WasAnnon
Slow pace in the most part of the movie.
Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
Ezmae Chang
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Leofwine_draca
Not a bad film, but not a great one either. THE LEGEND OF THE SHADOWLESS SWORD is a historical romp from South Korea that sees a princess and a warrior travelling through a land inhabited by lots of different people who want to kill them. It's essentially a journey narrative that meanders between moments of lively action and dull, drawn-out sequences of would-be romance and talk. Lots of talk. I wanted to like it, but the lack of vitality makes this a somewhat plodding affair in places.Films like this seem to be ten a penny these days, and indeed the wushu genre has been alive and kicking in China since the early 1990s. I was looking forward to seeing what a Korean spin on the story would bring to the table, but sadly LEGEND OF THE SHADOWLESS SWORD has little character and style all of its own. In fact, it feels heavily indebted to other productions in places, with half the cast at times made to resemble Johnny Depp in the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movies.The good news is that it's not all bad. The action, when it hits, is well handled and explosive, literally so when it comes to the various death scenes; I liked this touch of originality, as it's an example of something we haven't seen before in a film that feels slightly over familiar. In fact, the whole look of the film is great: it's colourful, with bright costumes, fine-looking sets and also some fine-looking women to boot; it seems the producers went out of their way to cast the most beautiful actresses they could find. It's just a shame, then, that's there's no more substance behind what turns out to be a fairly superficial outing.
ateeqimran
I was a little hesitant before watching this movie since I hadn't seen a Korean movie before... and Man was I surprised!! If it was not for a few glitches here n there this could have been a timeless classic! It's been acted out so well by the lead actors. Especially So-Yi yoon. She is just about perfect!!. In fact for me she is way better than Zhang Ziyi..Frankly, I wasn't expecting the level of maturity shown in direction, storyline n acting. And yes, it is one of the New Line Cinema's. Although this is a period movie I could make out the little differences of Korean culture from Japanese, Chinese or Thai.Aah man what a movie n what a beauty... I had never praised an actress so much before.. But here I go.. I am nuts about Yoon.Well.... there isn't a dearth of beauties in good Ol India.... but hey! she knows martial arts too....I strongly suggest this one for those who liked Crouching... Hidden. While u get the movie I am gonna dream about So-Yi Yoon. Yoooooooooooooooonnnnnn!
williamli
I saw an extended version of 116 minutes (apparently there is a 104 minute version as well). First off, the title makes you expect something else. I expected this "Shadowless Sword" to play some pivotal role, but no show. This film should better be named "Back to Balhae" or something, because that's what it's all about: a trek to Balhae. The storyline is pretty thin, but a martial arts movie with an original and strong story is a rare thing, so you shouldn't be too surprised about that.Technically this movie is very beautifully shot, with excellent art direction and costumes. The stuff on screen really is exquisite and should satisfy costume-aficionados and the artists among us. The actors do a good job too, no overacting or amateurish stuff, but at times over-directed it seems. The two main actresses are very pretty, so very nice to look at. Clearly intended to attract the mainly male target-audience, I guess. No ugly women to be seen, not even with the extras. The fighting scenes are very enjoyable, but they miss the rawness and directness seen in HongKong martial arts movies. And unfortunately some stuff badly copied from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. And overall the pace of the movie was excruciatingly slow. I hope the director and editors will learn that even pretty shots shown too long do get boring.So bottom line: Don't get me wrong, it IS a rather enjoyable movie, no question about that. But you'll forget in a week or two. Good shot by the Koreans at the Wuxia genre though. Keep 'em coming!
rohonnag
i saw this film today, and the only thing that struck me is that i must warn others who will waste their time seeing this film!if u have seen the following films then you can skip out this one, coz it rips off... 1. crouching tiger hidden dragon 2. hero 3. house of flying daggers 4. Brave heart (yes brave heart!) 5. even a bit of bleach! 6. pirates of the Caribbeannow i will give the reason why the story is fairly simply, female warrior must protect and bring back reluctant king, the problem is, the makeup is out of sync, people are looking like they came straight from bruckhiemer's pirates of the Caribbean 2! next comes the fight, well done as they are, its a straight rip off from hero and crouching dragon, without the breath taking choreography of the mentioned films.then there is tragic female lead's death towards the ending, even the last sequence of preparing for war was a rip off from brave heart!but still , this movie is bearable and watchable, if its on cable or u get a free copy from somewhere!
