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Kundo: Age of the Rampant
2014; directed by Yoon Jong-Bin

Kundo    Kundo

Kundo: Age of the Rampant set South Korean box office records upon its' release earlier this year. After viewing the new Blu-ray released by Well Go USA, it's easy to see why. This is a very fun movie. In fact, it's probably the best martial arts/western/period piece mashup with a Robin Hood influence that you're likely to come across.

Kundo    Kundo

The film takes place in 1859, during the late period of the Joseon dynasty. Kang Dong-Won plays Jo Yoon, a nobleman who schemes his way into power, including using a poor butcher, Dolmuchi (Ha Jung-Woo), as his pawn. With his family slaughtered and finding himself ostracized by society, Dolmuchi is befriended by the Kundo, a band of outlaws who use their formidable martial arts skills to right the wrongs of the land.

Kundo    Kundo

Like many South Korean movies, Kundo feels like it does run too long. At well over two hours, there is undoubtedly some fat that could have been trimmed here. But that is really the only major knock against the film. In most other respects, director Yoon Jong-Bin has crafted a very solid martial arts films, with a nice mix of drama and comedy, hihglighted by some impressive fight scenes. If you're a fan of the genre, this is a film that is well worth checking out.

RATING: 7

Kundo

Blu-ray Information

Well Go USA's Blu-ray contains the full uncut version of the movie, running at 137 minutes. Like most of Well Go's recent releases, the audio and visual quality is top-notch, with a sharp 2.35:1 1080p picture and a booming soundtrack in Korean DTS 5.1 or Korean Dolby 2.0. The English subtitles are easy to read and free of grammatical errors. As far as extras go, this is a lean affair, with the US version of the film's trailer being the lone entry.

The Blu-ray and DVD are available from Amazon.

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