The Restless (중천 (中天) (Joong-cheon) by Jo Dong-oh (조동오) (2006)
5 June 2007I had read some good things about this film so I decided to pick it up. Certainly not the best characters, or depth, but this is a very enjoyable mythical martial arts adventure taking place mostly in Mid Heaven, the place between Heaven and Earth. While the character development is light, and the story mostly a back drop, the effects and martial arts are quite good and enjoyable, and make for an exciting romp. The only problem with the story is it seems like it was seriously cut down from a much larger story, because it seems like some points are glossed over (and this would make an excellent Soap Opera), but still it is fun, even if I did kind of miss what happened to the ending. Worth checking out, but don’t expect anything too deep! The effects are very cool though, especially when spirits are released with the sword, and they burn away like paper.
This is the story of Yi Kwak [Jeong Woo-seong (정우성))] an ex demon fighter around 924 AD at the end of the Shilla Dynasty, when things are falling apart, and all the demon killers of the land have been killed, leaving demons to pray on the innocent and weak. Using his specially blessed sword, he saves a village from evil demons, but half the villagers turn on him, and give him poison wine, so he has to escape before he falls asleep, and makes it as far as a temple, where he passes out. Yi Kwak awakens in a strange land, and finds it is middle heaven and this is the land of the dead, where spirits go to cleans themselves before going on to Heaven or being reborn into the land of the living. A kindly dead soul, realizes he doesn’t know anything, as he has not erased his memory of cleansed himself and takes him to a white clad reaper, and they realize he is not dead, but in fact a living soul, but before anything can be done, trouble erupts. It seems evil spirits are attacking, and a group of riders come in protecting another white clad reaper, but this one a woman, and a spitting image of Yi Kwak’s dead wife Yon Hwa [Kim Tae-hee (김태희))]. Yi Kwak saves Yon Hwa, but he also finds that the enemy were his friends in the real world, the rest of the Chuh yong dae or demon hunting squad. Yi Kwak finds that Yon Hwa no longer remembers him, as she has had her memory cleans, but he vows to not leave her as he did to his wife before she was killed as a witch for his powers to see the dead.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Yi Kwak strts following Yon Hwa, who is on a mission to bring the power of the highest reaper to the reflecting mirror, which erases spirits memories and keep the evil spirits from returning to the real world, and destroying middle heaven, which will stop people from making it to Heaven or being able to be reborn. Yon Hwa does not believe him at first, but he agrees to clean himself, and when she leaves him, he follows, but she sees him being taken away by the chief of the evil spirits [Heo Joon-ho (허준호)] who explains what is going on, and that Yi Kwak must realize that love is fleeting, and doesn’t last, so he should not stop them in their quest. When Yi Kwak returns to Yon Hwa she doesn’t believe him, but he allows her to read his mind, and she knows he will not harm her, but still she tries to leave him. We learn that Yi Kwak was made chief of the demon hunting squad, and these were all his men, and he was a favorite of the chief, but then 2 more of them attack Yon Hwa, with spears and chains that come off the back of their armor, these are played by [Yoo Ha-joon (유하준)) & Kim Kwang-il (김광일))], and Yi Kwak must attack and destroy them with his demon quelling sword to save the one he loves.
The Chief who is planning revenge on the real world, and the evil court, as he once led the other demon quellers in a rebellion against the ministers who had in fact raped his pregnant wife, and caused her to kill himself. All the squad followed except Yi Kwak, who tried to stop them, and now he needs the power that Yon Hwa has to open the link to the real world so they can return and have revenge. His two followers that are left set out after Yi Kwak, the first [Park Sang-wuk (박상욱)] hates him and wants to kill him, and the second is a woman who loved him in the squad, and wants Yi Kwak for his own.
Yi Kwak has been badly wounded helping Yon Hwa, and the Yin energy of the land is getting into his wounds, still he manages to keep going, and they escape the chief’s followers once, and make it to an illegal village where the spirits have not erased their memories and revel in their memory of the real world, this place is led by a transvestite mintrel played by Park Jeong-hak (박정학), and it is here that Yon Hwa learns about love, and even performs a marriage ceremony for spirits, and begins to love Yi Kwak again, but again the chiefs followers attack, and Yi Kwak and the woman takes over the body of Yon Hwa, so Yi Kwak lets her stab him, and she abandons the body and ends up killing the other guy so they both die. Yon Hwa then goes against the rules of heaven and revives Yi Kwak with the power she has been given, but she is taken by the chief, and he starts to use her power to open the portal to the real world so he can return for revenge, but of course Yi Kwak shows up and battles him and sacrifices himself to save her, and she then sacrifices herself to return things to normal, and she is able to go to Heaven, and will always remember Yi Kwak, though he has been too badly hurt and dies.
•••••
Qiute an enjoyable popcorn action film, with great effects. As I said the story and character development are a little lacking, but overall the film is pretty fun and worth checking out.
The DVD is region 3 though, so be warned, and it is not the best transfer I have seen of late.
Feedback
You must be logged in to post a comment.