The Divine Weapon (2008)
During the reign of King Sejong in the 15th century, the Joseon Dynasty was the embodiment of the perfect state. To the Ming China, the aspiring imperial power, Joseon presented an obstacle to territorial expansion. To protect themselves from war, King Sejong develops a secret weapon to defend their territory and take back their land and supremacy.
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Reviews
As Good As It Gets
Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
The first must-see film of the year.
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Well as we all know, remember this movie is fiction, didn't claim to be based on a true story except the movie is based on a real king and weapon. The only accurate thing in this film was making the weapon itself. Haven't we seen movies that done this before? Like Wild Wild West? The only problem thing for me is that Ming and Korea never went to war with each other. If u r just looking for the entertainment like sword dashing action and explosives, then this is the movie for you, BUT if you are a history buff or Chinese, its best for you to avoid this...or better yet hate it, if you do watch it though...don't think Koreans are trying to change history, if u want to watch something more accurate then I recommend watching some korean historical dramas or documentaries...they respect history more than this film...that is not the aim of this movie, its trying to stir and exploit korean nationalism as well as giving good entertainment action. :D
This was a entertaining movie from beginning to end and is like the movie "300" but with a more captivating plot. Not being racist but I noticed that a lot of Chinese turn a blind eye and tries to bash on this movie by turning a blind eye. But most historical movies from china is far from being historically accurate and goes in more of the video game directions, especially movies about the seven kingdoms. Especially the fight sequences with men and sometimes women doing crazy stunts to dodge arrows and jumping almost 10 feet in the air to strike a enemy. Truth is china did try to suppress Korea and Koreans created weapons advanced at the time to fight back. Now some scenes in the movie probably didn't happen the way it did, but what historical movie is 100% accurate? I found how Chinese bash on this film in a unfair manner, while turning a blind eye on there super historically inaccurate movies and glorify it while trying to bash on a film that is more accurate than most historical Chinese films. Sure I can understand how it tries to make it more entertaining for the viewers but far from being accurate in most cases. The action is fun to watch and the pacing of this film is well done and you actually care for the characters that is trying to fight for independence. If you want to see one guy fighting 100 at once or people flying in the the air like some movies you might be disappointed. I enjoyed this film though and I highly recommend other Asian movie lovers to check it out as well. I like Chinese movies, but is annoyed by some ignorant critics. Kinda like how some Persians threw a hissy fit about the movie "300", except this film is not based on a comic book. 7.7/10
I would enjoy this movie if the director could did some homework on history.1. The costume of the Chinese officers and solders are very strange, it is a mixture of China in Yuan dynasty (Mongolian style), Ming dynasty, and Qing dynasty (Manchurian style). Ironically the Koreans (mostly man) in this movie are dressed in the costume of China in Ming Dynasty, which is correct because they learnt it from China.2. In Ming dynasty, the kingdom of Korea was under sovereign of China. The emperor o China declared Korea as a kingdom which China would never fight with. Actually, in 16 century, Japan invaded Korea and it was China helped them to win the war. This war cost the Ming dynasty a lot which was one of the reasons of its fall. And after its fall into Qing dynasty, the kingdom of Korea was still loyal to Ming and kept using the era name of the last emperor of Ming internally till 19 century 3. Gunpowder was invented in China and already equipped in the army as early as in 11 century. In Ming dynasty they even had an army equipped with guns and cannons, which was called Divine Engine Division (Shen Ji (Shin Ge) Ying, the first two characters are same as this movie's title, and the last one means division). It's hard to believe they didn't show any of this in this movie.I could understand Korea proud of their nation and achievement, but this should not be based on screwed history.
Shin ge jeon includes all that i am looking for at a historical epic Asian movie.Greate costumes, evil generals, a lot of sword fight, a hero and a few interesting historical details. Also of course great landscape pictures and battle scenes with fire and explosions :).It is for sure not the best Asian movie ever. And there is no compare with high end martial arts movies like Tiger and Dragon or Hero. All fighting scenes are made more realistic then in the most other movies from that genre. If you like to see warriors flying all the time and a hero who can kill 100 men with a stick in less then a minute, then this is the wrong movie for you.If you like historical Asian movies in the stile of "a small country is trying to defend it self against an empire" then you surly will enjoy it.The movie includes a bit to much different characters. At the end of the movie i lost it completely who were all that guys which are died with great heroism :).Also the love story, which seems to be essential in such movies, was not as disturbing as normal.