The Admiral: Roaring Currents

The film is about Admiral Yi Sun-sin's legendary feat during the Battle of Myeongnyang. The admiral was able to defeat a Japanese fleet (330 ships) with only 12 ships. 

Yi Sun-sin (Choi Min-sik) is a Joseon Dynasty Admiral who has just been reinstated after a long "interrogation". He commands respect from his subordinates but at the same time he does not worry about them following him. He knows that his true soldiers will fight alongside him and will help me at any cost. He is a daring man who processes the strength of a successful tactician. His rules of warfare are logical and quite cunning. Yi is a patient man, he knows the right moment to attack or defend. A bit rebellious as he does not follow the king's order to combine with the national army instead he decides to wait and attempt the impossible by defeating a vast Japanese fleet. At the same time he is healing from the tortures his was inflicted with. At times you will feel that he will die of natural causes but appears to overcome his illness. With all this he still has the time to mentor a solider and his own son. 

Kurushima Michifusa (Ryu Seung-ryong) is a man with a grudge and a couple of his own ships. Kurushima was a Japanese samurai of high rank, he is in Korea to kill Yi Sun-sin because the admiral killed Kurushima's brother. He is a man of few words and usually one expression. A man that is hard to read and his motives are questionable. One would think he was the main villain of the film but everyone who thinks that is wrong. 

This film could be best described as a nationalistic Korean film. This is back up by the fact that all but one of the Japanese characters are actually performed by Korean actors. So it looks like a propaganda film to anyone who is not blind. 

Besides that,  the film is actually kind of good. It was exciting and entertaining which is what you want when the film is based around a battle. The direction was well done though there were a few scenes that could of been better. The emotion was there, all the actors represented what the characters felt. It made the film even better it was interesting to see how each character developed in such a short time. I felt like the Japanese side was a little bit unrepresented. 

Choi Min-sik was excellent in the film, he took the lead and you can feel it. He had an overpowering presence in each scene where he had to be the leader. It was his one of his best performances to date to me, as he was able to express so many emotions realistically. No one else really stood out but that doesn't mean no one did good performances. They did but they were overwhelmed due to Choi's performance.

3.6/5

Cast

Choi Min-sik

Also Appeared In:

Lucy

In My End is My Beginning

New World

Nameless Gangster

I Saw the Devil

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

Crying Fist

Oldboy

Failan 

Ryu Seung-ryong

Also Appeared In:

Someone Special

Righteous Ties

Eleventh Mom

My Love

Secret (2009)

Blades of Blood

Masquerade