Notable Cast: Park Hae-il, Byun Yo-han, Ahn Sung-ki, Son
Hyun-joo, Kim Sung-kyu, Kim Sung-kyun, Kim Hyang-gi, Ok Taec-yeon
War of the Arrows with its blend of historical
setting and marital arts action easily had me smitten. When he returned to that
style with The Admiral: Roaring Currents, I was also relatively smitten.
The style was epic, in both visuals and tone, and naval warfare at its center
was as dynamic as Choi Min-sik was in in the titular role. Thus, when Kim Han-min
decided to make another film in the same ilk as The Admiral with Hansan:
Rising Dragon, it was hard not to get excited. The man has a knack for the
genre and style.
Yet, throughout the experience of Hansan, I was never
swept away in its wake. It fulfills all the necessary components laid out by
his previous two films, but it is one that felt more formulaic and drab this
time around.