Summary
This kind of throwback, no-frills action flick has all the mechanics of a prison break ride, along with a hero with the carefree realness of an 80s action star.
Coming off the back of his supernatural drama series Black, director Kim Hong-sun’s THE AGE OF BLOOD (역모 – 반란의 시대) takes the filmmaker into very different territory. A historical action piece taking place in the Joseon era, it wastes little time in putting its plot on the tracks and watching it slice and dice its way to the conclusion.
After returning home from a lost battle, the once-proud swordsman Kim Ho (Jung Hae-In) is assigned to be a low-level guard at a prison. Yet his first night on the job doesn’t go smoothly, and his unique talents are put to the test when five top fighters from the rebellion against the king arrive to liberate their leader. Armed only with a small wooden sword, Kim Ho makes his way through a throng of warriors to eventually confront the leader of the pack.
Kim Ho comes from the school of action heroism that teaches us that a hero fights simply because he or she is there. There’s not much development of his motivation beyond that, although the film’s form never suggests that there needs to be either. Given that the King Yeongjo he fights for is largely seen by the other characters as a bit of an illegitimate tyrant, it makes Kim Ho somewhat problematic. Yet his incentives are actually much baser than political loyalties. “Don’t you see?” he quips by way of explanation. “I’m the prison guard.” We eagerly await the Western remake with someone like Jason Statham.
There’s something neo-classical about the action setups as well. Initially armed with what amounts to a solid stick, alternating with his bare-knuckles, the balletic flips and elegant sword swings are just as reminiscent of Hong Kong action from a few decades ago as they are of anything else. Later in the film, an the time begins to appear on screen to indicate a ticking clock of some kind, although it really only alerts the audience that more shit’s about to go down.
It’s when Kim Ho regains his own blade that blood starts flying in gravity-defying patterns amidst a flurry of arrows. A particularly memorable scene sees Kim Ho fighting his way down a backlit corridor, his figure silhouetted against the semi-opaque panels.
As a straight-up actioner with a “loyalty versus honour” theme, there are certainly worse ways to pass a few hours. It may not educate anybody about the complexities of Korea’s history, but its simple principles of escalating action sequences keep the on-screen antics engaging for the runtime.
2017 | South Korea | DIRECTOR: Kim Hong-sun | CAST: Jung Hae-In, Kim Ji-Hoon, Jo Jae-Yun, Lee Won-Jong, Ryu Tae-Joon | DISTRIBUTOR: Storm Pictures, New York Asian Film Festival (US) | RUNNING TIME: 102 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 3 July 2018 (NYAFF)
