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For centuries, the rivalling tribes the Volcanoes & the Hawks
have been sworn enemies. Now the Hawks see final victory within reach,
as they only have to sacrifice baby Vee, using their holy sword. But
Vee's father, a Volcano, saves her from the deadly blade in the last
minute & spends the next 15 years bringing her up fighting the Hawks
- who still want Vee (Choi Jin-shil) for their sacrifice - and/or
running from them.
It is only then he finds a peaceful village of
benevolent Volcanoes who he leaves the girl with, & she finds a
quiet life she thought lost, friendship & even love. But
unfortunately not only armourer Dahn (Kim Seok-hun), whom she loves too,
is in love with her, but also Dahn's best friend Jeog (Sol Kyung-gu),
the warrior destined to be king, who is promised to aristocratic Yeon
(Kim Yoon-jin) though. & at a rite-of-passage quest for the fire to
the Holy mountain, a perilious journey indeed which should determine the
true king of the Volcanoes, Dahn even dies, seemingly making way for
Jeog not only to become king but also opening Vee's heart for him ...
until Dahn, against all expectations (he was saved by Vee's father it
turns out later) does come back, & he is now challenged by Jeog to a
duel for the supremacy of the Volcanoes he does not even want. Dahn
would even win the duel but gives up in order to not have to kill his
friend.
But then it turns out a prophecy says Vee has to be sacrificed
for the good of the tribe, & even though she does give in, Jeog
saves her from her death, now causing Dahn & Yeon to go after the 2
to save her from Jeog & sacrifice her, but then there's also the
Hawks, who also want to sacrifice her, but in a different way, &
Vee's father also shows up to save her from somebody & (I guess)
sacrifice her too (the whole affair is a little clearer in the movie
than it sounds in my synopsis - but not much clearer). & to make
things more interesting, Jeog even breaks up with his own tribe to join
forces with the Hawks, & even kills Dahn - but is killed by Yeon in
the nick of time, before he can ... well I don't know, save or sacrifice
Vee. Heartbroken, Yeon then breaks down over the corpse of her erstwhile
lover.
Vee, who has turned into a gingko meanwhile, has since acquired
the power to resurrect the death & thus brings Dahn back to life to
bid him farewell before she sacrifices herself for the good of the
Volcanoes. In terms of pure craftmanship, this movie is
competently handled, providing beautiful pictures, adequate actors &
special effects. On a story-level though, the movie is pure kitsch, not
at all helped that it is entirely made up from overused clichés, thrown
together without even the hint of imagination or an original idea at
all. This all is mirrored in the direction that instead of going its own
way just uses tried-&-true but tiring recipes & images, that in
the end rid the movie of each & any interesting aspect it might have
provided.
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