King
Yeongjo is sort of the Donald Trump of the Joseon era. Centuries later, Koreans
still have misgivings regarding the way he ascended to the throne, but they
generally agree he appointed good judges. It is not for Kim Ho to say. After
months of scuffling, the former royal swordsman is enormously surprised when he
is appointed a lowly guard at Joseon’s version of a maximum security Federal
Pen. However, he will be the right man in the right place when conspirators come
to break out the leading rebel against Yeongjo’s rule in Kim Hong-sun’s The Age of Blood (trailer here), which screens
during the 2018 New York Asian Film Festival.
Not
only is Kim Ho working as a workaday screw, he is also now a junior to his
disappointed uncle. He doesn’t really know how things work, so he brings a
sword on his first day in uniform. Yes, he will be needing that later. When the
when the forces led by the hardnosed Do Min-chul attack the rock to break out
the fanatically self-righteous Lee In-jwa, they kill all witnesses in sight, guards
and prisoners alike. Of course, they weren’t counting on Kim Ho.
At
first, Age of Blood is sort of an
anti-prison break film, like a Joseon Rio
Bravo, but it evolves into a hard-galloping action movie, in the tradition
of War of the Arrows. In fact,
Yeongjo and his successor Jeongjo will be familiar to fans of Korean cinema
from previous films like The Throne,
Fatal Encounter, and Royal Tailor,
which together paint a decidedly ambiguous picture of their legacies.
In
fact, the intrigue is so far behind the scenes in Age of Blood, it is hard to form any hard and fast judgements. If
anything, viewers might get the nagging feeling Kim Ho is fighting for a
potential tyrant, but his loyalty is to the country and its laws, not to a single
man. Regardless, the action is the thing here—and it gets messy. There is
considerable hack-and-slash blood splattering going on here. No quarter is
asked or given.
Jung
Hae-in shows grit and action cred like we’ve never seen from his before, as Kim
Ho. He looks totally credible slicing and parrying, while also projecting the
appropriately world-weary man’s-got-to-do-what-a-man’s-got-to-do attitude. Hong
Soo-a is also shows off some nice chops as Lady Yoo Seo-yeong, Kim Ho’s
unexpected ally. Kim Ji-hoon’s Lee is arguably too cold-blood, but Jo Jae-yun
is terrific as Do, the intense but honorable adversary.
If
you want a sober assessment of Yeongjo’s administration, the Korea Society can
probably recommend a good book. If you want swordplay, archery, martial arts,
and general skullduggery, then Age of
Blood should keep you fully entertained for nearly two full hours.
Recommended for fans of period action films, The Age of Blood screens this Wednesday afternoon (the Fourth of
July) at the Walter Reade, as part of this year’s NYAFF.
