Rating: 
Summary: let's get technical
Review: great movie. if you watch it alone, you have a better chance of really understanding it (since people like me hide emotions in the presence of others). the action is not easily comparable to crouching tiger. crouching tiger is more westernized, where the camera angle is far back enough so you can see the whole fighting scene. bichunmoo keeps w/ typical asian martial art flicks: fast camera action, things going on all over the screen. that's why it's hard to see the maneuvers that the actors pull off. sul-lie is so fine. so is the woman who ironically poisons jin-ha (ironic because...you know how it ends). so is the sister of the guy who saved jin-ha (i forget her name). i heard a person say jin-ha made a mistake by leaving it all behind in the end. but to me, this is honor. sul-lie was married, though her man met tragic fate. jin-ha and sul-lie had travelled different paths. it was fate that they would always love eachother. but it was also fate that forbid them from being with eachother (until they died, together). it just wasn't meant to be. and jin-ha did the right thing by leaving it all behind.
LOYALTY. you don't find such loyalty in american movies. esp. the head of the 10 swordsmen. when he was told that jin-ha was dead, and he therefore had an opportunity for a higher rank, he instead murdered the messenger. that is the love that a man can have for another man.
but lemme get tech for a second. the dvd has a skip in transition from scene 7 to scene 8 (watch the dvd digital panel if you don't believe me), just after an hour into the movie. it is this long pause. i ordered another copy, but it skipped at the same spot. so i figured it was my dvd player. but the same thing happened on another dvd player. so i will just have to live with that skip now. it's only one skip, but as a consumer, i shouldn't have to expect ANY skips.
Rating: 
Summary: A big disapointment- rent not buy
Review: I am a big, long-time martial arts movie fan AND a recent intro to Korean films. I had just seen Joint Security Area and Musa:The Warrior so I was really excited to when I saw this at my video store.
My first disapointment came- it was dubbed, and dubbed in just as corny a fashion as the old HK movies used to be. Then there was the production values, which again were throwbacks to the HK 70's. Not 80's or early 90's- yes the 70's. I can be forgiving of the old classics due to technology, but not a modern film. The same goes for Korean films, there are several that are better.
Then came the story- it was leaden and wooden. The movie moved at a SLLLOOOWWW pretentious pace, a mistake that the Hong Kong directors NEVER made. If a Hong Kong fu movie wasn't too good, so what it's quick and fast moving. Not this one. It was torture.
I nearly turned it off, but my wife told us to push through.
It never really got better. The movie does have some good fight scenes, but overall it's a big disapointment. If you want to see a top-notch korean martial arts film- gets Musa:The Warrior. Pass this turkey bye.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning period film!
Review: I highly recommend this DVD. The story-line is so bittersweet. The music is haunting and the direction and cinematography is very good. The fighting sequences are well orchestrated and are cool to watch. There is something for everyone in this movie.Synopsis (taken from the back): At the end ot the Yuan Dynasty, when Mongolia was ruling all of the Chinese continent, the Mongolians, the Hans, and the Koryo (ancient Korean) migrant were going through racial conflicts whle experiencing the strife of local baron rivalry. Jinha, son of a Koryo migrant fall for Sullie, illegitimate daughter of a Mongolian commander. After some time, Jinha founds out the secret of his parents' death and the legacy of the Bichun Secret Arts left to him. Sullie's father, Taruga wants to kill Jinha for these secrets...the lovers find themselves separated with Sullie forced to marry the local baron's son and Jinha falling off a cliff...ten years pass and Jinha is reborn as Jahalang, a hired assasin, and is back for revenge. This martial-arts love story depicts the conflicts that the lovers face, as they struggle with their starcrossed fate...
Rating: 
Summary: What the heck?!?
Review: I just finished watching this movie, and I have to say that it was the most incomprehensible movie I have ever seen, and no, I didn't forget to put the English subtitles on. In fact, I speak Korean, so the confusion wasn't due to sloppy translating. I can't help but wonder if the other reviewers who spoke of it as the greatest movie ever speak either language.
I guessed I should have known that it stunk, when the highest accolade it received was biggest budget in Korean history. They sure didn't spend any of that money for high quality writing. Not only did characters pop in and out at seemingly random intervals, without explanation of who they are or where they came from (or why?), but the love story itself doesn't make any sense. First they love each other, then they hate each other for no apparent reason, iterate indefinitely. It almost felt like it was some movie I would flip to during commercials of a TV show. I mean, only from reading the back of the package, did I learn that the main character became an assassin for hire. They sure don't tell you in the movie.
Furthermore, the main character himself is a self-indulgent, loathsome creature whom you are expected to cheer for, but only wish his "rival in love" had prevailed in the end. It would have been much better for everyone, including the audience.
This film is dark blemish on the conscience of South Korea, an otherwise wonderful country.
Rating:
Summary: DANCE WITH SWORD PUT ME TO SLEEP!
Review: I thought after reading the good reviews that this film would be up to par alongside such epics as Crouching Tiger/Hidden dragon, Musa the warrior, and HERO - BOY was that wrong!! This had a lot going for it, but was just dragging along with cheesey old fashioned action sequences. Yuch!! The love story took forever, and after awhile, I could care less! If you like slow-paced, slogging thru mud storylines, along with chincy action sequences - then this one's for you! Me? I'll stick with the better made movies, such as AZUMI and the 7 Samurai, just to name a couple more...
Rating: 
Summary: romance and fighting what more could you ask for
Review: I thought this movie was pretty cool and the fighting reminded me of the legendery swordsman movie. The storyline was'nt all that but that didnt affect the movie much. Overall I think this is the best movie to come out of korea yet,well at least it better than that dumb movie "nowhere to hide". Take my word for if you want a movie with romance and fighting together this is a keeper, i should know i saw it at my friends' house , he had the tape version.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Movie
Review: I watched this movie in amazement--it was spectacularly beautiful in some scenes--there is no other way to describe it except that it's like an anime movie come to life (solo scenes of the wind blowing through the main character's hair, etc.). The movie also seemed to blend together Korean, Chinese, and Japanese influences, which also made it interesting. It is full of intense and fantasy-like martial arts fighting scenes, but the love story is what truly holds the plot together.
Rating:
Summary: Why not widescreen??? Great legendary epic!
Review: I withheld one star due to not being in WideScreen (plus would it be asking too much for subtitles on the behind-the-scenes stuff?). But for the rest, I love the tragic story, the music, and the fight scenes (yes, I am a chic that loves a good fight scene). Plus as a chic I also like the fact that Asian movies like most British movies have realistic women, unlike American Hollywood that think only pretty women have inflated breasts (come on when they defy grafity and sit on the shoulder not the ribcage - you're not fooling anyone) and lipo suctioned bodies. Plus this movie also demonstrate a truly strong female character, just like the male characters. So I say more power to film makers who can make a movie like this that is a good balance of story and action.
Rating:
Summary: Big on Action, Small on Story
Review: I wonder if the movie I saw is the same that many of the others here have reviewed? The fight scenes are fun and imaginative, but the story is very poorly constructed. The best word I can use to describe the plot is `choppy'. It's almost as if the movie is an adaptation of a famous novel or legend everyone should know and that the director decided it was sufficient to touch upon the major points in the story and ignore the details.
The entire movie is filled with scenes that don't logically follow the last, again, as if it is assumed the viewer should already be intimately familiar with the work; or that half of the movie was poorly edited out at the last minute. Major new characters are introduced with no warning, and significant events unfold with no exposition or apparently take place off-screen entirely. It's not that you can't follow what's going on, exactly, but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon this movie is not.
It's strictly Okay, but nothing special. I'm not going to throw it into the trash can or anything, but I'm glad I bought it used.
Rating:
Summary: Kung-Fu Flix worth seeing
Review: In short there are a number of flix worth seeing; but some are worth buying and others, you'd be better off renting and calling it a day. The top of my list are "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and "Hero". The quality of the films are vastly superior than anyhting I've seen so far over the past couple of years. But then you still have a number that are still quality films worth being in your dvd list ... like "House of Flying Daggers" (beautifully shot by the way... but still in shadow of the forementioned movies), and "Duel", then to lesser extents the "Legend"'s (great fights), "Butterfly, Comet, and Sword" and "Twin Warriors". When all is said and done, Bichunmoo was a pretty satisfying movie...lots of action and swordplay, tons of "wire-fu" (gotta love it) and a decent plot and story line (love story as most revolve around). The quality / cinematography could have been better... but the sheer number of fight scenes; if nothing else, keep you waiting to see if they can top the last fight. Not the top of the line but a decent flick, worth a couple of dollars to have in your collection.
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