Noryang: Deadly Sea (2023) Movie Drinking Game
Take a Drink: whenever the subtitles change colors
Take a Drink: whenever the Chinese try to straddle a line
Take a Drink: whenever the tide of battle shifts
Do a Shot: turtle ship!
By: Henry J. Fromage (Three Beers) –
Yi Sun-sin is perhaps Korea’s greatest war hero- an Admiral that repeatedly defeated far more powerful Japanese fleets through strategy and cunning. I was pumped when The Admiral: Roaring Currents came out in 2014, starring Oldboy‘s Choi Min-sik (I lived a couple years near the site of his most famous victory), which was followed by last year’s Hansan: Rising Dragon, which subbed in Decision to Leave‘s Park Hae-il as the admiral.
Now Noryang: Deadly Sea closes out the trilogy of Yi’s campaigns against the 1592-1598 Japanese invasions of Korea, as the tables have turned. The dying order of the Japanese shogun is to withdraw from this costly campaign, but its execution is complicated by half of their fleet being surrounded by a joint Korean and Chinese blockade (a Ming-Joseon Chinese/Korean alliance necessitated by Japan’s ultimate goal of invading China), and the other half considering making a final statement before doing so. A final battle is brewing, complicated by the complex negotiations and different desires of all three countries.
A Toast
Yes, this film features yet another actor in the lead role – The Chaser‘s Kim Yoon-seok. The 3rd actor putting on Yi Sun-sin’s formidable beard is once again great, a more tired, resigned, yet no less resolved leader, haunted by the death of his son at the hands of the Japanese and resolved to break them so they never return. This film goes even further than its predecessors in humanizing the other involved parties, though, with great Korean actors playing the Japanese and Chinese leaders and exploring their complex motivations as well.
Parasite Guy!
Beyond the interesting history, what you’re hear for is the inevitable epic battle, and this film features great seafaring action unlike any you’ve seen before, unless, I suppose, you’ve seen either of this one’s two predecessors. The ships, armor, and tactics are fascinating and well-rendered in a mix of practical effects and CGI here. Even if you have seen the first two, director Kim Han-min, who is the one constant in the series, finds new ways to present his action. Fireboltcam!
His most memorable and ambitious sequence both in this film and the entire series, though, is towards the end. He constructs a War is Hell one shot moving from character to character on both sides as one dies, then another, leading up to quite the shocker if you’re not already a devotee of Korean history, one violent sequence rendering his entire thesis on a battle that didn’t need to happen, like any ever actually does.
Beer Two
This film bounces between three sides and their three languages in differently colored subtitles for an hour of political maneuvering before the action starts- it’s a lot to keep track of. It does enrich the basically non-stop battle that ensues, but it’s not short.
Verdict
Noryang: Deadly Sea wraps up a trilogy about the storied military career of the legendary Admiral Yi Sun-sin with aplomb, raising the series to its greatest heights.
Noryang: Deadly Sea is currently playing in Los Angeles and expands everywhere on January 5th. Check it out!
