Originality is
something hard to come by in period martial arts movies, mostly because there
have simply been so many of them. With the historical events of the Korean
Joseon Dynasty, which resulted in a major division between peasants and the
wealthily oppressive royalty, Kundun has the perfect scenario for a Robin Hood
type narrative. Unoriginal as it may be, this is cinematically a perfect match,
providing plenty of action and a reason to root for the vengeance of the good
guys.
Although the
second half of this lengthy amps up the energy with plenty of action sequences,
Kundo takes its time in setting up
the narrative. We are given equal amount of character development for the
villainy of nobleman tyrant as we are the wronged butcher who becomes a leading
rebel seeking justified revenge. Allowing the back-stories of these characters
to develop gives weight to the film’s drama, also balancing the action-heavy
second half of the film.
After watching
his family unjustly destroyed, a butcher named Dolchi (Hang Jung-woo) joins a
band of rebels known as Kundo with intentions of seeking retribution from the
evil nobleman Jo Yoon (Kang Dong-won), whose precarious relationship with his
own family has made him a hardened man capable of great violence. These two
will inevitably battle it out several times throughout the film, giving the
narrative its main source of conflict, among many additional characters and
minor subplots. As enjoyable as the action and some of the slightly campy elements
of the film are, I can’t help but wonder if it would have been a stronger film
with a bit of restraint. Never during the 138-minute running time was I bored,
but the emotional resonance of the main characters is spread bit too thin
amongst all of the rest.
The visuals are
spectacular enough to warrant recommendation of high definition viewing, but
unfortunately there is little else to make the Blu-ray worth purchasing. The
only special feature available is a trailer, which seems odd for a film
boasting record-breaking box office numbers in South Korea
Entertainment Value:
7/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 7/10
Historical
Significance: 6.5/10
Special Features: 1.5/10
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