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Someone is killing the ministers of the new king, and in a most
gruesome manner, too. The Kyu Yup, Human Butcher (Jo Jae-hyeon), a fighter
loyal to the king, called so because he is a quite ruthless fighter and
executioner, investigates - and soon picks up a lead that leads to his own
past. It seems the assassin always uses a sword bearing the Sword in
the Moon-imprint - and Sword in the Moon was a squad of elite
soldiers loyal to the old king, a squad the Human Butcher once belonged
to, and so did his best friend Choi Chi-hwan (Choi Min-su), and they both
were in love with their master's daughter Shi-young (Kim Bo-kyeong). These
were happy times.
But then, the Butcher was sent to the North while Choi Chi-hwan stayed
in Seoul, and suddenly a rebellion broke out that changed everything.
Suddenly the Butcher found his squad on the side of the rebels, while Choi
Chi-hwan and Shi-young were on the side of the king's loyalists. So the
Butcher left his squad temporarily to warn his friends, but upon coming
back he finds out that his commander hasn't taken his desertion (if only
temporarily) lightly and starts to kill the soldiers of his unit -
whereupon the Butcher offers his life to the king-to-be. Eventually, the
rebels fight the loyalists, witht he rebels winning, and tghe Butcher even
having to kill Choi Chi-hwan - which turned his heart cold.
But wait, Choi Chi-hwan didn't really die, he survived the ordeal, if
just, and Shi-young nursed him back to health - and now they both want
revenge, killing off the ministers of the new regime. Eventually,
Shi-young is captured, and tortured to give away Choi-Chi-hwan's
whereabouts - but she won't budge, and eventually Choi Chi-hwan frees her
quite daringly. Repeatedly, the Butcher and Choi Chi-hwan face each other
in duel, but neither can kill the other ...
The grand finale: Choi Chi-hwan wants to kill the king publicly, when
he and his guards cross the newly built bridge over the Han River to open
it to the public, and he even drugs Shi-young beforehands so she won't
jopin him and endanger her own life. But when Choi Chi-hwan takes on the
king's guards single-handedly, Shi-young shows up nevertheless to help
out, but is killed by the guards. Seeing Shi-young dead and Choi Chi-hwan
fighting but gradually being defeated, the Butcher questions his
ill-conceived loyalty to the new king and finally decides to side with
Choi Chi-hwan, even if they are fighting a losing battle ...
The film looks quite beautifully, cinematography, sets, scenery and
costumes are all a-okay, to say the least - yet the screenplay of the film
fails to impress: The story of two friends finding themselves on opposite
sides because of different loyalties has been told before countless times
in pretty much every genre, not just the historical martial arts film, and
nothing new has been added to the tried-and-true formula. Also, the film
lacks any spectacular setpieces or even outrageous martial arts sequences
to be in any way exceptional, plus it takes itself way too seriously to be
wholly entertaining.
That all said, the movie is not a complete waste of time, as I said, it
is very easy on the eye, it does feature quite some action, and if you
don't mind about the film's formulaic nature, you might even somehow enjoy
it. Don't expect anything spectacular though.
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amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Sword in the Moon at adultvideouniverse.com
