Rating: 
Summary: It depends......
Review: It's a good martial art movie, but I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. The fighting scenes were pretty jerky, ala Chinese soap opera of yester-years. While there were good cinematography and post editting, they just weren't enough to make the movie beyond par. I was completely unbias when watching this movie, hence the lackadaisical review. Now, once I start to think that this is a Korean martial art film, then I didn't feel too bad. Although it's not on the same level as their Chinese counter part, it does show that the Korean crews are getting a lot better.Get it if you want to add a decent Korean martial movie to your collection. If you don't give a hoot where the movie comes from, then get Crouching Tiger. Of course, since you already have that one already, get the better version -- Hero (w/ Jet Li) :) Don't know if they are selling it on Amazon yet, but look around, they are available on various sites. Now, there's a FIVE STAR!
Rating: 
Summary: GTO vs. Bimmer
Review: Many compared this movie to Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon (CTHD). While there are many similarities, the more apt analogy is Pontiac GTO vs. refined BMW. Bichunmoo has a number of rough edges. It just blasts through many well-choreographed sword fights with rock music, but can't turn corners as smoothly as CTHD. It shamelessly exploits tears from the opening scene as if warning us to bring tissue papers before it's too late and you end up embarrassing yourself. Moreover, it tries too hard to make the love stoty sentimental and tragic. Let me ask you a question. Near the end, Jin-Ha seems to have everything. Sullie is alive and still loves him passionately. The kid (also played younger Jin-Ha) accepts him and wants to apprentice under him. His mercenary assassins are still loyal, willing to die for him. He killed all of his enemies except one. Sullie's brother supports their love. And guess what he wants to do? He wants to find a place to die! Why? Maybe his brain was too damaged from poison to think rationally. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed this movie tremendously and the love story moved me. The last scene was haunting and unforgettable with very little dialogue. However, it was as if the director decided to end the movie tragically no matter what and forgot to provide a compelling reason that could've made the movie more enjoyable. Sometimes, the less, the better. The more subtle, the more meaningful and moving. (The ending of Monster's Ball, for example) If you prefer driving GTO to modern BMW, this movie will provide great entertainment for 2 hours. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Crouching What? Hidden Where? Must be in this movie!
Review: Ok Martial Arts Action Fans, This is THE ONE to pounce on!! This movie makes 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' look like a Saturday Matinee. I've had this movie on VHS format for almost a year, and let me tell you, I STILL CAN'T GET ENOUGH. Even though it's in its original Korean Dialog without any subtitles...I DON'T CARE. The Visual and Sound F/X Are Unique and Brilliant. When have you ever heard gun shot ricochets used as sound effects for someone getting slashed with a sword. This was meant for DVD. Trust me, if you have one or know a friend who does, go and watch this movie on a DIGITAL FLAT SCREEN TV or at least a 32"-52" TV. IN SHORT, this movie is beyond fantastic; only being shadowed by 1999's 'THE STORM RIDERS' (which is THE BEST yet[Sorry Bruce, but Enter The Dragon is now just the legend that paved the way]). Take my advice GET THIS DVD & 'THE STORM RIDERS' while you're at it. RIGHT NOW!... Look out Ang Lee, the Korean Invasion has begun...IN A BIG WAY!! So says, KAN WOO
Rating:
Summary: Swashbuckling Heroes, Bold Villains, and Beautiful Damsels~"
Review: Pugilistic romance invokes the return to a legendary or historical world possessing its individual codes of honour, and also, imminent tensions between the sexes and warriors of dividing loyalties. The Korean blockbuster film, "Bichunmoo," satisfies these criteria by harkening back to China's Yuan dynasty, controlled by the descendants of Genghis Khan, but facing serious opposition in insurgent anti-Yuan forces, thus invoking imminent political tensions between the different races of Mongolian, Han Chinese, and ancient Koryos (Koreans) as they each struggle for power within this cinematic mosaic. Imbedded within this narrative of war and dividing loyalties is, however, also the other implication that love is capable of transcending all considerations of race, class, and even death, thereby propelling it into the realm of legend. Enacting the element of romance as a pair of star-crossed lovers are the characters of Yu Jinha, an apprentice in the much-coveted art of Bichunmoo swordplay, and Sullie, his childhood sweetheart, also daughter to a Mongolian general's concubine. Computer-animated sequences of Jinha and Sullie's days together paint the whole trajectory from a rosy picture of a childhood romance set in a pastoral fantasy to a matured love as adults amidst a winter landscape. All does not go well, as Romeo does indeed face his Tybalt in the faces of class, race, and power struggle. Sullie's mother is taken ill, and the return of her father, General Tagura, from civil war to claim her back forces them apart, as he decides upon a potential husband for his daughter in the Han family of Namgung Junguang. The dirty linen of both the Tagura and Namgung families, namely their cruel extermination of Jinha's family, Koryos held hostage in China as bodyguards to the Crown Prince, for the sake of obtaining the Bichun Secrets, is gradually exposed, and further forces the lovers apart in this tussle over power. Capturing the blighted affair as a piece of flashback in time, complete with Namgung Junguang's befriending of Jinha and his betraying Jinha out of rivalry in love, the film takes a leap ahead in time to many years later when Jinha finally returns in a new name, Jahalang ( literally 'wolf of the purple dusk'), and declares his allegiances alongside the anti-Mongol forces. The character of Jinha, who is enacted by Shin Hyun-June, currently a popular actor in Korean drama serials, retains the element of boyish innocence in his handling of relationships of love and friendship, but the rapid switch in character as he faces his enemies is remarkably sinister. Kim Hee Sun's portrayal of Sullie is by no means impressive, but retains the aura of beauty around the character as the woman whom Namgung Junguang and Yu Jinha are both besotted with to the point of their deaths. Inevitable in this return of the tragic hero in the narrative is the unearthing of age-old tensions between opposing races, clan loyalties, and family loyalties. What appears to be the feuds of yester-year take on a new twist, as Jinha exacts his revenge upon his parents' murderers, but realizes to his own shock, that his benefactors are equally covetous of the Bichun Secrets , and that Sullie's sudden agreement to marry into the Namgung family was not betrayal but an attempt to prevent his own son from perishing unnecessarily as a love-child born out of wedlock. Namgung Junguang's character is no less ambiguous as he repents his betrayal of many years ago and gives up his right to both his wife and his son-in-name by a surprising act of self-sacrifice. Common to every pugilistic narrative is the expectation of lush, breath-taking cinematography, fast-paced martial arts action and immaculate fighting sequences with their flair for the most fantastic and graphic details of violence. In importing Hong Kong talent, Ma Yuk-Shing, who has directed the martial arts moves for various Hong Kong kung fu movies, "Bichunmoo" is no less like its recent predecessor, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," in proving the predominance of the cross-cultural and international trend that Asian cinema is gradually moving towards. It amalgamates the graphic details common to Akira Kurosawa's samurai films, in their dismembering of opponents in battle, with the stylized moves of swordplay and martial arts found in the Chinese kung fu film, to mention a few, fei tian dun di (flying in the sky and going under ground level literally), balancing on the tip of a swordblade, and the interlocking of sword with ringed sabre in order to parry the offensive blow. Riding upon the back of an age-old formula of 'love lost, love regained but foiled catastrophically once again', "Bichunmoo" is another statement in the blockbuster movie genres that rings with familiarity in its elements of swashbuckling heroes, bold villains, and beautiful damsels. But it is always the familiar that finds its favour with the audience, and in this case, pugilistic narrative itself is a test case in point.
Rating:
Summary: Quality Samarai flick
Review: Right from gate, the action is good. A lot of action wire-fighting scenes. Story is good. Shot kind of low budget but I think it makes the movie better.
Rent-Yes
Buy-Yes
Rating:
Summary: Quality Samarai flick
Review: Right from gate, the action is good. A lot of action wire-fighting scenes. Story is good. Shot kind of low budget but I think it makes the movie better.
Rent-Yes
Buy-Yes
Rating:
Summary: The best (and only) Korean martial arts movie I've seen
Review: Right off, I'll admit my bias. This film fills a niche in my collection of martial arts movies I've been wanting to work on, since I'm most interested in Korean martial arts. The strengths of this movie include some absolutely stunning sets and solid (if somewhat exaggerated) fight choreography. The plot, while twisting and somewhat strange, is well above average for the martial arts genre, though it lacks the subtlety of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The special effects accompanying the secret "bichun" arts on which the film centers are more than passingly reminiscent of certain videogames, and so seemed more funny than dramatic to me. These effects, along with the superhuman abilities of the main characters, may turn off those who strongly prefer realism, but if you don't mind fantasy in your martial arts, this shouldn't be a problem. Overall, I recommend this movie to anyone who follows the martial arts genre. It is one of the best such films from a production standpoint I've seen. Thus, while not on the level of the very best in the genre (examples; Seven Samurai, Crouching Tiger), it is still up there, and is a sign that Korean filmmakers may make some valuable contributions to the genre in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: man this movie sucked
Review: The claim to be the highest budget film in Korean history did nothing to help this movie. The fight scenes were unimpressive, the story is basic revenge deal and lots characters are underdeveloped so you don't really miss them when they are killed.
Rating:
Summary: A Film That Achieves Its Full Potential
Review: The comparisons to Crouching Tiger, Storm Riders and The Duel-type films and the Korean Bichunmoo are certainly justified: it IS a kung fu, sword flick, flavored with a love story. But Bichunmoo is a masterpiece in itself that can stand up to these comparisons; you can even argue that this, the most well-rounded of these type of films to date, should be the standard to which the others, even the cinematographically superior Crouching Tiger, should be compared to. At the heart of the story are Jinha Yu and Sullie, whose tragic, star-crossed relationship is the thread that holds the movie together. She is rich and Mongol royalty; he is an orphaned Koryo commoner (or so we are made to believe), and fate refuses to let the relationship take place. The pair elopes and are hunted down by Sullie's family and Jungkwang, a young lord her family favors. Despite Jinha's expertise in the legendary Bichin Secrets, rumored to be the most powerful of all martial arts, passed on to him by a dying uncle, he succumbs to the pursuers and falls from a cliff. Sullie reluctantly marries Jungkwang. The years go by and while Jungkwang is away on business, his castle falls quite easily to another faction, thanks to a group of highly skilled assassins headed by a bitter, darker, cold-blooded Jinha. Trouble follows as both struggle to reconcile who they once were with what they have become. Bichunmoo trumps Crouching Tiger in that the story is self-contained, not a mere snapshot. We see Jinha and Sullie develop not only relationship-wise, but as children meeting for the first time and growing to adulthood. In contrast Li Mubai and Shulien (of Crouching Tiger) are captured in mid-life, with plenty of history between them the we never get to know. The cinematic feel isn't as grand, and is more like the Once Upon A Time In China series--basically shot like early Jet Li and Jackie Chan films. But there is grandeur to it--the beautiful shots of Sullie mourning and waiting for Jinha, or her deceiving dance in front of the emperor, or the flashbacks to their childhood--all utilize the soft, slow-motion, leaves floating, silk flying atmosphere. The swordfights are somewhere between Crouching Tiger and The Duel--more CG special effects than Crouching Tiger and more choreography and martial arts skill than The Duel. Bichunmoo has no real weak spots. The back story is extensive enough to make you feel like you know the characters, but not so overwhelming that it creates questions. The battles and love scenes all have a purpose, with no chance encounters or accidental street brawls. The lack of star power is in name only; Shin Hyun-Jun's brooding, tormented Jinha is convincingly depressing, revengeful and regretful, as Kim Hae-Sun's Sullie is beautiful, determined and vulnerable. Your girl can shed tears and use up the Kleenex, while you watch with dropped jaw at the spectacular metalwork, slicing and dicing with superhuman effects. Be sure to turn the DVD language setting to Korean; it usually defaults to the Chinese voice, which will create an unsettling voice-not-matching-mouth viewing. Don't worry, the Korean cast is extremely talented. No martial arts or Asian film collection would be complete without it; other film collectors won't just be diversifying but upgrading their DVD shelves. A well-deserved five stars for the biggest budget film in Korean history.
Rating:
Summary: not that great..
Review: the only reason i watch this movie is because i need to see Kim HeeSun in traditional Korean costume..coz she's mad FOINE! storywise...this's not more then a hero saving damsel in distress kind...very dissappointing since i heard so much good reviews about it. the action scenes are not that bad though...since they hired HongKong martial artists/stuntmen to cheograph & body double all the fights. i know this coz i happened to watch some clips of the making....and trust me Crouching Tiger is wayyy worth watching.
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