Two Men`s Friendship Torn by Tragic History

Five years after the coup force against King Injo took power, coup leaders began to be murdered by an unknown killer. The government assigned the case to Gyu-yeop (Cho Jae-hyun), who became the captain of the royal force after joining the coup. While searching for clues, he is told that the sword of the killer bears the four letters `Blue Wind Shiny Moon.`

Then the story goes back to five years ago. Gyu-yeop and Ji-hwan, two elite students in the `Blue Wind Shiny Moon,` a renowned military academy, swear to share life and death together as friends. After graduating the school, Gyu-yeop is sent to the border guard and Gi-hwan to the royal guard.

When the coup takes place, Gyu-yeop takes a lead in the force after succumbing to the threat that his unwilling to cooperate would lead to deaths of his men. He then confronts with Ji-hwan and stabs him in his heart.

The movie `Blue Wind Shiny Moon,` a fiction set in the historic event of the coup against King Injo, boasts magnificent scenes. It contains beautiful images of Mt. Namhan Castle, Mt. Mudeung in Gwangju and Cheongsong in North Gyeongsang Province. The scene in which Ji-hwan rides a horse against the background of the blue sea is a beauty itself.

The production team studied the life at that time thoroughly to recreate costumes, houses and streets. It poured 1 billion won into recreating the king`s parade in the last part of the movie, including 20 million won spent building 38 vessels. The movie cost 7.5 billion won and produced 700 suits of armor, 44 iron swords, 550 wooden swords and 100 arrows.

The drawback of this movie, however, is that the story seems rather far-fetched and the actors do not seem to fit in their roles. The director failed to build a sophisticated story out of the repeated theme of `true friendship between men.` Instead of creating a finely-knitted story, the director puts more focus on bloodshed fights. Cho and Choi look too self-absorbed and heavy to play their roles in the movie.

Despite being set in the historic event of the coup against King Injo, therefore, the movie hardly explains why the two men`s lives get involved and torn by the tragedy of history. The dramatic turn in last part of the movie also rather disappoints the audience.

Directed by Kim Ui-seok known for such works as `The Marriage,` `The Gunman,` and `Beijing Restaurant.` For age 15 or over. Set for release on July 16

Soo-Kyung Kim skkim@donga.com