Noryang: Deadly Sea—Third in the Admiral Yi Sun-shin Trilogy

There are good reasons why Seoul has a fifty-foot statue of Admiral Yi Sun-shin. They definitely believe in the “great man” theory of history—and Admiral Yi was the man. He is responsible for pretty much every naval victory over Japan during the Imjin War. Thanks to him, there are enough David-over-Goliath victories to fill entire trilogy. Having previously triumphed in the Battle of Myeongryang, as seen in The Admiral: Roaring Currents, and the Battle of Hansan Island, depicted in Hansan: Rising Dragon, Admiral Yi’s hopes to finish off the Japanese invaders for good in Kim Han-min’s concluding Noryang: Deadly Sea, which opens today in New York.

Too many court councilors just want to rest on Yi’s hard-won victories and let the Japanese Navy slink home to regroup. However, those victories cost Yi many friends and at least one of his sons. He knows unless the Japanese Navy feels deep, wounding pain, they will just be back again in a few months.

Awkwardly, his key battlefield ally, Chen Lin, commander of the Ming Navy is crooked to his core. He also wants to allow the Japanese to safely retreat, so he can enjoy all the bribes they paid him. Chen Lin cannot turn on Yi outright, because he is under orders from the Ming Emperor, but it is questionable how far Yi can trust him.

Indeed, Noryang might be the most interesting film in the trilogy, because of how it presents Chinese and Japanese characters, somewhat diverging from the first two films. Chen Lin is a slippery cad on the make. Yet, even he cannot help falling under the sway of Admiral Yi’s commanding personality. On the other hand, Japanese Admiral Shimazu Yoshihiro is a hard man who makes some brutal decisions, but Kim largely vindicates his judgement. His downfall comes in trusting his political rival, Japanese General Konishi. Maybe it is a hopeful interpretation, but Noryang just does not read like the kind of anti-Japanese propaganda Beijing would like to see.

Like the previous two films, Noryang is also fully loaded with rip-roaring, but spectacularly destructive naval battles. Kim gives us about 75 minutes of intrigue and context, before heading back to the high seas, where the film stays for its remaining duration. With each film, Kim goes bigger and grander, reaching new heights in Noryang.

The sea clashes always took priority over quiet character development in the Admiral Yi films, but in Noryang, his tense relationship with the scheming Chen Lin is grist for some first-rate military drama. Taking over from Park Hae-il and Choi Min-sik before him, Kim Yun-seok is almost too noble and too righteous as the great Joseon admiral.

Hansan: Rising Dragon

Sure, battling over one hundred Japanese ships with only 56 of his own sounds like tough odds, but Joseon Admiral Yi Sun Shin took on more than that with a mere twelve vessels of his own in the Battle of Myeongryang. That battle, depicted in Roaring Currents, transpired five years after this one, the Battle of Hansan Island. Like at Myeongryang, Admiral Yi is always outnumbered, but never out-strategized in Kim Han-min’s Hansan: Rising Dragon, which releases today on DVD and BluRay.

Lord Wakisaka Yasuharu has been dispatched to Korea to take charge of Japan’s invasion. In many respects, the campaign was going well, but they suffered an embarrassing naval setback as a result of their loss to Admiral Yi at the Battle of Sacheon. Presumably, that will the third film in Kim’s proposed Admiral Yi trilogy, which appears to be working backwards through his timeline.

Both commanders are preparing for a climatic battle, yet they each have difficulty unifying their rival officers. The Joseon emperor isn’t even present to offer council, which is probably just as well. Nevertheless, Yi must convince his colleagues to attack, rather than hunker-down in a defensive position that will only prolong the inevitable. Of course, the naval commanders also have spies placed in the enemies’ camps, but Yahuharu’s are particularly nasty, whereas Yi manages to recruit Junsa, a forcibly drafted Japanese sailor, disillusioned by his officers’ dishonorable conduct.

Like Kim’s first Admiral Yi film, Hansan features some very cool naval battles. He has a talent for conveying tactics and strategy, without getting bogged down in technical detail. This is another big, sprawling film that is surprisingly well-served by its CGI.

Yi must have aged quite a bit in five years, because Choi Min-sik looked quite a bit older and more haggard in the previous film than Park Hae-il looks playing the role here. Unfortunately, he also lacks Choi’s gravitas and gritty charisma. Instead, Park is a bit standoffish and reserved.

The Admiral: Roaring Currents

During the late 1500s, naval warfare was a tough business, almost entirely powered by galley oars. Like most forms of warfighting at the time, it usually boiled down to a numbers game. Yet, Admiral Yi Sun-shin will try to hold off 330 invading Japanese vessels with a mere twelve ships (if that), largely through his force of will. Of course, he also has home field advantage, including the treacherous strait the Japanese will try to navigate in Kim Han-min’s smash Korean box office hit The Admiral: Roaring Currents (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Admiral Yi has often defeated the noble-born Japanese General Wakizaka, but he was lucky to escape their last confrontation with his life. Still ailing from his torture and imprisonment, the freshly released and pardoned Admiral Yi assumes command of the Joseon fleet, all twelve ships. Frankly, none of the king’s generals believe he can do anything with his ragtag remnant except let the army absorb them. In contrast, Admiral Yi understands they must slow the Japanese advance or his unappreciative king will surely be lost.

Needless to say, not everyone sees things his way, forcing the Admiral to deal with insurrection at the senior officer level. However, the Japanese leadership is even more deeply divided. While Wakizaka is still nominally in charge, de facto command has been assumed by Kurushima, the ruthless former brigand. He has no interest in winning hearts and minds, but his contempt and overconfidence might be his undoing.

Yes, Roaring is a Joseon St. Crispin’s day on the Myeong-Nyang Sea. Evidently, director Han is waging one man war against Shogunate Japan, following up his action driven War of the Arrows with Yi’s heroic story. While Roaring is not as breakneck and adrenaline charged as Arrows, it features some massive cannonball-and-grappling hook spectacle, churned to butter on the Myeong-Nyang’s roiling waves. Seriously, this probably not the film for viewers prone to sea-sickness.

It is also jolly good fun to hear the Japanese generals cursing Yi, like Seinfeld hissing “Newman.” Appropriately, the legendary Admiral is played with haggard gravitas by Choi Min-sik, currently one of the world’s biggest movie stars, given his turns in Oldboy, Nameless Gangster, New World, and Luc Besson’s Lucy. Although his Yi is considerably more reserved than his celebrated gangster performances, he fully brings out the Admiral’s tragically heroic dimensions.

Arguably, Choi’s most important co-stars are the warships and the angry sea, much as it was in The Perfect Storm. However, Ryu Seong-ryong’s Kurushima still makes a highly hissable villain, even if he does not quite generate the same malevolent charisma he brought to bear as Qing the Japanese man-hunter in Arrows. Although her screen time is brief, Juvenile Offender’s Lee Jung-hyun also adds a memorable note of pathos as the traumatized Lady Jung.

There is no question Han puts a lot of movie up on the screen with The Admiral. It is the sort of military epic Mel Gibson used to make before his implosion, which is meant as a compliment. Recommended for fans of patriotic Korean cinema and big picture historicals, The Admiral: Roaring Currents opens this Friday (8/15) in New York at the AMC Empire and the AMC Bay Terrace in Flushing.