"Wang-ui Namja(왕의남자)" vs. "Typhoon(태풍)"

I was looking through the postings and saw one person mentioned "Wang-ui Namja." I watched it over the break and would like to give a brief comment about the movie. This posting also includes comments about another recent released movie "Typhoon."

Professor, this is not my formal movie review. So please do not consider it as such. It is my weekly posting. I just got bored with my 200 page Women's Studies reading. lol

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I watched "Wang-ui namja," and I have to tell you it was one of the best Korean movies I have ever watched. I strongly recommend that you watch the movie once it comes out in DVD. I heard that the original on DVD is about 4 hours so even if you watched it in Korea over the break like me, it will be worth watching it again. It was like trend among many of my friends to go watch this movie more than twice because many people thought it was such a great movie. At first, this movie was expected to be a failure because it did not have any star actor like Jang Dong Gun and Lee Jung Jae, and because it did not have that much budget like Korea's another blockbuster of the year 2005, "Typhoon." Contrastly, Typhoon had 3 big star actors and actress, Jang Dong Gun, Lee Jung Jae, and Lee Mee Yeon AND spent approximately 15 billion dollars worth of money in production. Because "Wang-ui namja" was going to have to compete against "Typhoon," many anticipated that it will not be too successful. Some people also criticize that it is a mere "gay movie," but I thought that it well portrayed Chosun's ninth King, Yeonsan-gun and his era. With mediocre famous actors, the director was able to pull off a great hit and created many big stars, such as Lee Jun Ki(picture below).




Although I am literally in love with Jang Dong Gun, I have to admit that "Wang ui Namja" was a far better movie than "Typhoon," and that one will not regret watching such a good movie. It will give you a sense of a King's life in Chosun dynasty, which started around 1400 and ended in 1905, and fictional although possible behind stories. "Wang-ui Namja" was originally made in a theater play, "Yee."















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BUT, I also recommend "Typhoon." If "Wang ui Namja" was a A++ level movie, "Typhoon" was about A/A-. As I mentioned earlier, it has 3 big Korean movie stars, and it was directed by a famous director, who filmed Korea's hit movies such as "Ddong-gae (Mutt Boy)," "Champion," and "Chin-gu (Friends)." Typhoon's main character "Ssin (Jang Dong Gun)" is a North Korean defector and seeks revenge on the two Koreas for rejecting his family. The movie deals with a sensitive issue such as N.Korean defectors, divided Koreas, and US-Korea diplomatic/military alliances.

















all photos from http://www.naver.com

I understand I posted a bit too many photos, but since these two movies are my recent favories, I could not resist doing this! =) I hope you all enjoyed my posting. Thanks!

Ji-Hyun Kim (김지현)