Perfectly adorable

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Who knew a Sword could have memories too. At least that's what the International (or is it just German?) title would have believe. But whatever the title is you are watching this, if you like Swordplay and romance in your Eastern movies, you will enjoy this too. The action is filmed greatly, something we came to kind of expect, this time coming from Korea.Koreas action cinema may not get a lot of credit generally by people who just go to the movies watching the big Blockbusters (nothing wrong with that, everyone has to have their own taste in films), but if you open up your horizon and don't mind how unrealistic some of the stunts would be in the real world (see flying), than this can be more than entertaining to watch

It could be viewed as a Korean take on the great "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" but the movie has enough substance to stand on its own feet. The cinematic qualities are most impressive. Camera work, lighting, colors...it never stops to look beautiful. If the Shakespearean drama in the story doesn't put you away, be sure to not miss this one. Also, do yourself a favor and watch it in the cinema or at least from a blu-ray. The visual feast you will be getting is worth it. Just a warning: It's not an action movie. It's much more drama than action and even when action happens, it's mostly highly stylized. As for the acting, Byung-hun Lee is the memorable person in this. He really shines as the somewhat confused villain. Rest of the cast I'd probably just describe as OK. My movie-loving heart was glad I got to watch this and is looking forward to future Korean epics. :)

In this brand new Korean FLOP, Characters spend way too much time explaining everything they've done and will do but the story is still riddled with holes.Plot: Three master swordsmen (and woman) attempts a coup but fails due to one of the three's betrayal. Years later, the dead partner's surviving daughter vows revenge against the other two. Sounds fun right?Only Byung Hun Lee seems to have his character in control and other actors are merely copying superior Chinese actors in this genre. The plot wants Lee's character be the villain of the piece, but the actor's charisma and the story itself makes him look like the hero. It's hard to root for the two female leads when they are well below their usual performance with characters who I assume are half-insane.The "twist" which sets up the final action just reveals to us how nuts these two main characters are. I was slapping myself in disbelief at the lengths the screenplay went. The two female characters are so selfish and so absorbed in their own sense of righteousness that they forgot to take a step back and look what they've done themselves.If you are going to have characters fly, why can't you have fun with some aerial combat? Why is it always artsy shots that's cool to look at but ultimately makes no sense? How does one simply teleport around locations just because plot wants them there? It's all style but no content. Another thing is that it is painfully obvious that the lead actress has no skill in stunt actions. Her scenes are always edited frantically that you have no idea of geographical aspect of the action occurring. One exception is the extended hallway fight scene that's obviously placed there as a gimmick.With a plot that makes you expect Kill Bill set in ancient Korea (complete with snowy showdown), this is a serious disappointment. Usually Korean audiences love terrible domestic films but this one flopped. Perhaps it is due to bad publicity Byung Hun Lee is getting these days. Or maybe the public finally got it right: this is a lame film.

I wasn't really looking forward to this movie or anything. However when it finally arrived in theaters I decided to give it a try. Sometimes, the movies that I have no interest in ends up surprising me in a good way. However that wasn't the case for this flick, it was super mediocre at best. The plot is jumbled and it didn't seem to know what direction it wanted to go. Some areas build up and goes nowhere. To be honest I wanted to check this movie, not because of the Korean super star two timing manipulative jerk Lee Byung-hun. But because of the actress Kim Go-eun who seems to get better with each film. I was actually impressed with her in "Coin Locker Girl". This movie is a poor man's effort at emulating films like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". The acting is good but nothing special that makes it stand out or anything like that. The plot is basically crying, sobbing, getting over melodramatic and between fighting. That basically sums up this mess of a film. I could tell this was suppose to be some Shakespearian stuff, but it fails. Even the action sequences are bland. As a matter of fact the fight sequences in "The Sword With No Name" which came out in 2009 was done much better. The action in this is mashed with choppy, close up, constant in and out mixed with slow-motion. It's a headache to watch, even when it came to the action sequences it's a mess. Except near the end it's when it became bearable to watch. Overall, just watch "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" again.5/10