Saulabi DVD Review

Saulabi is a 2002 release from Korea, though I'm not sure anyone there would admit it. It is a failure on almost all fronts, from production to plot, acting and directing. There is nothing redeeming about the film, and the technical quality of the disc itself is an affront to the hundreds of better films that have not been granted such a presentation on DVD.

The Film

I wish I could tell you what this movie was about. I wish it were about something. Instead, the scattered elements that might have made a plot serve simply to convey outrage at the evil Japanese and their treatment of Koreans. I probably would not even have understood that much without reading online synopsis of the film. From what I gather, the film is centered on a small group of Korean expatriates who were driven from their land in humiliation.

All but a pair of their young warriors are killed in an early attack in the film (why this attack occurred, where it was located, and who started it are beyond me). One of these warriors is (apparently) sent on a mission to restore the village's ancient rights by reassembling the "Heaven's Sword." To do so, he must travel into another village to meet a swordmaster (I think), who stumbles around drunk and is almost killed before the young hero intervenes.

I could attempt to parse out the plot of the rest of the film, but there really isn't one. The young expatriate hero falls in love with the daughter of a local aristocrat, who is of course already promised in marriage to the local warlord. As it turns out, neither the girl's father nor the warlord are pleased by this relationship. Much enmity ensues.

The battle scenes are sparse and uninteresting. The love story is cliched and uninteresting. The sets are cramped, unadorned, and uninteresting. It is nearly impossible to figure out where any of the scenes are taking place or how far apart any of the locations are. Any sense of drama is washed out by cliche, any possibility of a climax is washed out by incoherence. Also, the acting stinks.

Let me speak plainly. This is an awful movie. If you have the good fortune of reading this review BEFORE renting it, then do not rent it. It has no redeeming qualities. It is not bad in any sense that might allow cult worship, like Rocky Horror or even Showgirls. It is bad in the most inane and mind-numbing way. Avoid at all costs.

Style: 1 (out ot 5)
Substance: 0 (out ot 5)
Overall: 0.5 (out ot 5)

The DVD

What a waste of a perfetly good DVD. With so many fine Asian films yet to receive a decent anamorphic transfer or surround sound audio (let alone DTS), it gives me no pleasure to acknowledge that the technical specs on this Region 0 Infinity Entertainment release are pretty decent.

The video is not pristine, and with any other 2002 film I would actually register surprise and displeasure. But it does a more than adequate job of conveying the dull photography in a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. The Korean language track is not the most robust track you will ever hear, but both the DTS and DD5.1 are more than the film deserves. The subtitles have a lot of grammatical problems, and at first this will seem quite frustrating. Ultimately, however, I realized that they are most frustrating because the plot does not make any sense, and the subtitles do adequately convey that. The sparse extras are all Korean language only, which in this case does not bother me at all.

Video: 4 (out ot 5)
Audio: 4 (out ot 5)
Extras: 0.5 (out ot 5)
Overall: 3 (out ot 5)