Revenge, a well-worn theme in Asian costume action-adventures, gets yet another workout in this Korean drama set in the 1590s when the Japanese were preparing to invade the country.
One novel twist in Lee Joon-Ik’s Blades of Blood is that the hero is a gifted acupuncturist and ace swordsman, despite the apparently minor inconvenience of being blind.
Another is this scruffily-dressed fellow is also a cackling comedian, prone to witty utterances such as 'Needles turn into food, drink and even sex," and whacking his young disciple with his walking stick.
In the screenplay adapted from a 1990s manga by Park Heung-yong, there are numerous scores to settle. Lee Mong-Hak (Cha Seung-won), the ruthless, ambitious leader of a rebellion against the Korean government, the Grand Alliance, kills a nobleman. The nobleman’s bastard son Han Gyeon-ja (Baek Seong-hyeon) confronts Lee and is stabbed. Unwisely Lee doesn’t finish him off and Han is nursed back to health by blind acupuncturist Hwang Jeong-hak (Hwang Jeong-min).
Hwang has his own reasons for wanting to take out Lee, his former partner in the Grand Alliance, blaming him for the death of his friend Jeong Yeo-rib (Im Jae-yun) and so joins forces with Han, whom he derisively calls 'my guide dog" and 'mutt." Also bearing a grudge against Lee is the beautiful Baek-Ji (Han Ji-hye), his former concubine who’s sore because he dumped her.
The byplay between Hwang and Han gives the film a fair bit of comedic energy, and the impressive Baek Seong-hyeon displays anger, bravery and grief when he’s not acting as Hwang’s foil. Cha Seung-won has an imposing presence as the villain, a more nuanced, reflective character than the typical bad guy.
The sword fights and other battle scenes are expertly staged although no great advance on numerous other actioners from the Orient; contrary to the film’s title, there’s not much blood and gore. Much less interesting are the machinations within the government over how to deal with the Japanese invasion.
There are a few anachronisms in the English subtitling: for example, I doubt the term 'bullshit’ was used in 16th century Korea.
