Duelist on DVD (2007)

Beautiful film!

8BallWizard from London , 12/03/2007

Duelist is a cinematic treat...indulgent colour and stylish shooting adds to the flamboyent costume and location. Swordplay choriographed in sweeping style, following in the footsteps of Hero, Flying Dagger and Crouching Tiger, it will not disappoint.

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Incomprehensible rubbish

A customer from London , 18/07/2007

Whatever happened to plain old fashioned story telling. 'Duelist' failed to engage me on any level. Once you get over the first twenty minutes of the films pretty visuals, there's no substance. It ends up looking like nothing more than a show reel of the director's favourite MTV camera techniques. Mere smoke and mirrors. And if the tail ain't worth telling without all the gimicks then it ain't worth telling. To see how to marry martial arts, humour, great story telling, directing and various genres of music successfully check out 'Kung Fu Hussle'. If you want a Korean take on it then 'Arahan' is a good bet. For the best in period sword fighting Korean style 'Musa' (soundtrack appart) takes some beating. But to mention 'Duelist' in the same breath as 'Hero', 'House of Flying Daggers' or 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' is to do them a massive disservice.

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Korean Klutz

A customer from Epsom, Surrey , 07/09/2007

This Korean film fancies itself as a cross between Crouching Tiger and Police Story, but it fails to mix the two successfully, instead managing to create unconvincing tragedy and unfunny comedy. Mysterious swordsman Sad Eyes, and his duelling police opponent are too busy being respectively sultry and clumsy to convince.

However, the fights are entertaining, and the production design sufficiently good-looking to save it from complete unwatchability. Perhaps the comedy double-takes, like the character names, simply don’t translate.

Not recommended unless you are a student of Korean film.

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Visual delight

cmb from Lancaster [Highly rated reviewer] , 29/11/2007

This was a real surprise - I hadn't read the reviews and expected a Korean version of the Hong Kong Legends. This is in essence a love story at the point of attraction woven around a historical period in Korea, with sword play, a bit of comedy, a poor plot, stylised cartoon-type set pieces, good acting. What really was delightful was the artistry of the visuals -mixing a lot of camera techniques with space, movement, light, dark, dance, colour. Forget the plot (even if you could work out what was going on), forget the martial arts, forget comparing it to other films and enjoy it a visual feast.

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Korean Klutz

A customer from Epsom, Surrey , 07/09/2007

This Korean film fancies itself as a cross between Crouching Tiger and Police Story, but it fails to mix the two successfully, instead managing to create unconvincing tragedy and unfunny comedy. Mysterious swordsman Sad Eyes, and his duelling police opponent are too busy being respectively sultry and clumsy to convince.

However, the fights are entertaining, and the production design sufficiently good-looking to save it from complete unwatchability. Perhaps the comedy double-takes, like the character names, simply don’t translate.

Not recommended unless you are a student of Korean film.

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rubbish

surfboard from Blackpool , 04/03/2008

iI did not rate the rental part one and part two of the duelist was not my cup of tea i do like marshal arts films but not !!!! this was absolutly terrible

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