Reviewed by Rich Depping

NEW LINE CINEMA / CJ ENTERTAINMENT – 116 MIN – 2005 – RATED R
WIDESCREEN 2.35:1 – DTS 5.1 SURROUND, DOLBY DIGITAL SURROUND 5.1, STEREO
KOREAN LANGUAGE ONLY W/ ENGLISH OR SPANISH SUBTITLES

It’s refreshing, for a change, to see these epic martial arts & swords type films from places other than China and Hong Kong get an American release, especially when picked up by a major studio like New Line Cinema. For every Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, there are likely 3 films of the same caliber as Shadowless Sword languishing in obscurity.

THE MOVIE

The story takes place in the early 900AD period in the Korean peninsular region. The warring Georan have decimated the previous ruling Balhae kingdom, and have torn the region asunder. The elite battalion of the Georan, the Killer Blade Army, have been systematically tracking down and eliminating the remaining male members of the Balhae royal bloodline, with the opening scene leading to the execution of the last known prince by the alluring Mae, and the oddly costumed and coiffed Kun, who bares more than a passing resemblance to John Travolta’s middle management occupying alien character in Battlefield Earth. As news of the last prince’s demise makes its way across the remnants of the Balhae kingdom, the remaining loyalist generals hold council to decide their actions from here.

One makes mention of an exiled prince, who fled to a far away province 14 years earlier. It is decided to send Officer Soha, a highly skilled swordswoman, to seek out the prince in his last known whereabouts. When she arrives in the village, she finds Prince Jung-Hyun running a “fencing” operation out of a brothel under an assumed identity. Assuming Soha to be an assassin for knowing his royal lineage (as well as possessing a very special sword), he lures her outside and into a back alley to a trap set by a local gang.

After dispatching the thugs, Soha returns to the prince to reiterate their need to return to Balhae, and her intentions to guard him along the way. He still refuses to believe her claims of being a herald for his return to the kingdom and ascension to the throne, as “nobody would still want me alive unless all the other princes are dead”. After being explained this exact fact, Jung panics and attempts to flee on his own, where he is quickly caught by the local gang, who have now determined his real identity and plan to extort a fortune from him or the Georan. Within seconds of Soha showing up to rescue the prince, the Killer Blade Army arrives, demanding Jung’s head. After Mae kills the gang leader for mouthing off to her, the now enraged hoodlums rush the KBA, and Soha uses this chance to escape with the prince. Some crazy wirework, hand to hand & swordfighting, and 5 minutes later, they manage to escape into the nearby woods.

Along the journey Jung attempts to flee from Soha numerous times, using scumbag tactics he picked up in his years of exile (one of the more amusing methods being smashing a gang’s jug of soju, telling them it was on his ‘boss’ Soha’s orders, and asking if their leader had died of exertion with a prostitute, and fleeing during all the angry posturing) before coming to terms with his need to become king not for himself, but to unite his people, and free the kingdom from occupation. There are some epic and entertaining battles and encounters with the Killer Blade Army before Soha delivers the prince to her stepfather, a General who had served under the prince in his military past.

An epic good vs. evil battle caps off the film, which I will not spoil for the prospective viewer. Just be sure to stick around for the credits, as there are some extra scenes spliced in that help explain the plot a bit more.

I noticed quite a few plot points and story lines seemed underdeveloped, but I attribute that more to the translating and subtitling angling the film to be more action oriented than historical drama. Still would be nice to learn WHY the prince was exiled in the first place, and why he thought there might be assassins after him before he knew of Georan’s intentions for him

THE VIDEO

It’s a shame the transfer for such an epic film is so terrible. There are some outdoor scenes of brilliance, but a good deal of pervasive artifacting alternating with smudged muddying motion, even during action sequences, brings the whole thing down. I tried it on a few different players with connections varying from HDMI to Component to VGA, and even S-Video, no improvement. I have a sneaking suspicion the transfer was taken from another territories’ DVD release, with a quick menu reauthoring done for North America. Even the menu system has a slight washout effect to it when in motion… The worst part of all are the blinding English subtitles, which seem to be in a large Apple ][e font at enormous size and retina-frying white intensity. I am baffled by the choice of fonts, as switching to the Spanish subtitles gives a more pleasing, almost Arial or Times New Roman aesthetic.

THE AUDIO

Very crisp and clear, to contrast the varying video quality I imagine. I was remarking to myself about the deep bass resonance during one of the early battles, then noticed I had forgot to turn on my sub woofer when the receiver was clicked on. Be forewarned tho; all 3 audio tracks are Korean only.

EXTRAS

The bonus clips just further my thoughts of this being a quick reauthoring/repackaging job for North America – everything apart from the trailer seems to have been produced for the Korean market, with more eye gougingly bad English subtitles. The kick in the pants is that the trailer has beautiful, well positioned, and reasonably sized English subtitles. Why not keep those for the DVD, fellas? Eh? Eh?

Character introduction – 17:45
Behind the scenes – 6:30
Picture gallery – 1:30
Music video – 3:45
International Trailer – 2:10

BOTTOM LINE

Legend of the Shadowless Sword is a really entertaining historical fantasy piece, with action and comedy and rediculous acrobatic martial arts sequences, marred by the video production values. I’d highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys these swordplay films, and doesn’t mind them starring people not from China or Japan for a change.

SCORES (Out of 5):

The Movie: 4.5
Video: 2.5
Sound: 4.0
Extras: 2.5

Bottom Line: 3.5