The Fortress (2017)

Director: Dong-hyuk Hwang

Starring: Byung-Hun Lee, Yoon-Seok Kim, Hae-il Park

In 1636, King Injo hides in the mountains to avoid being part of the Qing dynasty.

An all-star cast in an undeniably great production. Sadly, though, I found the film overlong, slow moving and very repetitive in dialogue and actions. I mean, there must have been about twenty scenes or so of them meeting in the Royal chamber. How many times did they utter the words “he must be beheaded”, “send the crown prince”, etc.? This was a matter of deja vu, deja vu… The film became tedious having to watch the same over and over again.

Considering what I’ve already seen in Korean cinema, I can’t say the battle scenes were all that spectacular. They were indeed very good, but not impressive. I also didn’t understand the significance of the little girl. What was her purpose in the film?  She honestly didn’t play a mention-able role.

Although hailed by critics, this multi award winning film is forgettable (for me, at least). Next!

In Korean.