Shadowless Sword (2005)

After all of the princes in a kingdom are killed by agents for a rival country, one last prince is located and a female bodyguard is sent to bring him back in one piece. Once The prince is located the journey back becomes a never ending battle for survival. Okay action film is just a little too unreal and fake for its own good. The fighting is stylized with a great deal of wire work and over done effects (lots of smashing rocks, columns and walls) but it is serviceable. The costuming and make up involves a great deal of eye makeup on the men and everyone looks like they are from the roadshow of Pirates of the Caribbean with Jack Sparrow being the model of choice. Give the film points for looking spectacular but at the same time it plays like several direct to video films I'm seen on Voom's Kung Fu channel. Its not bad but it its not great. Its solidly good even though its clearly reaching to be so much more. A rental. between 6.5 and 7 out of 10

Now I'll start off by saying that there is no reason to compare this movie to the Asian blockbusters such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or Hero etc. It doesn't matter if you've seen them or not because I think this movie has it's own atmosphere and feel to it. I guess it's because this film is Korean. There is a distinct difference between Korean and other Asian action movies. They have their own style of making these fantastic action/epic/drama movies. Another great Korean movie in the same veins is Musa The Warrior, so if you've seen it you have some idea what to expect. Some other comment stated that there are some weird comedic features in the fight scenes, but I wouldn't point that out in the review. It was only one short scene and that's all she wrote. On the contrary I found this movie to be quite serious in the whole. Though everyone would say there wasn't much of a plot I answer; There is an adequate plot to carry this movie without a problem, it is after all made for entertaining purposes, not for the Oscar nomination.Now more about the movie. The fighting is mostly sword-fighting. There are a few more exotic arms with some of the fighters too like bows or poles. The fights were made watcher friendly in a way that you can actually see what is happening in the fights all the time. So it's not just a clinging sound and a million swordstrikes per second where you can't tell which sword belongs to who. So you can see every small detail in the fights which is in my opinion definitely a good thing. And yes, there is a lot of flying in the movie, but used much more tastefully than for example in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. The fight choreography in general was amazing. Saw many moves that I hadn't seen before in similar films. The actors were good, especially the leading actress was very convincing. When I watched this film, I had been bored out of my mind all day and was about to fall to sleep. NOT after the movie started rolling. I was glued to my seat from start to end. Summary: Good action and choreography, good acting and very, very entertaining.

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!

So you're the last heir to an usurped throne in 10th century Korea, you got one hot chick out to protect you, an equally hot chick out to kill you, and all the men around you look like Captain Jack Sparrow (apparently the eyeliner/dreadlocks look is older then previously thought). The plot isn't much, but this movie is great eye candy. The film quality is very good, the sets and costumes are very colorful, and the fight scenes are excellent. The CGI effects are nice and enhance a lot of the scenes without being overbearing. The acting is pretty good, with a mix of drama and comedy, not too melodramatic. The villains of the Killer Blade Army get extra style points for sinister appearance and for being generally evil, with the monk earning best of show for his tattoos. Overall not an earth shattering movie, but very enjoyable visually as well as full of action. Recommended for fans of the genre.