Blu-ray Review: WAR OF THE ARROWS

Kim Han-min's War of the Arrows (Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon) was the second highest grossing homegrown film in Korea in 2011. Normally, such an achievement wouldn't impress me much, as I'm the last person on this earth to equate financial success with quality, however, in this case I'm genuinely happy. War of the Arrows is a top notch period action epic, on par with anything out of Asia in the last few years, and certainly less overtly tainted with politics than most films of its ilk from the region. Well Go USA will release War of the Arrows on Blu-ray/DVD combo on February 21st, and if you've a fan of Asian action, I definitely recommend you make a little space in your budget for this one.

War of the Arrows begins in media res, as we discover our characters in the midst of a battle which leaves a great archer and rebel dead and his children orphaned. The son, Choi Nam-yi (Park Hae-il from Memories of Murder and The Host), is tasked to protect and care for his young sister, Choi Ja-in (Moon Chae-won). They seek refuge among a community of rebels fighting against Manchurian incursion and grow strong and quick with a bow. Nam-yi is intent on fulfilling his father's legacy of defeating the Manchurians and creating a stable life for his sister. There to assist is Kim Seo-gun (Kim Mu-yeol), Nam-yi's good friend, and Ja-in's future husband. When the antagonists attack their refuge and kidnap Ja-in, Nam-yi and Seo-gun take action, and the battle is on.

Unlike many other Asian historical epics, the local history and politics in War of the Arrows provides no real barrier to understanding. In Hong Kong and Chinese historical films, there is a pronounced jingoistic slant toward either the Communist party in China or anti-Japanese sentiment in Hong Kong. These political undercurrents often interfere with the pure adrenaline rush that the films are created to provide, which in turn can alienate overseas audiences. Granted, overseas revenue certainly doesn't account for the bulk of their fortunes, but it is becoming more and more relevant as companies like China Lion and Well Go attempt to spread the gospel in new and aggressive ways.

War of the Arrows is based on a period of Korean history which is very important and formative to the psyche of the Korean people. The Manchurian invasions were but one of many attempts, often successful, to subjugate the Korean peninsula under foreign rule. It was the Manchurians in the distant past, the Japanese in the recent past, and even still the threat of invasion exists in South Korean, however slight, from above the 38th parallel. Luckily, in War of the Arrows, all that you need to know is that somebody took a girl, and her brother and husband are bound and determined to get her back. The end.

This simplification of the political subtext is welcome, and helps to create an inviting experience in which the audience can lose themselves. The action comes hard and heavy, and if a war of arrows doesn't sound incredibly engaging to you, trust me, this is one time you're wrong. The film manages to make the battle sequences remarkably thrilling and heavy hitting. Even though there is very little hand to hand combat, the long distance fighting via bow & arrow, spear, and any other throwing implement you can think of is riveting. There are a number of crazy set pieces that keep the action flowing, and the only time it slows down are to provide bits and pieces of exposition and character development that never feel overly expository or unnecessary.

I firmly believe that this is among the most well-rounded action films that Well Go USA has released in the last year, up there with The Man from Nowhere and Shaolin. It doesn't suffer from the propaganda that puts a slight damper on films like Ip Man or Legend of the Fist, but still manages to deliver the goods in an epic fashion. War of the Arrows is the real deal, and despite not having any huge names in the cast, it is a fantastic film, and probably the most exciting Korean film I've seen since Man from Nowhere.  Highly recommended.

The Disc:

Well Go's Blu-ray presentation of War of the Arrows is robust and quite impressive. The image quality on the disc is excellent, and showcases some killer photography and archery effects. The only piece that was even the slightest bit awkward was a slightly crude piece of CG with a tiger, but even that was not a distraction, as the pace of the film makes it work. The real star of this disc in my opinion, though, is the audio track. War of the Arrows' DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track is a monster. If I'd had to guess beforehand, I wouldn't have pegged an archery centered action film as my favorite audio experience of the year so far, but there you have it. The surround channels are extremely active with arrows and other projectiles whizzing by your head at all times, and there are lots of galloping horses doing the same. The LFE experience is intense, and this was almost enough to get my heart pumping all by itself even without the stuff going on on-screen. This is one you're going to want to crank up, people. Definitely a winner.

A bit disappointingly, the only extras are a very brief making of featurette (less than ten minutes), and a trailer. I know that with foreign acquisitions like this, distributors are often at the mercy of the license-holders when it comes to bonus materials, but I wanted to know more after enjoying this film so much.  That being said, I'd rather have a great film with few extras than a crappy film with mountains of extras, and War of the Arrows definitely fits into the former camp.  Buy it!