Great Battle, The (2018) Review

“The Great Battle” Theatrical Poster

Director: Kim Kwang-Sik
Cast: Jo In-sung, Nam Joo-Hyuk, Park Sung-Woong, Bae Sung-Woo, Um Tae-Goo, Seol Hyun, Park Byung-Eun, Oh Dae-Hwan, Jung Eun-Chae, Sung Dong-Il, Jang Gwang, Stephanie Lee, Yeo Hoi-Hyeon, Jung In-Gyeom
Running Time: 135 min.

By Pau Bramhall

The Korean historical blockbuster became particularly heavy handed under the years Park Geun-hye was president, with her policies and influence on the film industry resulting in a number of jingoistic productions which rivalled some of Mainland China’s most bombastically patriotic efforts. The likes of The Admiral: Roaring Currents, Northern Limit Line, and Ode to My Father all ensured the audience walk away knowing how self-sacrificing and tenacious their Korean heroes are, even if being imbued with that knowledge felt like being constantly hit over the head with it for 2+ hours. When Geun-hye was impeached in 2017 and Moon Jae-in took over as president, a politician keen to bridge ties between the North and South, the historical epic largely dropped out of favour from Korean multiplexes, and was replaced by the theme of North and South collaborating (see the likes of Confidential Assignment and Steel Rain).

The Great Battle felt like somewhat of an anomaly then when it was released in 2018, being the true story of how a few thousand soldiers defended the strategically important Ansi Fortress from hundreds of thousands of the invading Tang Army, keen to make the Goguryeo Dynasty a part of the Tang Dynasty. The parallels with The Admiral: Roaring Currents are blatant, with the only difference on paper being that this particular battle will take place on land rather than sea. Thankfully, on paper are where the similarities end. The Great Battle makes its intentions clear from the get-go that it’s here to do exactly what it says on the tin – deliver a number of great battles for the screen – and the sledgehammer patriotism that was a prerequisite of those productions which came just a few years before is nowhere to be found. 

The third feature from director Kim Kwang-sik, like so many directors that achieve significant praise with their debut feature, Kwang-sik subsequently struggled to meet the high expectations such success comes with. The debut in question was 2010’s My Dear Desperado, an entertaining romantic comedy starring Park Joong-hoon and Jung Yu-mi. In 2014 his sophomore feature Tabloid Truth hit cinema screens, an unremarkable thriller that was met with disappointment from those who were eagerly looking forward to seeing what Kwang-sik did next. A historical battle epic isn’t the most obvious choice to follow-up a low-key thriller and romantic comedy with, but that’s exactly what Kwang-sik has delivered, and for the most part the genre proves that it’s third times a charm.

Proceedings open with an epic battle which sees the Guguryeo soldiers massacred on the battlefield by a Tang army that boasts both superior numbers and tactics. We learn that the commander of Ansi Fortress, played by Jo In-sung (A Frozen Flower, A Dirty Carnival), for reasons unclear refused to send reinforcements to assist, which makes him and the whole town he presides over be seen as traitors of the nation. This betrayal is felt particularly strongly by another commander, played by Yoo Oh-sung (7 Assassins, Friend), who goes so far as to send one of the cadets under his command to assassinate In-sung. Played by Nam Joo-hyuk (Josee, Remember), we learn his character is originally from Ansi, so should be able to gain their trust and allow the fortress to quickly fall to the Tang army. As an audience, it’s Joo-hyuk’s perspective that we see things from, as he travels to infiltrate Ansi and pull an inside job on the commander.

In terms of story, The Great Battle plays out almost exactly how you’d expect it to. Unsurprisingly, once Joo-hyuk arrives in Ansi and meets with In-sung, instead of meeting a villainous traitor, he’s confronted with a figure who the town considers a hero (one character even says In-sung “is Ansi Fortress”). Willing to get his hands dirty, determined, and loyal, he’s the kind of commander that the villagers under his protection would be inspired to name their baby after (non-spoiler – we actually get a scene where this happens). Unable to go through with his mission to murder In-sung, instead, Joo-hyuk finds himself inspired to re-connect with his Ansi heritage, and fights alongside In-sung and his cohorts to protect the village once the Tang army show up, which it doesn’t take them long to do.

Surrounding In-sung and Joo-hyuk are a who’s who of familiar Korean faces. A spear wielding Bae Sung-woo reunites with In-sung from the previous years The King as his trusty right hand man, while Park Byung-eun (Assassination, No Tears for the Dead) and Oh Dae-hwan (RV: Resurrected Victims, Veteran – here in a role that a couple of years prior would no doubt have gone to Ma Dong-seok) play a bickering swordsman and axe handler. The good guys are rounded off with Um Tae-goo (The Age of Shadows, Coin Locker Girl) as the leader of the horse cavalry, and Seolhyun (Memories of Murder, Gangnam Blues), who plays the leader of the all-female crossbow division. Tae-goo and Seolhyun are also secretly lovers, a secret driven by the fact that Seolhyun is In-sung’s sister, in the kind of dynamic that allows the audience to guess their fate from the first time they appear onscreen.

On the bad guys side a stony-faced Park Sung-woong (Office, The Shameless) plays the emperor of the Tang forces, who are accompanied by a captured Guguryeo woman with psychic abilities, played by Jung Eun-chae (The Fatal Encounter, Haunters). By enlarge though, the majority of the Tang army are portrayed as an endless swathe of attacking extras that bear down on the fortress, which sounds like a negative, but works well in the context of The Great Battle’s structure. Indeed it feels like Kwang-sik’s latest was very much built around its 4 key battle scenes, each one of which is satisfyingly lengthy, with the scenes in-between more often than not coming across as perfunctory filler. A decade on since Red Cliff kicked off a stream of battlefield epics, the fatigue that will have set in for many is largely avoided here thanks to the focus on strategy and tactics that supplement the prerequisite hacking and slashing.

Each attack forces the Tang army to take a different approach, which results in In-sung and his followers needing to think on their feet as to how they’re going to overcome the increasingly insurmountable odds, and it’s this sense of immediacy which helps maintain the tension and excitement. The sequences themselves are suitably chaotic, and despite obvious CG being used for some of the wide-angle shots showing 1000s of battling soldiers, the up close and personal shots are a joy to watch. During the 2^nd battle in particular, there’s a sequence in which the camera follows each of the key characters using a Matrix-esque mix of slow motion and real time, as we get to see in action why they’re specialists in their weapon of choice. 

While Kwang-sik lifts elements from other Korean battlefield epics like The Divine Weapon and War of the Arrows, it never feels derivative of them, and if anything The Great Battle would fit well sitting alongside such titles. My main criticism is that some of the characterisation is painted with too broad a brushstroke. When In-sung meets a poor family who’ve named their son after him, his excitement comes across as childlike and almost feminine, which works against his credibility as the staunch commander in later scenes. Joo-hyuk, effectively playing the audiences avatar, is serviceable in his first big screen appearance, having stuck to TV dramas prior to his role here. His shiny long hair, always perfectly styled, often make him feel more like an incarnation of a character from a mobile battlefield RPG game, rather than one which was fully realised in the script, but since his presence propels the plot forward it’s just about forgivable.

Special mention also goes to a scene which throws subtlety completely out of the window, when one character is about to sacrifice himself for the greater good. This being Korean cinema, it’s important to have an emotional last moment, so out of nowhere his mother walks into frame from screen right despite having no place in the scene, and they exchange the perfunctory “Eat well” etc. script generator lines. I don’t think it was intended as parody, but it can’t be described as anything else. Despite these issues though, as an unpretentious action flick that fully commits to its concept of delivering bombastic battle scenes, The Great Battle delivers on all accounts, just don’t go in expecting even a smidgen more and there’ll be plenty to enjoy.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10