Current Affairs

Somewhere, I heard that The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014) was an immensely Korean costume war film. Somehow, after Parasite, I put it on the queue. It was a ways down the queue, but these days you never know what you're going to get.

It takes place in the 16th century, when Japan was invading Korea. They had wiped out most of the Korean navy, leaving only twelve ships. Admiral Yi (Choi Min-Sik) had been suspected of treason and tortured by the corrupt and ineffectual Korean regime, but now they put him back in command. Everything seemed hopeless. The Japanese were advancing, and sending him the heads of generals. His men were deserting, and he was chopping off the heads of deserters. One of the deserters burned his turtle ship - the massive armored vessel that was the pride of the fleet. But the Admiral had one last ditch plan: the Roaring Currents.

A narrow strait between the Japanese position and the capital was known for its treacherous currents and the occasional whirlpool. So he would lure them into the strait and fight them there. This part starts about halfway into the movie, and takes up most of the last half.

The naval battles are good brutal fun. There's a lot of CGI, but a lot of practical effects as well. Really, I guess this is why people flocked to this movie (in Korea) and it got such good reviews (on twitter, I guess - I can't remember where I read about it). It also has some amazing sets and costumes, especially for the Japanese. It's funny, though. The Japanese costumes were supposedly museum-accurate, but looked sort of silly. I don't know if the effect was intentional - they are the bad guys - or just filtered slightly through Korean sensibility. Especially because the Korean costumes tended to be quite plain and simple.

There was also a good bit of Korean anguish and agony, so this isn't completely the opposite of Parasite. But I'm afraid it didn't really grab me. The naval tactics seemed to be based largely on standing still - Admiral Yi drops anchor at one point, at another goes to hang out by the shore. The tactics often look like improvisation, not clever plans. And the ships of that period looked big and boxy, and kind of clunky.

I actually preferred a much worse movie, the Thai Legend of the Tsunami Warrior.