An assassin has been killing off a number of ministers, so the government's top swordsman is chosen to find the assassin and bring him to justice...or take him out. After searching for a while, the swordsman finds out that the mysterious assassin is a man that he has had a lot of history together with. Something that makes his mission so much more difficult to accomplish.
Sword in the Moon seems to have gotten a lot of mixed reviews, and as far as I've seen there are way more slightly negative than positive reviews out there. I don't know what other reviewers was expecting the movie to be like, but only thing I knew when I watching it for the first time was that it was supposed to have some historical elements to it, but first and most that it was a martial arts/swordsplay movie.
After watching it, I ended up thinking it was a great movie. It might have it's faults and everything, but the entertainment value is so high and with that you got an interesting story that was easy to get caught in, and that was actually quite gripping at times. One reason why I ended up liking it so much was maybe because I had no real expectations to begin with, and that usually helps.
 
One thing this movie really has going for it is that it does not hold back on the action. It has a lot of great visuals and looks so darn good at times. Also, the martial violence is present all the time, and we get to see a lot of swordplay and blood-splatter. It's something you expect from a movie of this sort, and were many other fail to deliver, Sword in the Moon does not when it comes to great violence and action.
Another great thing about Sword in the Moon is that it has more realism to it than cartoonish violence that a lot of many other martial arts movies tend to have. This of course makes everything more moody and dark, and adds a lot of atmosphere and an overall good feeling to the film itself, and you can't help but taking it a bit more seriously. The use of wires are almost non-existant and that's also a really good thing. That is that no one jumps around in trees or practically flies over roof tops and similar stuff, and that's so nice not having to experience that for a change.
Humour is something we don't get any of either which is also nice for a change, as I said before, it's darker and more moody. The gore is there, right in your face at times, and heads fly, bodies are ripped apart, and everything is so well done and looks very realistic. It's very hard not to get excited.
The plot is pretty simple but yet somewhat captivating and at the same time very entertaining. It's easy to get into the movie and even if the character development are not that huge, we still get to know the characters on a ok level. The actors all do a fine job and I have absolutely nothing to complain about with the overall acting. Nicely directed with a very fitting score and never really has a dull moment. It slows down a bit at times but not so it becomes unbearable, it's still always interesting.
Despite what every one else says, personally I think Sword in the Moon is a fantastic Korean flick that is entertaining and yet feels very real. Offers a lot of action, huge amounts of violence and looks freakin great visually. Fans of Korean and martial arts cinema, check it out.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Cheongpung myeongwol
MOVIE YEAR: 2003
DIRECTOR: Ui-seok Kim
WRITING CREDITS: Min-seok Jang
GENRE: Action, Swordplay, Drama, Adventure
CAST: Min-su Choi, Jae-hyeon Jo, Bo-kyeong Kim
COUNTRY: South Korea
RUNTIME: 102 min
RATING: 9/10
Sword in the Moon Website/IMDB Click here
Sword in the Moon Trailer Click here
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