Ansi-seong / The Great Battle (2018) - Epic battle scenes and intriguing characters - 8/10 (20/06/19)

The Great Battle, originally titled Ansi Fortress, is a South Korean historical war epic about the Siege of Ansi in the seventh century as Chinese Emperor Taizong attacked the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo. Despite embellishing a few historical details such as the eye injury to Emperor Taizong, the most important aspects of the film are historically accurate. The numerous Chinese viewers who rated this movie down due to misplaced patriotic pride should be ignored.

The movie convinces on numerous levels. The four prolonged battle scenes are creative, dynamic and intense. In between these battles, the viewers are introduced to numerous interesting characters such as powerful military dictator Yeon Gaesomun, dissident commander Yang Manchun and young soldier Sa-mul who was asked by Yeon Gaesomun to assassinate traitor Yang Manchun. The movie also deals with emotional topics such as friendship, love and loyalty which adds more depth to the characters without distracting from the dramatic military circumstances. This dynamic mixture makes the film easy to digest despite its long running time. The special effects are fluidly employed and make the film quite dynamic. The camera work is mostly calm if compared to numerous contemporary military films with shaky camera passages.

The Great Battle is entertaining from start to finish and convinces with four intense battles and numerous intriguing characters. The only things that could be improved are the facts that the character portraits could be even more detailed and that the characters shouldn't look as sharp and beautiful as they do while living in a rural community under siege for three months. In the end, anyone who likes historical war epics should give this movie a try as it's one of the best of its kind in recent memory.