Amid the Joseon dynasty, Kim Ho (Jung Hae-in) is struggling to find work. At long last, he manages to get a job, but it is not the one he envisioned. He is chosen as a guard in prison, and one of the prisoners is the traitor Lee (Kim Ji-hoon). Lee has started a rebellion against King Yeong-jo (Ryu Tae-Joon), and he believes he has justification because Yeong-jo slaughtered his brother to take the throne. Their subordinates of Lee plan on breaking him out of prison, resulting in an all-out assault on the prison. They kill everyone inside but do not anticipate encountering someone of Kim Ho’s talent. Kim Ho is revealed to be a talented swordsman, however, betraying them turns out to be a mistake. Since Lee’s men are skilled warriors too, Lee managed to defeat Kim, but not without seriously injuring him. Kim manages to escape the palace, but not without getting the royal aid. He was able to incite the king’s counsel to action against the impending rebellion. However, it was a fatal mistake to underestimate the allies Lee had in the royal court. Kim truly only manages to escape with his life. Surprisingly, the queen seemed to also be in on the rebellion.
Lee’s storming of Kim’s prison provoked a severe altercation where the former put everything on the line. Now, Lee wishes to kill LEE for all he is worth.
Inferences made after a good portion of the movie is complete allow us to understand a lot, such as the scene environment’s resemblance, and the storyline lacking any depth. Although the camera work appears subpar over a portion of the movie, the fights were entertaining. The Age of Blood tells quite a different story that is chaotic, yet an interesting blend of thrills associated with Joseon’s royal court. In addition to these nuances, there is always the uncomfortable bit that looms somewhere in the background; the promise of good and forgettable that is glaringly ambiguous. This clash of experiences can be accounted to Kim Hong-son, who previously worked predominantly on drama shows. Considering the bulk of the movie takes place in prison, this explanation certainly holds value. The perspective shifts from a political drama to a TV series in a single scenario within a matter of seconds.
Director Kim Hong-seon has already tackled king Yeong-jo in his series “Warrior Baek Dong-soo”. After all, the king has been the source of many stories and intrigues because he has eliminated quite a lot from royal history. That is why his story has been used as inspiration for films such as “The Throne” or The Royal Tailor. Kim errs on the side of vagueness and leaves too much out which makes it difficult to get the characters just right to weave the deep moral ambiguities around the plot. This is particularly striking towards the end when, after an interminable wait to learn the protagonist’s true identity and motivation, his lack of knowledge regarding his own actions comes as a rude shock.
But I must confess that, as the narrative progresses, the villains cease to be considered such. I am telling you that it is more complicated than that. The way the king came on the throne cannot exactly be said to be ‘legal’ The bad guy has some political justification for his behavior, but then there is this fiend in the prison who uncaringly slaughters all and sundry. That is until Kim Ho comes. He is so often spared of the most ridiculous situations. And the foes do not even take notes from previous encounters and don’t seem to be foolish otherwise. The strange thing as well is that the first image an audience gets is of an all-around disgruntled youth who does not like his new work and when the prison gets attacked stays quiet, passively watching from his hiding spot. Then, he gets revealed as a “one-man army” unmatched by anyone except the group of warriors around Lee In-jwa. Even though they manage to hurt him a couple of times, after the first dozen, Kim Ho completely ignores the rest of his wounds and goes back to his business.
The title “The Age of Blood” has genuine significance, given the sheer quantity of bloodshed as well as the violent nature of the piece. Yes, the blood is clearly computer-generated, but it looks decent enough and does not detract from the believability of the action scenes. The action is, after all, one of this movie’s strongest points. The choreography is, at times, quite impressively done to the point of making one expect it to be a martial arts film. The directing does not quite seem to be at the same level. Yes, there is some degree of children’s play when it comes to the camera during the moving around of the actors, but at other times there is a competent appearance. The aesthetic of some of the quieter scenes might, however, be considered a little over the top and more suggestive of a series. This then means that Kim has his fair share of challenges when moving to film. There is, for example, a different treatment of the historical context, which is presented in a cartoon style. I would guess to cut costs.
There has been a reduction in expenditure concerning both the sets and costumes. Though the prison may be a beautiful place, we do spend an unreasonable amount of time there. There have been some cut-backs as well concerning a royal entourage as would be the case in a sitcom. Nevertheless, this does not create a negative impression as much as the sometimes superficial conversations. The dialogues would actually require a small amount of fixing up. On the balance of these things, the first part is very funny to watch, but when it is revealed to us that Kim Ho is a great martial arts fighter, the range of his character is pathetic. He suddenly becomes bored and as a result of this, the film collapses. You also cannot feel too pleased about the fact that we are provided with insufficient details about the different political factions and for us to form an adequate understanding of the nuanced battle for influence at the Royal Office. This indicates that you are a little displaced, which is probably the reason why you are likely to not remember “The Age of Blood” for too long.
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