenetic style that it's really impossible to tell
what anyone is doing onscreen. Compare the action
scenes here to Ang Lee's "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon", where every
movement is precise and clearly visible, and
"Shadowless Sword" sometimes comes
across like an exercise in people posing with
swords in-between moments of them leaping into the
air and twirling around as hidden wires yank them
to and fro. But if style is what you're looking
for, "Sword" has it in abundance.
"Shadowless Sword"
is an unsubstantial genre entry with few
outstanding moments, but is nevertheless
pleasingly (if vacuously) entertaining from
beginning to end. The nearly two hour running time
will seem like 90 minutes, and there is just so
much action that it's hard to ever get bored,
whether by the perfunctory romance, or Kim's
oblivious attempt at some sort of plot twist
involving Soha and Jeong-Hyeon's shared history.
Plus, there are some unintentional (or were they
intentional after all?) comedy to be had,
especially in the early parts when it looks as if
all the men's wardrobe came straight from Captain
Jack Sparrow's private collection.
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