The Admiral (2014)

Roaring currents is one of the greatest historical battle films. The sets and costumes were amazing, the acting was phenomenal, and the directing was paced wonderfully. They certainly make Yi Sun-Shin a heroic figure, but not without some faults. He has a hard time with his men, so he instills fear over courage--all part of his tactics. Actor Min Sik-Choi helps make some of his harsh decisions very human. It was just beautifully crafted, it's incredibly intense and the effects are perfect.

Fmovies: The Admiral Roaring Currents is a very good period battle picture in the same vein as John Woo's Red Cliff. Although this film is quite large in scope, it is a smaller scale epic than the massive masterpiece Red Cliff. Choi Min Sik of Oldboy and I Saw The Devil fame is an admiral who command the small in number naval fleet versus the massive invading Japanese fleet. The few stood against many is a common and effective theme in this sort of film. Forgive my ignorance, but my knowledge of Korean/Japanese history is limited. So I have no idea how historically accurate this movie is. I did enjoy it regardless and in my opinion, I thought this film is very good. The storytelling and acting is solid and the film looks real sharp as well. The battle/action scenes are in abundance and while there is CGI used in the film, it is used well and classier than most Hollywood productions. I did think this film needed more blood as this is a battle picture. However, this is a minor critique as this film is indeed roaring. It also is in my book a very engaging and well crafted movie.

The South Korean film, The Admiral, was an enormous hit in its native land. It made over $100,000,000 dollars--which might not sound like much in a country as large as the US or China, but this means that about 17,000,000 Koreans went to see this film, or, nearly about 40% of the country! It is clearly the most successful film in the history of Korean films. Fortunately, this film is now available abroad, though I was a tad disappointed to see it dubbed into English. Mind you, it's a pretty good dubbing...but I hope that the DVDs will come with the option of playing it in Korean with subtitles.

The movie is about one of the greatest naval victories in history--a battle very rarely talked about in the West. In 1597, at the Battle of Myeongnyang, Admiral Yi Sun-Sin only had about a dozen ships-- against as many as 200 invading Japanese ships...and somehow he prevailed. In comparison, it's much like the victory of the English against the Spanish Armada just a few years previous or the modern Battle of Midway--an amazing and very lopsided victory. But how did Yi do it? How was he able to use his wits, the currents as well as a lot of luck to turn the tide in favor of his demoralized navy? See the film and find out for yourself.

If you find this film in a theater, by all means see it. After all, it is HUGE in scope and does best with as big a screen as you can find. This also means that if you see it on DVD, it's best to watch it on a big screen as well--and perhaps this means taking it to your friend's house if they have a 70" HDTV! It's because the best thing about this movie is its scope--and you just have to see it to believe it. Seeing over a hundred ships (many of which are actually computer-generated--though you won't be able to tell because it was done so seamlessly) is reason enough to see this war film! It also is crammed with everything you'd expect in a film like this--action, blood and lots of heroism. It's the sort of rousing film that I could see energizing the Korean movie-goers. This also is a bit of a strike against it overseas. I know that not everyone cares whether or not the outnumbered Koreans won this battle--and many folks would probably rather see the next Iron Man movie. But, for what it is, it's a heck of a good film and deserves to be seen...and it might just surprise you if you give it a chance.

The Admiral fmovies. full throttle navel action that has to be seen to believe. after a slow but important first half this korean movie goes into high gear with an all out battle film that is very rewarding. totally engrossing and very entertaining.

i have seen my fair share of Asian war epics and this was one of the more enjoyable one, a bit melodramatic but thats fine. as a costume drama its gorgeous and with limited cgi it all looks very realistic.i must say it looks stunning from start to finish

if your looking for something epic to watch and you don't mind subtitle's then this one is for you plus all gaming buffs take not this is how to make a battle movie.

I stumbled upon this movie without having ever heard of it, and boy was I glad to watch it. It's the movie about one of the most famous Korean generals in Korean history during a crucial battle in the war with Japan. The acting in the movie was solid, even if I didn't understand the language. The naval battle scenes and how Admiral Yi used naval tactics to fight his enemy were realistic and breathtaking at the same time. I'd compare this with the 300: Rise of an Empire movie, with far less CGI, fantasy elements, better acting, and more realistic portrayal of naval battle. It's pretty amazing what they could do with ships back in those days.

The history/characters in the movie is a little hard to follow if you don't know about it beforehand or don't speak Korean/Japanese, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit and learned a little bit of Korean history in the process.

Almost seems like the Korean version of 300 with an underdog nation going to battle with a power that's overwhelming, but thanks to their admiral, who shows no compromise, they journey ahead into one of the best naval battles I've seen on screen.

At times the story did get too sappy. For the most part, the filmmakers went for art over realism to make the emotional scenes very dramatic, but those battleship fights were worth the built up of the tactical aspects of war that began the film, which was mostly really great speeches from the admiral to rally the troops.

Not bad South Korea.