Review for The Sword With No Name

Introduction

It's an interesting notion, that of historical fiction. It's where you take a historical event, genuine fact, with characters that actually did live and breathe, and then build a piece of fantasy into that history to create a piece of entertainment. It doesn't necessarily have to get the names and dates spot on, and neither does it have to be immaculate with its recreation of yesteryear. Even relatively accurate portrayals of history aren't necessarily truthful, as films like Braveheart prove, while liberally blending fact and fiction give us films like Shakespeare in Love. The danger of course is that fans of the movies start conflating fiction with fact. But then again, that may be how legends like Robin Hood are born. In far Eastern cultures where veneration of one's ancestors is a given, most historical movies tend towards the legendary anyway, so when you start mixing fiction in with those facts, the results will be eye-catching to say the least.


The period of history covered in The Sword With No Name is that of Korea at the end of the nineteenth century. Surrounded on all sides by superpowers and expansionist nations, Russia, China and Japan, the country was also torn between reform and growth, and insularity and isolationism. The king Go-jong was little more than a figurehead, while the power behind the throne was his father, the regent, who favoured closing the borders and shutting out the world. Of course it was important to maintain the succession and find an Empress who would unite the people, but the woman he chose, Min Myeong-seong was a forward thinking modernizer, who wanted Korea to enter the modern world. Naturally the court politics of the era got bloody. But it was when Myeong-seong courted the Western world that things became especially sticky. A trade deal with the Russians wasn't to the liking of the Japanese who had their eyes on Korean territory, and so it was that… You'll find out in the movie…


The fiction lies at the heart of the story, that when Empress Myeong-seong was Min Ja Young, a girl of noble birth, she met and fell in love with a bounty hunter named Moo-myoung, when he escorted her on a journey to the ocean. He swore to protect her thenceforth, and followed her to the Imperial Palace when she married the king and ascended to the throne. He joined the palace guard and became her bodyguard. When the forces of tradition and change begin to war over the future of Korea, and murderous intrigue haunts the corridors of the palace, he is the one man who will keep her safe, safe from everything except her destiny.

The Disc

The Sword With No Name gets a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer that is acceptable enough, with no print damage or compression artefacts as befits a film of recent vintage. Grain is noticeable at times though, and the colours are a little on the strong side, making the most of the lavish royal settings and wonderful costume and production design. I did sense a smidge of haloing on occasion, but the biggest gripe is that the darker scenes are lacking in detail, particularly problematic when the climactic fight sequence happens at night. There are plenty of CG sword fight sequences, which is a little incongruous in a period drama. Audio comes in DD 5.1 and DD 2.0 Korean (with a soupcon of French, Japanese and English) and the dialogue is clear throughout. The surrounds get a good workout during the action sequences and the music suits the film well. Unfortunately the subtitles are of the player forced variety. You can't turn them off. Aside from one grammar flub, they were legible throughout.

Extras

The Sword With No Name gets animated menus, and you'll find trailers for 12 other Cine Asia releases. Otherwise the extras are unremarkable for a film like this.

The Making Of merely comprises 10 minutes of b-roll footage, which without commentary or context is like watching an alternate angle of some of the film's scenes, shot on camcorder, without any post-production. It's hardly illuminating.

Of more use are the interviews with Cho seung-woo (Moo-Myoung), and Su Ae (Min Ja Young). These last 11 minutes in total, and the actors talk more about the film, and the history on which the story is based.

The disc is topped off with the teaser and the theatrical trailer for the film.

Conclusion

Historical accuracy and reshaping of actual events may be all well and good, but it all really means nothing if the viewer knows nothing of that history. I am woefully uneducated when it comes to Korea's past, knowing little more than there was a Japanese occupation, and then a civil war. Anything else I may have gleaned, I have done so through movies like this one, and films like The President's Last Bang, and I don't feel comfortable enough to sit a Korean history exam with that kind of knowledge. The thing is that going by what is said in the interviews, Empress Myeong-seong is something of a national folk hero, for her championing of modernisation, and her resistance against Japanese machinations. There is a whole lot of historical shorthand in this film that goes straight over my head. From my Western perspective, this is just a fantasy, sword-fighting epic with a strong romance driving the story. It may as well be a complete fiction. On the plus side, it did do enough to make me want to research the real Empress Myeong-seong and her contemporaries. But, that I was compelled to grab an encyclopaedia volume and pause the film while I did a bit of background reading probably isn't a good sign.


The Sword With No Name is an enjoyable film certainly. I was entertained, and even a little informed in its runtime, and thankfully it is the central premise, the fictional romance between Empress and bodyguard that appeals the most. The relationship is written with deft and wit, and the two leads have a genuine chemistry that really appeals. From their first meeting to the film's denouement, it's easy to be invested in their love, and it's a satisfying roller-coaster ride story of a forbidden love, the stuff all good tragedies are made of. The film itself is lush and a joy to look at, although the DVD is pretty average at bringing across the production design and lavish costumes of the royal court. It's a film that is rich with colour and every scene is meticulously constructed. The Blu-ray is out on the same day and hopefully the image is more satisfying at 1080p.


The film falls down for me in two areas. The action doesn't fit the film's storytelling style. For one thing, set barely 120 years ago, and drawing from real history, it seems an odd place for CG laden, bullet time sword fighting, but that is indeed what we get, jarring and incongruous at the best of times, laughable and fake at its worst. The Empress may be a folk hero in Korea today, but the fictional bodyguard Moo-myoung comes across as some sort of superhero, accomplishing miracles single handed, and surviving blows that have felled lesser mountains. Neo has nothing on his fighting abilities. The other thing is the politics of the period, the machinations and manipulations that were going on in the Korean court, and which is told here with the same sort of shorthand that a Robin Hood movie would give the Crusades, or a Western would give the Range Wars. It assumes that you are culturally savvy enough to know this background, which is great for Korean audiences, but it went right over my head, and it's that which compelled me to pause the film and do a little reading before continuing. Naturally that broke the flow of the film and made it feel twice as long.


An engaging romance, some over the top action, and an impenetrable back story; The Sword With No Name probably doesn't seem like an easy choice when it comes to your next DVD purchase or rental, but delightful central performances, and a greater emphasis on the romance than the other stuff makes it a very appealing watch. It's well worth considering.