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Musa The Warrior [SE] |
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Musa : The Warrior
(Korea 2001)
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Director : Kim Sung-su
Cast : Ahn Sung-Ki, Jung Woo-sung, Joo Jin-mo, Zhang Ziyi and
Yu Rong-guang
Synopsis :
In the late fourteenth century a Korean diplomatic envoy is sent to
make peace with the new Ming government but its members are accused
of spying and are ultimately exiled to a remote desert in the west.
Upon escaping from their captures and heading home for Korea, they
come across Yuan soldiers who have kidnapped a Ming princess,
Princess Fu-Rong (Zhang Ziyi), and decide to rescue her in order to
secure safe passage home by the Ming court. |
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Review
by Vincent Yeoh
Directed by Kim Sung-su who has already established his finely
polished, Hong Kong inspired action in contemporary films like Beat
(1997) and City of the Rising Sun (1998). In Musa he’s taken a large
scale period drama epic and given it a dose of dramatic realism,
which lacks nothing as a historical epic and yet has better action
sequences then some Hollywood productions of a similar scale without
having to resort to the use of CGI characters. Musa is a record
breaker, having taken five years to make and being the most
expensive move in Korean history with a budget of 8 million Korean
dollars. This movie runs at almost 3 hours long and is long to sit
through.
It contains plenty of battle scenes often involving hundreds of
extra’s and horses in desert locations. This film is very violent
and has many people being shown shot in the neck with arrows,
Decapitated, dismembered and cut in the back. The films first hour
is the densest as characters and conflicts are thrown at the
audience in rapid fire succession. We see the Good guys have
internal conflicts with each other as the General and the slave
going at each others throats at times and a love triangle develops
with fu Rong, Yeo Sol and Choi as Furong has an eye for Yeo sol
while Choi finds himself attracted to Furong.
The year is 1375. A time of historical significance for Asia as
three kingdoms vies for dominance. China is in a state of chaotic
fighting as the newly formed Ming Dynasty (Han Chinese) and the Yuan
Dynasty made up of the Mongol people fight for control of China. The
Yuan empire are losing ground after the successes made by Genghis
Khan nearly 300 years prior. Meanwhile the Ming have come to power
and a new ruler now reigns over the Koryu, who are the ancient
Koreans. A Korean diplomatic envoy travelling to China has been sent
to exile, While being marched into the desert by Ming soldiers a
surprise attack by the remnants of the Yuan Army leave all the Ming
soldiers dead while leaving the survivors minus their diplomats to
the heat and sand.
The inexperienced young Korean general Choi Jung played by Joo
Jin-mo Decides to take command of the survivors who include a mish
mash group of civilians, A slave Yeo Sol played by Jung Woo-sung and
his old sick master, Choi’s loyal soldiers and poorly equipped
troops of the people’s army led by the seasoned and wise Sergent Jin
lib played by Ahn Sung-Kee. Together they continue through the
desert with the objective of reaching Shandong province where they
can catch a boat that will take them home back to Koryu. When almost
all hope is lost they stumble upon a village in the desert and find
a kidnapped Ming princess being held by the Yuan Army. Choi Jung
ultimately decides to rescue her and return her safely to the
emperor in order to re establish diplomacy with the Ming.
The plan succeeds with an ambush leaving only the Yuan General
played by Yu Rong-guang (of Iron Monkey ) alive and being spared by
Yeo Sol a former slave who was freed by his dying master. But being
a stubborn typical Mongol the general he hates being beaten and vows
to re capture Fu Rong for the glory of the Mongols. He sets out with
over a hundred cavalry and tracks down the Koryu who have found
themselves trapped and barricaded in an abandoned Ming Fortress
where they will make their last stand against the Mongol attackers.
I thoroughly enjoyed Musa watching such Chinese actors like Zhang
Ziyi playing an helpless spoilt princess who matures at the end of
the film and Yu Rong-guang as the Mongol general who plays his role
superbly as the bad guy who didn’t give up. The acting is all
performed really well and you get to see the characters develop. The
cinematography and the locations are really top notch, the sets were
nicely detailed. The actions were realistically performed as well
and the period costumes just looked cool. I would recommend this
movie for those who are not squeamish about blood and like period
action drama’s realistically dramatic action sequences without much
CGI.
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| Notable Scenes : |
- Yeo Su kicking ass with his spear
- The final defence at the fortress
- Sergent Jin lib’s masterful bow skills |
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