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Who wants - he will achieve.
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The Oglinki team has gone through many adventures. We celebrated at celebrations, overeating blueberry pies, rode at night, fearing ghosts, survived with wolves, trying not to leave a trace, survived storms, and one "lucky Martian" was even hit by frostbitten carp along the ridge ... We laughed and cried, fell and rose, lost friends and found them again. But we have burning hearts and new, sometimes paranormal, travels await ahead. We go from movie to movie, trying to broaden our and yours, dear readers, horizons. Stay with us! Well, we, eternal wanderers, are always on the road. And we don't need anything but this path to the elusive horizon.
Today we will plunge into a kind of exotic world of South Korean cinema, which strides across the planet by leaps and bounds and wins the hearts of millions of viewers. In recent years, we got acquainted with a number of wonderful movies: the tragicomedy "Parasites", which won many awards in 2020, the action-packed horror movie about the zombie apocalypse "Train to Busan", which conquered nerve-lovers, already being taken apart by the OglasKi team, a dramatic thriller " Blazing "and many others. In the next 15th issue, we will introduce you, dear friends, to the historical thriller "The Great Battle". Go! Rather, galloped !.
brune
In historical movies, like nowhere else, atmosphere and believability are important. Makeup, costumes, facts are important, as well as such nuances as the customs and mores of the era and the lexicon that the heroes own. The South Korean war drama The Great Battle has a problem with that. It looks like a story, real, by the way, like a fairy-tale fantasy, in which 645 is an alternative year.
In it, participants in the events – warriors of high ranks – behave anyhow, no subordination, some guys in the area. The commandant of the fortress is respected and loved, but he is purely their elder brother. I'm not sure, or rather, I'm sure that at that time many key aspects of life were diametrically opposed to those shown in the movie. For example, a noble unmarried lady could not openly have an illegal relationship (sex), and an exposed spy could hardly move freely wherever he pleased. And so on.
It was really boring to watch the movie, how to write a review. Even the excitement to smash to smithereens is not present, so, I pull the cat by the tail. All the time there was some kind of word-for-word – somewhere it was already – jokes, plot moves, cliched characters in cliched scenes. The similarity with some moments from the movies "The Lord of the Rings" - "sworn friends", fragments of battles was repeatedly striking. I will only note a couple of interesting military tricks and unearthly beauty of the leading actors.
I don’t know why and for whom such movies are made in all countries. It's like we now have pictures about WWII, such as "T-34". Both movies are for the sake of special effects and slow-mo, only in "The Great Battle" arrows are flying, and in "T-34" Petrov is using armor-piercing shells. By the way, both there and there the heroes are cute and white-toothed. Generally, no immersion in the historical era. I'm frankly sorry for the time wasted.
OlegD
Korean cinema most effectively combines the Asian love of entertainment and Hollywood's ability to turn it into a rather realistic picture, so even when seemingly unimaginable things happen on the screen, questions it doesn't cause. I just want to shout: "Cool!" However, behind this lies the main deception of the "Great Battle". After all, the movie is positioned as a historical movie, although only the fact that hundreds of years ago there really was a war between the early Korean state of Goguryeo and the Chinese Tang empire remained from history. Actually, it is not surprising that the Koreans decided to show their defenders and national heroes in an exceptionally victorious light, and the invaders, on the contrary, in the form of incompetent ones, cowardly, rather pathetic people. The dramaturgy of the movie has not gone too far from a brief retelling of events, accompanied by gallant phrases, stating for the slow-witted viewers everything that they, it would seem, already see on the screen. Therefore, you are unlikely to be able to feel the movie with your soul, unless, of course, Korean culture is something close and dear to you.
Nevertheless, for fans of epic battles and somewhat reminiscent of a story, where there are huge troops besiege impregnable fortresses, where heroes zealously demonstrate their valor and courage, where huge cobblestones soar into the sky, and wheels engulfed in flames roll down the hills, "The Great Battle" can become a worthy pastime. Of course those who compare this movie to one two-hour battle at Helm's Deep " In the battle scenes themselves, the director does not observe the balance: either the graphics are lame, at the same time turning the formidable detachments of warriors into theatrical extras, or the scale of the battle comes almost to the great siege of Minas Tirith from The Lord of the Rings. The constantly used "slow-mo" effect is rather harmful. Of the advantages of the picture, I would like to single out the work of costume designers. The armor is perfectly matched, which is a rarity in many projects lately. The only thing that is really depressing is – faded pictures, brighter tones in some scenes would draw more attention to the successful details of the movie.
TREADSTONE
I'm not afraid to say the following: the battles shown in the movie "The Great Battle" are not inferior in scale and the duration of the battle for Helm's Deep from the already cult tape " but also very philosophical questions are discussed: "Will blind obedience lead to victory?", "How to determine who is a traitor and who is the real defender of our Motherland?", "Are we ready to decide our own destiny?" The story in the movie is consistent. They will not "play" with flashbacks here, with timelines, they will not delve into politics.
Want to know more about the reasons for China's war with the South Korean state of Goguryeo – flip through Wikipedia, at the same time be surprised how closely the movie conveys real events. In the foreground, the relationship of the main characters and the battle itself, and in what unusual way the enemies tried to capture the fortress of Annecy. Yes, it was not without artistic assumptions. But this is in many of these movies. Invented characters and meetings - this should not confuse anyone. Especially when it comes to such long-standing events. We are still looking at fiction, not documentary. And as a feature movie based on historical fact, it is quite good. Spectacular, sometimes dramatic, with interesting characters, some of them, as in "The Lord of the Rings", are more responsible for humor than moving the plot.
It is definitely easier and easier to look at familiar Hollywood faces, especially when you know so little about the cinema of South Korea, China or Japan that you can't even understand by name – are they Chinese or Koreans? However, one should not give up on this movie just because "it is difficult to distinguish one brother from another." A little patience and you will get involved. And yes, keep a distance of five steps.
Angelina
Chronicle of the "Great Battle".
00.00. The first 15 minutes I watched and thought - not my movie ... Fight, fight - I don't feel sorry for anyone, because I don't know who is who and for what. I even went to the kitchen for chips. But then something went wrong. Rather, on the contrary: an interesting story appeared, the characters began to be liked. And when you empathize with the heroes, the plot begins to play with new colors.
Sa-Mul, a young warrior, received a difficult task from the general: to return to his native fortress of Annecy and kill its ruler - a traitor. But here's the catch - Yang Man-chun turned out to be a nice guy who does not hesitate to communicate with his people, lending his shoulder and helping to pull the cart out of the mud. He participates in the work to strengthen the fortress on a par with ordinary mortals, and does not hide in an underground bunker, dressed in holiday armor. Yang Man-chun liked Sa-Mule as a person and as a symbol, if you like. As the people said: "The ruler is Annecy." The eternal question arose before the warrior: "What to do?" - he swore an oath.
00.40. Chinese troops laid siege to the fortress. The scale of movieing is impressive: a huge number of extras (of course, a lot of computer graphics), cavalry, ancient siege weapons - 200 thousand against the Annecy garrison. The forces are too unequal. 20 minutes of non-stop combat with elements of slow-mo, blood, gushing red water, flickering blades, arrows, crossbows and axes.
01.00. After an hour (from the beginning of the story) I was able to exhale. But, it turns out, not for long.
01.07. Seven minutes of silence and all over again. The brawling shouts of the commanders: "Not a step back!", "Never retreat!" - without them it is so difficult for soldiers to die. They are without slogans, as without gingerbread. / I started crunching chips nervously /. Fiery fireworks of "oil bags", burning wheels flying from the embankment in the dark ... It even looks beautiful if you are not there, but at home, through the centuries you look at this sight, sitting in a comfortable armchair.
01.16. Halt with dancing and barbecue. Of course, I lied about the latter - you can't see what they ate there.
01.27. A sortie behind enemy lines. Oh, what a marvelous couple - the brave Pa-Seo and the beautiful Baek-ha.
01.38. Sa-Mul in action. Why not give it a try? "There won't be two deaths, but one will never be avoided."
01.46. New strengthening of the enemy. A grandiose, for those times, engineering structure. What will stop this? I will call this chapter: "Geniuses and heroes. Or how are children's sand cakes useful?" br />"And then?" - you ask. Further - "And the eternal battle! We only dream of peace!", As Blok wrote. After all, only the small proud fortress of Anxi stands like a bone in the throat of the troops of the ambitious conqueror Li Shimin on the way to Pyongyang.
02.00. The last relic is used. And what remains? Only hope and faith.
Result: 2 hours 16 minutes flew by almost imperceptibly. Music accompanied all battles and halts. Good music is cheerful and sad. Everything is in place and in time.
The siege of the Ansi fortress of the Goguryeo state is a real event that took place in 645. The movie "The Great Battle" does not pretend to be historical, in the sense that it tries, but much has been changed for the sake of a cinematic "miracle". To me, as a spectator, some episodes seemed devoid of elementary logic, for example: a spy with a dagger in his hand, shave me. Or the shocking Paek-ha - stupid antics of a desperate girl, but she, for a moment, is the sister of the ruler. But, nevertheless, the movie is still worthy of at least one viewing, at least for the sake of wonderful Korean actors of extraordinary beauty and skill: Cho In-sung (Yang Man-chun, ruler of Ansi), Nam Joo-hek (Sa-Mul), Om Tae-gu (Pa-Seo), Kim Seol-hyung (Baek-ha), Jung Eun-chae (fortune teller), Park Sung-un (Lee Shimin), etc.
Summary: We have cited the pros (large-scale battles, atmosphere, costumes, music, actors) and cons (lame, sometimes graphics and logic, slow-mo, pathos, historical unreliability), and you, dear readers, have to evaluate the whole picture. Enjoy your viewing.
Grades on a ten-point scale: The Topic of Article: OPENING: Academy Review of The Great Battle.
Author: Jake Pinkman |
