The Pirates

[Drunk Monk]

This is a delightful Korean film that came out last year, a great romp and a fine example of entertaining K-flicks. It's Pirates of the Caribbean meets Moby Dick and Whale Rider. There's some cheesey CGI, some totally comic book characters, an uber sword hottie pirate captain, lots of eye patches and scars, battles at sea, and a ton of fun sword fights. It's an action adventure, a comedy, a romance, two-hours of fairly constant entertainment, a little bloody but family-friendly for the most part. And like good K-flicks, it makes some sharp surprising turns that keep the plot moving along nicely. I thoroughly enjoyed this. It also stars Hae-jin Yoo as the comic lead, who also starred in Woochi, another fine K-flick of a similar nature (which I didn't fawn over nearly enough in my DOOM review here: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://brotherhoodofdoom.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3002">viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3002</a><!-- l -->).

It's on Netflix.

[El Dingo]

The Ninja recommends The Pirates? I'm all over this. Netflix doesn't have the physical media for rent yet but it's in my 'Saved' queue.

[Drunk Monk]

What can I say? I have a soft spot for a good sword hottie.

[Drunk Monk]

I’ve forgotten what happened in the original but I do remember enjoying it. Perhaps I’m due for a rewatch.

[Drunk Monk]

Rewatched The Pirates on YouTube where it can be seen with ads. This was distributed by WellGoUSA so there’s a good chance it’s on Hoopla too.

Damn - 7 years and I almost completely forgot this movie. That’s ok. Kept it fresh. Only I do worry about my waning retention lately. 

It’s still absurd fun and I stand by my initial review. The sword fights are have excessive slo mo but are amusing. The humor still works. The overall story flows along, losing a bit of speed in the 3rd quarter - it could’ve been tighter at an hour and a half. But it’s amusing enough for me to be eager for the sequel, which is now the top box office grosser for this year in Korea (it’s early in the year tho). 

D00M recommended.

[Drunk Monk]

The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure

This is only a thematic sequel to the original. There are no carryover characters. It's more like they recycled themes from the original - sword hottie pirate captain, the rivalry between pirates and thieves, a connection to Joseon dynasty politics, a whale, goofy buffoon pirates and thieves, and some great sword fights. 

Yes. Great sword fights. There's a nice one-er early in where they toggle between slo mo and sped up for the sequence and the result is fresh. All the sword fights deliver something amusing. The finale sword fight has the most absurd resolution ever and that was quite satisfying. 

I think the first film was better. This one overstays its welcome at 2+ hours and would've been much better at an hour and a half. The buffoons are funny, but it gets old, especially since the first film already went there.

There are lots of CGI animals. I don't know why. The jellyfish scene was magical but why didn't anyone get stung?

I'd say see the first one - I stand by my D00M rec there. Then decide if you want to see this sequel. I didn't think it was as good but those sword fights and that sword hottie...that was sweet. 

Seen on Netflix.