ROK Drop Movie Review: Emperor of the Sea

For Christmas I bought my wife the Emperor of the Sea DVD series that she had been hinting she wanted. It took me a while to find a copy of the movie because the usual online movie sites I go to were all sold out of this series. I actually had to get somebody I know in Korea to help me out. I bought my wife all 51 episodes of the series for $200. Kind of pricey, but it’s Christmas. Usually I don’t pay too much attention when my wife is watching Korean dramas. I sat through a few episodes of Winter Sonata, which I bought for my wife last Christmas, and that was enough for me.

However, watching the first five episodes of Emperor of the Sea, I have to say it is really quite good. Emperor of the Sea is based on a novel by Choi In-ho. His novel is loosely based on the real life exploits of Jang Bo-go (?~846), a famous figure in Korean history who dominated the seas of East Asia during the Unified Shilla Dynasty (676~935). Jang Bo-go also eliminated pirates in the Wando area, which was a geographically important sea route during the time. He also established sea trade across east Asia from Tang dynasty China to Japan. At least that is what the back cover of the DVD set says.

In the first few episodes I have watched it has focused on Jang Bo-go’s childhood growing up as a slave ship builder on Wando island and his determination to rise above being a lowly slave. He secretly studies martial arts and ends up being falsely accused of aiding pirates that raided Wando island by a yangban’s son who was jealous of Jang’s martial arts skills. He is pardoned from execution because he saved the yangban’s daughter during the pirate attack, but is instead exiled to work as a slave on a horse farm. There he continues to study martial arts and improve his skills. He hopes to escape slavery by competing in a martial arts tournament in Kwangju sponsored by a noblewoman who uses the tournament to hire new soldiers for her own personal security contingent.

The drama is beautifully shot, with well develop characters, and a engaging story line. The fighting scenes are similar to what you see in Hong Kong movies such as, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I know some people are annoyed by that kind of action scenes, but I found the scenes well done in this series so far. If you have ever wanted to watch a Korean drama stay away from the Winter Sonata clones and I recommend watching this one.

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UPDATE: Since writing this posting I have watched all the episodes of the drama and it was excellent. I have also since visited Wando Island and did my own Jang Bogo tour.

You can see pictures of Wando Island here and here.

Pictures of the movie sets on Wando Island can be view here.

Pictures of the real Cheonghaejin Island can be viewed here.