It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Set in the middle of the fifteenth century tensions are high between the Kingdom of Korea and the more powerful Chinese Empire with the latter trying to dominate the former. The Koreans have secretly developed a new weapon but Chinese agents have found out and stolen the calculations required to develop the weapons. The Inventor is killed but his daughter escapes and helps continue the work on the weapons. There are many difficulties in the development; they must get the ingredients to make the gun powder and they still need the calculations. Inevitably the two sides will eventually meet in battle and the new weapons will finally be tested.While this might not be historically accurate that didn't affect my enjoyment of the film... perhaps because I don't know much about Korean history. The story is interesting with plenty of exciting moments leading up to a fairly spectacular final battle. As well as some impressive close quarters fighting we see two fearsome weapons deployed; one that uses rockets to fire hundreds of arrows and great range and a the second, a missile with considerable explosive force. The characters are interesting and while we do get an inevitable romance it doesn't detract from the main story. The cast does a good job bringing their characters to life. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of far-eastern action in an historical setting... especially if you want realistic action rather than the highly choreographed, super-human fighting that features in many films.These comments are based on watching the film in Korean with English subtitles.

Well as we all know, remember this movie is fiction, didn't claim to be based on a true story except the movie is based on a real king and weapon. The only accurate thing in this film was making the weapon itself. Haven't we seen movies that done this before? Like Wild Wild West? The only problem thing for me is that Ming and Korea never went to war with each other. If u r just looking for the entertainment like sword dashing action and explosives, then this is the movie for you, BUT if you are a history buff or Chinese, its best for you to avoid this...or better yet hate it, if you do watch it though...don't think Koreans are trying to change history, if u want to watch something more accurate then I recommend watching some korean historical dramas or documentaries...they respect history more than this film...that is not the aim of this movie, its trying to stir and exploit korean nationalism as well as giving good entertainment action. :D

This was a entertaining movie from beginning to end and is like the movie "300" but with a more captivating plot. Not being racist but I noticed that a lot of Chinese turn a blind eye and tries to bash on this movie by turning a blind eye. But most historical movies from china is far from being historically accurate and goes in more of the video game directions, especially movies about the seven kingdoms. Especially the fight sequences with men and sometimes women doing crazy stunts to dodge arrows and jumping almost 10 feet in the air to strike a enemy. Truth is china did try to suppress Korea and Koreans created weapons advanced at the time to fight back. Now some scenes in the movie probably didn't happen the way it did, but what historical movie is 100% accurate? I found how Chinese bash on this film in a unfair manner, while turning a blind eye on there super historically inaccurate movies and glorify it while trying to bash on a film that is more accurate than most historical Chinese films. Sure I can understand how it tries to make it more entertaining for the viewers but far from being accurate in most cases. The action is fun to watch and the pacing of this film is well done and you actually care for the characters that is trying to fight for independence. If you want to see one guy fighting 100 at once or people flying in the the air like some movies you might be disappointed. I enjoyed this film though and I highly recommend other Asian movie lovers to check it out as well. I like Chinese movies, but is annoyed by some ignorant critics. Kinda like how some Persians threw a hissy fit about the movie "300", except this film is not based on a comic book. 7.7/10

It's a hard movie to review. It doesn't seem like it would be a romantic comedy/melodrama/martial arts/swordplay film when all summaries seem to describe it as a historical epic. Since it is a mess of a movie, I'll keep it simple.Good: Solid Action, Great Climax, Good Actors, Good SFX, Decently Paced, Decent Costume Design, Good PlotBad: Not Enough Action, A Genre Mess, Overlong, Poor script leads to overacting, Poor editing and iffy direction/cinematography, Overdone SFX at Climax, Kind of Dull and Unorganized, Inconsistent Production Values, Messy Love story and lack of character development overshadow plot.It's worth a watch, it could be a lot worse, but it is also not the best Korean movie you could watch this year.