Hansan: Rising Dragon is director Kim Han-min’s follow-up/prequel to The Admiral: Roaring Currents, which is touted as “the most-watched film in Korean cinema history”. The film is set in 1592, as the Japanese (Wae) are invading Korea (Joseon). It depicts both sides of the historic Battle of Hansan Island, where two formidable admirals match wits and face off, trying to out maneuver one another. Wae’s ingenious general Wakizaka has a massive fleet of warships, and loves to surprise his enemies with an ambush, and a full show of his force. He prefers to board enemy ships and take down the crew using swords and close combat. However, Joseon’s greatest Admiral Yi Sun-shin is more calculating in his approach. His fleet is far outnumbered, but he has a secret weapon, revolutionary “turtle ships” that can both ram enemy vessels and fire cannons. He hopes that these, combined with his crane wing deployment strategy may just change the tide of the war.
I had never seen or heard of The Admiral: Roaring Currents and wasn’t familiar with the historic events depicted in the film. As the film opens the viewer is given a rapid history lesson as text explaining the current state of things is displayed on the screen. Also, as each character is seen for the first time, their name and position flashes on the screen. This is a lot of information to take in and remember, so I found it a little difficult to keep track of who was who and which side they belonged to. Much of the first half of the film is a lot of strategy talk on both sides about the key locations and strongholds that have been or must be taken, with characters explaining their plans or recapping/reporting the events of other land/sea battles that happened off-screen. We are also shown the faulty design in the initial turtle ships, and how Yi plans to overcome these. Meanwhile, spies on Wakizaka’s side have stolen the plans of these ships and are planning accordingly, however, they are unaware of the new modifications.
The second half of the film is a lot more action-packed, showing both the land and sea battles taking place. The sea battles are quite impressive, with both admirals activating various deployment strategies to try to take down the other side. From more long-distance tactics like arrows and cannonballs, to ramming the ships and boarding with swords for hand-to-hand combat. Here, too, it was a little tough to keep track of who was who, while one side is generally wearing more red and the other blue, it still isn’t that clear cut. Though it was still exciting and very impressive to watch.
Well Go’s Blu-ray release includes both the original Korean audio as well as an English dub. With these foreign Well Go releases, I always try the English dub first so that I can concentrate more on the visuals of the film than reading subtitles. I found this English dub to be quite well done overall, with just a couple isolated incidents of more American-sounding or over-acted performances. The dub was also usually more natural-sounding than the English subtitles translating the native audio. Both versions of the audio track make nice use of the stereo and surround channels to pull the viewer into the action, with the sound of arrows whizzing by, or cannons exploding, or filling the room with a constant score. The video is also top notch, with a beautiful, detailed picture throughout. There is nice use of color and texture in faces, and battle scenes really look cinematic.
Well Go’s Blu-ray release includes about 10 minutes of bonus material, all presented in Korean with English subtitles, consisting of some behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the film’s crew. The release also contains the film’s trailer, and some previews for three other Well Go releases. The disc comes packed in a locking HD keepcase, and doesn’t include a digital copy. Our review copy also included a cardboard slipcover.
What’s Included:
Film: (2:09:54)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
- Audio: Korean DTS-HDMA 5.1, Korean Stereo, English DTS-HDMA 5.1, English Stereo
- Subtitles: English
Extras:
All featurettes are presented in Korean with English subtitles.
- Character Highlights (2:23)
Introduction to the film’s main characters. A short clip of each character is followed by a still with their name/description. Includes Joseon’s greatest admiral Yi Sun-shin, naval guide Eo Young-dam, right Gyeosang Navy Admiral Won Gyun, furtive spy Jeong Bo-reum, scout Lim Jun-Young, key collaborator Lee Eok-gi, turtle ship designer Nah Dae-yong, Wae’s ingenious general Wakizaka, anti-Wae fighter Junsa, and Wakizaka’s rival Kato. - Secrets of Makeup (3:41)
Makeup designer Cho Tae-hee talks about creating the looks of the characters and shares behind-the-scenes footage of the process. In “Part 1 Backstory of Makeup Design”, he discusses researching the real Admiral Yi to make sure he looked accurate, working with a hair and makeup team twice as large as any other film he’s worked on, and how the Wae army took longer than the other characters, especially creating the chonmage, the traditional Wae topknot. In “Part 2 Makeup’s Key Points”, he talks about how the skin tones and textures varied for the different characters. In “Part 3 Skills and Challenges of Makeup”, he discusses the designs, and how hair and makeup helped to inform the characters, particularly Junsa. - Staff Commentary (4:01)
The crew members talk about creating this prequel to The Admiral: Roaring Currents, adding the sound of the dragon into the score, representing the turtle ship, crane wing formation & depicting the naval warfare, the fight sequences, the costumes, the technology, special effects & previs work, the scores, the sets, and more. Includes behind the scenes footage, and interviews with director Kim Han-min, music director Kim Tae-seong, production designer Jo Hwa-seong, VFX engineers Jeong Cheol-min, Jeong Seong-jin, martial arts supervisor Choi Bong-rok, and costume designer Gwon Yu-jin. - Trailer (1:34)
- Previews
- Alienoid (2:07)
- Emergency Declaration (1:38)
- The Witch 2: The Other One (1:44)
Final Thoughts:
Hansan: Rising Dragon is an epic depiction of the historic Battle of Hansan Island. It assumes the audience has some prior knowledge of the people/events involved, rapidly introducing all of the characters without giving enough time or data to really to digest and retain this. However, the second half of the film is exciting and really well done, giving audiences an impressive naval battle to remember. Well Go’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, and even includes a small amount of bonus material. This comes recommended based on the quality of the naval battles, but viewers unfamiliar with the events may wish to seek out The Admiral: Roaring Currents to watch first.
Hansan: Rising Dragon
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Hansan: Rising Dragon
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Admiral: Roaring Currents [Blu-ray]
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The Admiral
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Admiral: Roaring Currents
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