Musa

Musa - The Warrior

Cast:

Jung Woo-sung as Yeosol
Ahn Sung-kee as Jinlib
Ju Jin-mo as General Choi Jung
Zhang Ziyi as Princes Buyong
Park Yong-woo as Jumyeong
Park Jeong-hak as Ganam
Yu Hye-jin as Duchung
Lee Du-il as Jisan
Han Yeing-mok as Danseng
Yu Rongguang as Rabmulhua

Summary

?Musa? which also translates into ?The Warrior? is a film directed by the highly acclaimed Korean director, Kim Sung Soo. It is also the retelling of the 1954 classic masterpiece ?Seven Samurai? directed by Akira Kurosawa.

The film is set in China in 1375, shortly after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty by Chu Yin Cheung in Nanjing. During this period there is continued fighting along the Great Wall for the supremacy of China between the Yuan and Ming armies. In the middle of this, Koryo (ancient Korea) has sent a delegation of diplomats, warriors, and servants hoping to establish peaceful relationships with the new Ming Dynasty. Amongst the group is a slave called Yeosol (played by Jung Woo-sung) who doesn?t talk much. As a result of a misunderstanding, the delegation are accused of being spies and have been exiled to a remote desert on the outskirts of China.

Along the way, the Ming armies charged with guarding the delegation are ambushed and murdered by a group of Yuan soldiers. The head of the delegations died during the battle and it is up to young General Choi Jung (played by Ju Jin-mo) to lead them across the harsh baron desert to reach home safely. In order to avoid further confrontation with the Ming and Yuan armies, General Choi takes the most difficult path across the plains of Central China. Many lives are lost along the way as some people are virtually swallowed up by the desert.

Yeosol?s master dies of exhaustion during the journey and declares him to be a ?free man?. The delegation reach a temporary salvation in the middle of the desert after many days of weary travel. There they meet a kind old monk called Jisan who is also from Koryo and seeking to go home along with the delegation. Seeing his fellow countrymen in such a wretched state he offers to pay for their meal.

Bad luck strikes them when a Yuan army arrives after kidnapping Princess Buyong of the Ming Dynasty (played by Zhang Ziyi). In the evening General Choi receives a call for rescue from Princess Buyong. After deliberating on a final decision for over a night, General Choi, finally orders his men to ambush the Yuan soldiers near a ridge. Despite being accused as spies, General Choi thought that by rescuing the Princess he could clear this confusion and establish peaceful relationships with the Ming Dynasty. His delegation would then return to Nanjing and receive a warm reception. Besides, he had also fallen for the Princess Buyong. But General Choi gets more than he bargained for as he would later discover.

During the skirmish with the Yuan army Yeosol saves Princess Buyong. She immediately falls for him, despite not showing it outwardly. She later asks Yeosol to be her guard but he refuses by stating that he is now a free man. He would rather return to his master?s burial than be her guard. His actions angers General Choi who decides to order his men to beat him for failing to comply with orders. Yeosol would have been killed by General Choi had Princess Buyong not pleaded on his behalf.

Once again the group set off to find a boat so they can cross the Yellow River and escort Princess Buyong back to the capital at Nanjing. But the vengeful Yuan army pursue non-stop after them, setting up camp along the Yellow River and murdering anyone who attempted to cross it. A group of local Chinese villagers, fearful of being murdered by the Yaun army, follow one of the Koryo warriors, and seeks refuge with General Choi. He eventually has to accept responsibility to protect them after much deliberation. This slowed the group in reaching the delegation as they had many old men, women, and children amongst them. Furthermore, Princess Buyong refused to swallow her pride and walk, so the group had to make a carriage for her. It took four able soldiers to carry Princess Buyong, draining their strength for battle.

Eventually the Yuan soldiers caught up and ambushed them in the forest. Desperate to please Princess Buyong and at the same time prove that he is a worthy leader, General Choi seeks to eliminate the pursuing Yuan soldiers in spite of advice from his loyal Lieutenant friend. All of General Choi?s mighty warriors are murdered during the battle. But the Lieutenant of the peasant Koryo army, Jinlin (played by Ahn Sung-kee), leads his peasant warriors and achieves a stunning victory against the Yuan army. This causes the delegation to question the leadership of General Choi who has made a lot of difficult decisions thus far. A small internal revolt leads to Jinlin being elected as the new leader of the delegation.

Jinling leads the men safely to a castle where Princess Buyong had promised that the Ming army would greet and protect them. But they were greeted with only despair when they uncovered that the castle has been abandoned a long time ago. Soon the Yuan army arrive and set up camp around the castle, blocking all possible escape paths. The Chinese villagers, including the Koyro warriors begin verbally abusing and blaming Princess Buyong for leading them to a dead-end. General Choi decides to speak up and vows to protect Princess Buyong at all costs.

When the Yuan army offers a trade of Princess Buyong for their own freedom, Yeosol rides out alone to greet the Yuan messenger. He uses his spear and decapitates the messenger?s head from his shoulders. This sparks a heated battle between the Yuan army and the Koryo army. During the skirmish, Princess Buyong is surrounded by a group of warriors. Yeosol leaves his post to save her, causing great casualty amongst the delegation. The castle would have been taken had it not been for the fact that Rabmulhua (played by Yu Rongguang) ordered a retreat of his armies to morn over the death of their great Khan, Cooko Temur.

Once again the local Chinese villagers and peasant Koyro warriors blame Princess Buyong for their troubles. Feeling partly responsible, lonely, and unwanted, Princess Buyong opens the gates of the castle and attempts to give herself up to the Yuan army to stop further bloodshed. But Yeosol, who loves her deeply, would not allow that to occur and rushes out to restrain her as the Yuan army approaches. They fight and General Choi, who also loves Princess Buyong, rushes out to save her as well. Together, he and Yeosol manage to help the Princess to safety. But they are both trapped as a result and would fight to the death together. But General Choi is saved by his loyal Lieutenant friend who sacrifices his life. Yeosol is captured by Rabmulha who respects his abilities and wants him to join the Yuan soldiers.

Later Rabmulha orders a final siege on the castle. That day it snowed. Jinlin and general Choi finally unite in an effort to protect the safety of the Princess, local Chinese villagers, and their own delegation. But they were outnumbered and defeated despite fighting bravely. All of the peasant Koyro warriors under Jinlin are killed tying to protect local Chinese Villagers. Just when all hope had faded, Yeosol arrives to assist them after turning down an offer to become a general of the Yuan army. He fights side by side with General Choi to protect Princess Buyong. But during the skirmish, General Choi is seriously wounded and assumed dead by Rabmulha. Princess Buyong was now at his mercy. He picks up a spear and attempts to kill her, noting that many soldiers on both sides had died because of her. But Yeosol leaps out and takes the spear in the stomach instead and is slained. Rabmulha appears to be shocked upon realising that he had killed a prized warrior whom he wanted to convert as a general of the Yuan army. General Choi with his last breath of strength seizes upon this opportunity to kill Rabmulha. In the process, General Choi gets killed as well. He falls on the ice, and smiles at the only Koyro survivor Jinlin before finally dying.

General Choi?s and Yeosol?s combined efforts ensure that Princess Buyong escaped the battle with her life. Jinlin, the lone Koyro survivor attempts to travel back to his homeland on a small raft across the wide open sea. He takes with him a lock of hair from each member of the delegation that has travelled to China with him as a sign of respect.

Rating ? 4.5/5

I?ve never seen such an epic film before. This is comparable to the feats of ?Braveheart? and ?Gladiator? in terms of gruesome and realistic battle scenes. The spear fighting skills of Jung Woo-sung has to be reckoned with. Each thrust and each swing looked like a natural trained martial arts expert. The casting and the acting was just simply fantastic. The level of detail put into each and every shot is stunning. Ju Jin-mo looked like a dashing heart throb in that General outfit.

You almost felt as if the actors and stuntmen had actually sacrificed their lives for this movie, such was the realistic nature of the fights and beheadings. It?s simply the best modern day film in the ?last man standing?, and ?small group against all odds? genre. It?s a must see for all movie lovers.

As the acting goes, you can?t really fault any one actor/actress. Then again, with the level of effort and detail put into making movies these days, the director of the film, and not the actor/actress, would be the one ultimately blamed if a piece of bad acting appeared on the big screen. After all, the director would be the person responsible for selecting from 30 odd takes of the same scene, the one take with the bad acting to appear in the final film.

This is the first time I?ve seen Ju Jin-mo and Jung Woo-sung, and I was impressed with both of their performances. So much so that I actually felt sad when their characters died since it?s only natural when watching a movie to usually only care about the characters that your favourite actor/actress plays. They both portrayed the struggle of the delegation, and tensions between the various characters well.

Zhang Ziyi played a rather spoilt and stubborn Princess in this movie. Once again, the character she played was a ?hated? character. Such was the level of her acting abilities, that she made me hate and curse at the character of Princess Buyong throughout the movie. I have to admit that I was greatly annoyed when Princess Buyong survived the last battle. I have to thank Zhang Ziyi?s superb acting skills for drawing out such hatred towards the character she portrayed. This is my third experience with Zhang Ziyi, and she has a lot of natural acting talent for a long career ahead.