The Great Battle (film)

The Great Battle is a 2018 South Korean historical epic action film directed by Kim Kwang-sik. Kim conducted research to gain deeper insights into the historical Korean battle depicted in the film. Casting was focused to generally young actors given the numerous action scenes. While some audiences complimented the movie, some criticized it due to its lack of historical accuracy. Nevertheless, the movie was considered successful for surpassing its break-even point and earning over US$41.5 million gross from 5.4 million admissions. It stars Zo In-sung, Nam Joo-hyuk, and Park Sung-woong. Nam Joo-Hyuk, who played as the role of soldier in the movie, received the Best New Actor award from the 38th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards.

Premise
The Great Battle is an historical film about the siege of Ansi Fortress and the epic eighty-eight day battle that Yang Manchun and his Goguryeo troops fought against 20,000 invading Tang forces to defend it. In the movie, the Tang dynasty attacked Ansi Fortress to take over the land of Goguryeo for land expansion. While the Tang dynasty sought to make troops of Yang Manchun surrender by using artillery weapons, Ansi’s defenders withstood and protected the Ansi Fortress from the attack despite having a numerically inferior number of soldiers. Ultimately, Goguryeo troops won against the Tang after Yang Manchun's arrow successfully left a fatal damage on the Tang Emperor Taizong, resulting in his troops to retreat due to their emperor's wound and low supplies.

Main

 * Zo In-sung as Yang Manchun
 * Nam Joo-hyuk as Sa-mul
 * Park Sung-woong as Li Shimin

Supporting

 * Bae Seong-woo as Choo Soo-ji
 * Uhm Tae-goo as Pa-so
 * Kim Seol-hyun as Baek-ha
 * Oh Dae-hwan as Hwal-bo
 * Park Byung-eun as Poong
 * Jung Eun-chae as Si-mi
 * Yu Oh-seong as Yeon Gaesomun
 * Sung Dong-il as Woo-dae
 * Jang Gwang
 * Yeo Hoe-hyun as Ma-ro

Special appearance

 * Stephanie Lee as Dal-rae

Production
On August 23, 2017, filming began, finishing on 24 January 2018.

The filming set featured a replica of the Ansi Fortress that was 11 m high and 180 m long. Given that the source of information about The Great Battle was very limited in Korea, the director, Lee Kwang-Sik, had to read at least 100 publications in Japan and China to learn more about the actual battle. He further expanded his research to find more information about Yang Manchun since it was also very limited. Due to a lack of sources, the director just referenced sources he had and filled the gaps with cinematic imagination. Although most Korean historical movies or dramas have cast old Korean actors as generals, director Lee Kwang-Sik wanted to cast relatively young actors. Given that this movie contains a lot of fighting scenes, he thought it would be more realistic to use young actors who can fight in battle scenes. In order to handle action scenes, actors went through serious training with professionals. The director used special equipment such as a 4K camera, a Phantom camera, and a robot arm to catch the fighting scenes in slow motion effectively.

Release
The film premiered in South Korea on September 19, 2018, with age 12-rating. The film was released alongside Fengshui, The Negotiation, and The Nun, considered the most competitive week on Korean Box Office this year.

The film was released in North America on September 21, 2018. As of September 21, the film had been sold to over 32 countries, with release date in United Kingdom, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Singapore set in October 2018.

It was released on V.O.D on October 24, 2018.

Critical response
The film received positive reviews from critics. Praise was given to its cinematography, Kim's directing, the action sequences and acting performances. However, there were criticisms regarding the portrayal of Yang Man-chun and the historical accuracy of the film.

Yoon Min-sik from The Korea Herald wrote, "Director Kim did a clever job of masking his actors' weak points and making the most of their strengths in this action-packed flick. Jo's voice still seems out of place in a period piece, but his character refrains from making any more big speeches, taking action instead. It is very unlikely that Yang Man-chun was in his mid-30s, or that there was a squad of beautiful women shooting blowguns, or a group of borderline super-soldiers fighting without their helmets, but this movie throws historical accuracy out the window and the result is a lot of fun."

Shim Sun-ah from Yonhap News Agency wrote, "Visually striking, imaginative and compelling, The Great Battle easily claims its status as one of the most impressive war epics to have come out of Korean cinema in a long time. Since little is known about the battle and Yang Man-chun, making a tentpole based on long-forgotten ancient history with a relatively untested director was a massive gamble and could have gone horribly wrong. However, he combined his energetic style with spectacular slow-motion sequences depicting every detail of the battle's ferocious brutality and the fear of the outnumbered Goguryo soldiers as they see the swarming Tang invaders."

Cary Darling from the Houston Chronicle wrote, "Director Kim Kwang-shik has a surprisingly keen eye for wide-screen, CGI-embellished action choreography that is often wildly impressive... The Great Battle rings with the echoes of such sweeping, cinematic blitzkriegs as the Battle of Helm's Deep in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers or any number of Game of Thrones assaults."

Richard Yu from Cinema Escapist wrote, "while The Great Battle excels at action-packed scenes and a fast-moving storyline, the screenwriting falls short. A mysterious oracle who happens to be Yang's former love interest makes an appearance, but adds little to the story before she is quickly killed off. And much to our dismay, Baek-ha never gets to fully develop her relationship with her dashing cavalry officer before he dies in combat. While this may be due to the limited running time of 136 minutes, director Kim Kwang-sik could have taken a page from John Woo's Red Cliff and split the film into two parts to give the ensemble cast ample time to develop their characters."

The film also received negative reviews from the audience. Don Anelli from Asian Movie Plus argued that irrelevant content stories such as an extended focus on “life or soldiers” and the details of a “psychic that’s held hostage at the compound” made the movie about twenty minutes longer than it should be, making the movie tiring to watch.

Another criticism the movie received was whether “Jo In-Sung was the right choice for the Lord of Ansisung role.” Although he is a good actor, the image and voice he emits in the movie, such as the high-pitched tone, don't match well with his character as a general.

The Assistant Professor of Korean History at Catholic University criticized the movie since the movie didn't accurately depict the actual battle based on historical facts. In the very last scene of the movie, the arrow shot by Yang Manchun, the general of Goguryeo, pierced through one of the eyes of the Tang dynasty emperors. This is an unverified anecdote and cannot be regarded as a fact.

Box office
The film grossed US$194,200 from previews and pre-sales.

On its opening day, the film finished first place at the box office by attracting 122,699 moviegoers with US$870,571 gross. After four days of strong performance, the film surpassed 1 million admissions on September 23. During its opening weekend, the film topped box office with US$9.1 million gross from 1,128,374 attendance, leaving Fengshui and The Negotiation in second and third place respectively.

On September 24, 6 days after its release, the film surpassed 2 million admissions, sooner than 2012 Chuseok's hit Masquerade which surpassed the milestone in 8 days. The film surpassed 3 million admissions two days later. On September 29, the film surpassed 4 million admissions after topping the box office for 10 days. The film maintained its position at the top of the box office charts during its second weekend, though having a 29% drop in gross with US$6.5 million from 815,042 attendance.

The film surpassed 5 million admissions on October 6, 2018. During its third weekend, the film earned US$1.8 million gross from 234,886 attendance, 72% lower gross compared to its second weekend. The film finished third, tailing Venom and Dark Figure of Crime. The film finished in fifth place during its fourth weekend, having a 70% drop in gross compared to the previous weekend.

On October 22, the film surpassed its break-even point at 5.4 million admissions. The film attracted 5,441,020 moviegoers with US$41.5 million gross.