War of the Arrows

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Movie: War of the Arrows (English title) / Arrow, The Ultimate Weapon (literal title)
Revised romanization: Choejongbyungki Hwal
Hangul: 최종병기 활
Director: Kim Han-Min
Assistant Director: Jung Se-Kyo
Writer: Kim Han-Min
Producer: Kim Sung-Hwan, Jang Won-Suk
Cinematographer: Kim Tae-Sung, Park Jong-Chul
Release Date: August 11, 2011
Runtime: 122 min.
Genre: Action / Period-17th Century / Award Winning
Distributor: Lotte Entertainment
Language: Korean, Machurian
Country: South Korea

Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki Staff ©

Set during the second Manchu invasion of Korea, Nam-Yi (Park Hae-Il), the best archer in Korea, goes up against the Qing Dynasty to save his younger sister Ja-In (Moon Chae-Won) - who was dragged away by Mongolian invaders.

Nam-Yi's father was killed as a traitor to his country. Kim Moo-Sun, a friend of Nam-Yi's father, takes Nam-Yi and Ja-In and raises them as they were his own children. As a son of a traitor, Nam-Yi's future is limited. He spends his time hunting with the arrow and eventually becomes a master archer. Meanwhile, Nam-Yi hopes his younger sister Ja-In can find happiness. Finally, Ja-In is set to marry Seo-Goon (Kim Moo-Yul) after going through many difficulties. On the day of their wedding, invading Qing forces enter the village. The invading force slaughters many of the residents while taking others back as captives. Ja-In and Seo-Goon are among the hostages.

During the wedding, Nam-Yi is up in the mountains hunting deer. He hears the rumble of the invading forces. When Nam-Yi makes it back to the village, he finds his step-father slaughtered and his sister taken away. Nam-Yi then sets out to find the Qing army and take out their army with his bow. The great commander of the Qing army Jyuu Shin-Ta (Ryoo Seung-Ryong) discovers the mysterious man trailing his men and taking them out one by one. Jyuu Shin-Ta then sets out to find Nam-Yi. A war of arrows is set to begin ....

Notes

On September 4, 2011, "War of the Arrows," passed 5 million tickets sold in South Korea. As of the Sept. 5, 2011, "Arrow, The Ultimate Weapon," ranks #3 for the year in ticket sales behind #1 "Transformers 3" and #2 "Sunny." Detailed box office numbers listed at South Korea Weekly Box Office.
On Sunday September 26, 2011, "War of the Arrows" passed 7 million tickets sold in South Korea, becoming only the third film to accomplish the feat in 2011.
On October 23, 2011, "War of the Arrows" ranks #1 South Korea box office movie in 2011 with total admissions of 7,451,344

Cast



Park Hae-Il	Ryoo Seung-Ryong	Moon Chae-Won	Kim Moo-Yul
Nam-Yi	Jyu Shin-Ta	Ja-In	Seo-Goon



Lee Han-Wi	Lee Kyoung-Young	Park Ki-Woong	Ryohei Otani
Gap-Yong	Kim Moo-Sun	Doreukon	Nogami

Additional Cast Members:

Kim Ku-Taek - Kang-Doo
Kang Eun-Jin - Eun-Yi
Lee Seung-Joon - Wan-Han
Lee Jae-Gu - Hoo-Man
Park No-Shik - Jang-Soon
David Lee - Nam-Yi (young)
Jeon Min-Seo - Ja-In (young)
Lee Mi-So - gisaeng 2
Kim Hyun-Tae - Fureu Kang
Choi Yoo-Ra - woman who is offered to Doreukon
Jo Woo-Jin - Qing messenger officer
Gu Seo-Jun - Qing officer 5
Park Myung-Shin - Kim Moo-Sun's wife
Jo Ha-Suk - Yan Bu Reu
Choi Tae-Hwan - Qing Dynasty Commissioned Officer
Kim Gil-Dong - Pendon
Lee Sang-Hong - military officer of Joseon border
Kang Shin-Ha - solider
Ji Gun-Woo - Naigada
Moon Young-Dong - Wooringga
Lee Soo-Yong - Samujyan
Kim Lee-Woo
Lee Kyu-Seop
Song Ha-Rim

Trailers

Image Gallery

Film Festivals

2011 (16th) Busan International Film Festival - October 6-14, 2011 - Korean Cinema Today: Panorama
2011 (6th) The London Korean Film Festival - November 4-10, 2011 - Contemporary Korean Cinema
2012 (14th) Deauville Asian Film Festival - March 7-11, 2012 - Action Asia
2012 (28th) Imagine: Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival - April 17-18, 2012
2012 (11th) New York Asian Film Festival - June 29-July 15, 2012
2012 (3rd) Korean Film Festival in Australia - August 22-September 30, 2012 - Panorama
2012 (45th) Sitges Film Festival - October 4-14, 2012 - Casa Àsia
2012 (7th) Korean Film Festival In Paris - October 30-November 6, 2012 - Preview

Awards

2011 (48th) Daejong Film Awards - October 17, 2011
- Best Actor (Park Hae-Il)
- Best New Actress (Moon Chae-Won)
- Best Visual Effects
- Best Sound Effects
2011 (31th) Critics Choice Awards - October 30, 2011
- Best Cinematography
- Best Technical Achievement
2011 (32nd) Blue Dragon Film Awards - November 25, 2011
- Best Actor (Park Hae-Il)
- Best Supporting Actor (Ryoo Seung-Ryong)
- Best New Actress (Moon Chae-Won)
- Best Technical Award
- Audience Choice Award for Most Popular Movie
2011 (19th) Korean Culture Entertainment Award - December 15, 2011
- Grand Acting Award (Park Hae-Il)
- Best Acting Award (Ryoo Seung-Ryong)
- Excellent Acting Award (Moon Chae-Won)

Comments

Arrow Jul 21 2021 9:49 am Fantastic movie, this is the movie to watch if you really like action thrill films (especially if arrows are your preferred weapons). Acting is really great. Congrats to Park Hae Il, Ryu Seung Ryong, Moon chae Won, Kim Mu Yeol, Park Ki Woong and the rest of the casts.

Migthy Thor Oct 20 2020 9:17 am This is such one great epic Korean movie !!! One of my favorite along with Musa the Warrior and The Reign of the Assasin. I have lost count as to how many times I have watched this ... and I never grow tired nor bored. Creatively written and geniusly directed !!! Such a power house cast too.

Congratulations to the entire Production! You did a great job!

Keep Safe and Stay Healthy everyone. This pandemic will soon be over.

God Bless us all !!!

sesang Jul 03 2019 1:32 pm One of the best historical movie , I agree with all positive comments about the movie <3 <3 <3

Haydee May 16 2016 11:44 am One of the best historical movie I've seen so far. Hope they will make a series. Moon Chae Woon did her part very well even if it's a short one.

tp Apr 23 2016 3:42 pm This is the 5th time watching this movie, but not even a dull moment in it. Such an outstanding movie. Love it, love it, love it!

Aya_ Feb 24 2016 2:50 pm I was very well surprised by this movie, interesting plot and lots of actions. Never seen the main lead actor but he was so good and the beautiful Moon Chae-Won, I just love her, definitely worth watching!

bob gereck Jun 20 2015 8:28 pm absolutely the best archery movie would love to see more like it excellent acting and visuals.It is a far better movie than the recent robin hood with Russell Crowe.

eldo Apr 17 2015 8:30 am A great movie.. from the beginnig to that end.. i love everything about this movie. The makers did a great job, a very accurate thinking. the male lead, i love his character. What a smart smart smart and again smart guy. The manchurias may big and strong, and won in numbers, but gosh our guy is smarter. I really love a man who is reliable but also calm.

Nice movie Mar 22 2015 5:13 pm Awesome movie... But whenever koreans make movie with foreign involvement, they just make it a total mess... Mongolians are not even 1% like them, and archery skills of other countries' archers cannot even surpass an average Mongolian archer' skills, though.... Because Mongolians are the ancient Huns who invented the archery and they were very aggressive, fighting or defending - the archery and horse riding skills are in their blood... So, from an average mongolian's perspective, portrayal of mongolians were not satisfactory...

But still, nice plotted, directed movie . Thumbs up

Hwa Mar 18 2014 1:34 pm This movie was incredibly awesome!!!! Loved it from beginning to end! I only find it a bit similar to the movie called "Apocalypto"

Moonlight Oct 09 2013 11:31 pm @TOK You are totally a MORON..who are to say sorry to those actresses who didn't get awards.Are you a expert in judging actresses and actors acting?It seems that you are telling that Moon Chae Won did not deserved to get these awards.I want you to know that actresses and actors acting or performance is not being evaluated based on how long they appear in a movie,you know what I mean?They are being evaluated how well they act and perfectly portrayed their characters. Many experts were evaluated her performance and she will not received such many awards if she did not deserved it,as if your telling that those film festivals were wrong in giving Moon Chae Won those awards.If that is your basis in telling who is the best actress and actor then everyone can become one.I mean,tough if I don't know how to act but if I appeared in a movie much longer than those actresses who are good in acting then I will be the best actress?If that is the case then the movie production should lengthen the time of the movies then the actors and actresses there would get the best actor and actress award.And by the way if you don't know i want to tell you that Moon Chae Won is known for great acting skills..And what do you mean that she great in "Cain and Abel though"?I think you were referring to a different actress.

Skye Oct 23 2012 11:44 pm Hey, though Moon Chae Won didn't appear long in this movie doesn't mean that she's doesn't deserve such awards. Though her appearance is just for short period, she exemplifies true meaning of "Best Actress" because of her demeanor in acting and her effectiveness as an actress not only to the viewers but also to the judges of the different Award nominations. Appeared for a short time and yet she won such awards only means that she is a great actress to be able to capture the peoples attention even for a short period of appearance in the movie and for the other Dramas she had.

..Mon Chae WOn fighting.!!! Such great actress (~.~)

Luki Feb 19 2012 6:58 am The best movie ever! just can't get all of the actions out of my head.. especially love it when he tried to shoot the last 4 manchurians <3 btw, I've also watched it twice!!

TOK Dec 16 2011 6:02 pm Movie is entertaining at full level but not considered as Masterpiece.

There are many things unexplained and rushes too quickly from here to there.

Acting is solid as usual by Park Hae II and Ryoo Seung Ryoong.

But I can't believe actress Moon Chae Won got many awards from this movie. I mean her role had very little part and I didn't even see her for about 30-40 mins and her acting was just okay in this movie (she was great in 'Cain & Abel' though)

I feel sorry for other actresses for this year that they didn't get awards when they took part in roles which were throught the whole film and had really good acting.

Yoo Da In should have had new actress award in her movie 'Re-encounter' though the movie is slow but still good like 'Poetry'

maskedrider Dec 10 2011 1:56 am great review Ki. i watched it twice and will watch again. this is an awesome movie. the chase in the mountain made me think about the movie the Last Mohican. where the good guys chase after the bad guys as they take the girls up to the mountain. it is refreshing to see the other side of love between siblings that one would risk it all to save.

dtp_jnr Oct 13 2011 10:13 pm This movie was epic...i just watched it in the theater in the U.S and i came out of there wowed......

Ki Aug 16 2011 9:49 am Came away very impressed with "War of the Arrows" ... in fact the last (and only) time I ever enjoyed a period Korean action film as much was "Musa The Warrior". In comparison to other recent Korean period action films like "The Divine Weapon" or "Battlefield Heroes" well "War of the Arrows" just wipes them off the table.

The storyline isn't very complicated - bad guys kidnap a woman, brother sets out to free her with elements of classic westerns and even films like "Rambo" sprinkled into a time frame when the bow & arrow reigned supreme. Park Hae-Il turns in his most memorable performance since "Memories of Murder" and there's others like Ryoo Seung-Ryong who just nails to perfection playing the evil, but somehow noble, villain warrior and Moon Chae-Won playing a heroine that is a lot more feisty then your typical Korean damsel in distress figures. She can shoot the arrow and shoot it very well. I liked it! Also, haven't seen Park Gi-Woong in a film in a while and he also stood out playing the Prince of Quing.

Strongest point and by far the most memorable factor with "War of the Arrows" is the chase scenes set in the mountains with groups of men attempting to hunt down the hunted man and in return the hunted man hunting down his hunters with arrows. The arrows ZOOMMMM by the screen fast and furious with hardly any slowdown during the second half of the film. Visually, what takes place on the screen looks fantastic sans the CG tiger that appears out of nowhere. My only quibble with the film was just how fearsome Ryoo Seung-Ryong's character appeared, yet he kept losing his men and his prey with every chase. One escape would have been plausible, but the constant "damn he just escaped my grasp" did make me think slightly less of the film (enough so that I began to wonder if they scripted his character as a genetic mutation of Genghis Khan and Elmer Fudd). But, all in all, that was just a minor bump in the road and I did really enjoy "War of the Arrows". I think it's the best Korean film to come out this summer (ahead of The Front Line, Quick, Sector 7 and Blind). Action fans will just love the movie and it will also appeal heavily to casual viewers craving 2 hours of pure entertainment ...

War of the Arrows

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Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki Staff ©

Notes

Cast

Trailers

Image Gallery

Film Festivals

Awards

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