Athena: Goddess of War

아테나: 전쟁의 여신 (Athena: Goddess of War) is a South Korean drama series that aired on SBS from December 13th 2010 to February 21st 2011. The 20 episodes have an average duration of 1 hour and 2 minutes. The series is a spin off of the IRIS series that aired it's first season on 2009.

Story: While planning the reunification of the two Koreas, South Korea is developing a new technology referred to as TWR - a high speed nuclear reactor technology other countries and organisations are also interested in. To prevent terror the NTS (National Anti-Terror Service) is created by the South Korean government.
Lee Jung-woo transfers to the NTS. One day, he's ordered to go to Italy with Kim Ki-soo, a North Korean defector, to track down terrorists. At first they don't know the exact target but soon Jung-woo and Ki-soo figure out that Soo-young, the daughter of the current South Korean president who came to Italy to study architecture, is the target. When she is kidnapped, the South Korean government sends more NTS agents to negotiate but the American DIS, more specifically the East Asian branch, also gets involved in the case. In the aftermath NTS and DIS have to work together which is against the actual rules of the NTS.
Other mysteries occur and it becomes more and more likely that a huge conspiration is behind all of those incidents that involve Jung-woo and other NTS agents as well as Yoon Hye-in who joined the team not too long ago.
Summarizing this whole story is literally impossible. It has various layers from top to bottom regarding the NTS and the government, a love story (of course, what else) about forbidden love, later on a hint of one-sided love.. You have a lot of things in this drama. I personally didn't feel like it was strongly connected to IRIS (since the second season of IRIS wasn't around when Athena was aired I'm going to neglect that part) and you don't need to know IRIS to understand what is happening which is a huge plus (it has been almost 4 years since I watched the first and second season in a row and it's natural I don't remember everything). I personally think that the story is also less complicated because - compared to the parent story - I felt like Athena had a clear goal even though that might have been different from Son Hyuk's.
I quite enjoyed the story line, it was well written in my opinion. I would watch it again for sure.

Cast: Jung Woo-sung as Lee Jung-woo. As an actor, I can't really criticize him. As a character, he certainly did have his strong his points but was a creepy stalker sometime in the beginning and got me literally annoyed. But then again; writing. Jung Woo-sung is still a good actor for sure and this drama suited him well.
Cha Seung-won as Son Hyuk. I honestly love a good villain in its own way and and Cha Seung-won makes an awesome villain! It is a little bit too obvious that he's not the good guy. I really liked his acting though, I totally enjoyed watching him in this drama.
Soo Ae as Yoon Hye-in. The character is badass and I somehow really liked her. As for the acting, I felt like her facial expression was nearly the same so often that I don't really know what to think about Soo Ae as an actress. However, she still pulled off the emotional parts quite well, and the action scenes didn't show her face that much so I would say her acting was okay overall in this drama.
Lee Ji-ah as Han Jae-hee. Another badass female in this drama and I adored her character in some way. As an agent of NTS she for sure has to know how to fight and she does well in this role. As for the acting I really liked Lee Ji-ah as an actress in this drama. I kinda could imagine her to be a real person working for a government agency so she was probably one of my personal favorites in this drama as well.
Kim Min-jong as Kim Ki-soo. Ki-soo is one of the characters I didn't quite like at first but grew on me as the story proceeded and he got to proof why he had such a huge part in the drama. I would say the believable acting was a huge part of what made me like him not only because of sympathy but he was a strong character while Kim Min-jong is a good actor in this series.
Choi Si-won as Kim Joon-ho. Before anyone claims I'm biased - no, I'm not. I'm not a fan of Super Junior nor do I like Siwon. However, I think he was really good in this drama and totally deserves respect for his acting. While some of the scenes made him seem a little bit childish and insecure in my honest opinion this might have been intended (you know the reason when you watch this drama). So thumbs up!
Yoo Dong-geun as Kwon Yong-kwan. The director of the NTS actually shows his full strength at the end of this drama, and so does the actor. He definitely deserved his spot - the actor as well as the character - and I personally think the acting was well done as well. I don't really know what I should say about this but I tried.
This drama also includes two characters of the IRIS seasons: Kim So-yeon makes a cameo in the last few episodes (and I personally think it was more or less pointless to bring the character into this series as it was not really connected to the main plot of Athena) and Kim Seung-woo as Park Cheol-yong, one of the characters that still left a deep impression on me after IRIS and now after Athena as well.
Also, a bunch of idols makes cameos in this drama; Shim Chang-min of TVXQ is in the last episodes, BoA appears in one episode, Onew and Taemin of SHINee are there and Hoon of U-KISS. I wouldn't recommend watching it because of the cameos though as some of them are really short!
Other actors (in bigger roles than cameos) include Lee Jung-kil, Kim Young-ae, Lee Han-wi and Oh Yoon-ah.

Soundtrack: I usually love the soundtracks of actions series and this is not really an exception. The instrumentals fit the atmosphere so well that I really loved the soundtrack a lot. And let's not forget about the OST that includes lots of famous (and great) singers. My personal favorite is most likely 박효신 (Park Hyo-shin), a singer I love to death for his voice, and his song "널 사랑한다 (You Who I Love/I Love You)". The second song I really liked a lot would probably be TVXQ/DBSK's "아테나 (Athena)" for the awesome feeling that it has to it. I know that many people also loved Tae-yeon's song for this OST, "사랑해요 (I Love You)". So to summarize: This OST consists of great names with even greater voices.


8/10
I quite enjoyed this drama, maybe I liked it even more than the first season of IRIS but I know I shouldn't compare the dramas. Still, Athena is a spin-off that could totally stand on its own feet. IRIS tells some background story that was not necessarily necessary and the only clear connection is the government - and Kim So-yeon's cameo that still seemed a little bit forced to me as it didn't belong to the main story. I personally think that the idea of love connecting enemies is way more interesting than a love triangle between agents of the same agency and this drama balanced action, political and romance well enough for me to seriously like it and not skip any scenes.
Recommended to fans of action dramas that include romance and can handle a bit of creepy stalker behavior. Also, if you liked IRIS I think this is a must-watch.

71: Into the Fire

포화속으로 (71: Into the Fire) is a South Korean movie based on a real historic event during the Korean war directed by John H. Lee and released in 2010.

Story: The movie starts with Oh Jung-beom being ordered around to deliver supplies to soldiers in need in Yeongdeok. The town is attacked by North Korean soldiers and Jung-beom is saved my Lieutenant Kim Jun-seop who dies to save the student soldier. Full of guilt Jung-beom manages to get to Pohang with another unit of the South Korean army that established a base camp in a girls middle school. As the troops leave to fight at the Nakdong river 71 student-soldiers, most of whom never used a gun before, are left at the middle school to defend the minor strategic point. Kang Suk-dae makes Jung-beom the leader of the student-soldiers because he is one of three of the group who has some combat experience.
One day they are on patrol and get under fire. The feared 766th division of the North Korean army is attacking the group of students. The get an ultimatum to either rise a white flag or the school will be attacked by the division.
After reporting their encounters with the North Korean soldiers, Kang Suk-dae continously asks the commander of the forces at Nakdong river to send support to the school and shortly before the North Koreans attack he leaves with his soldiers for the school to save the students.

Cast: There was not one actor in this movie whom I didn't believe his role. I think they all put their heart and soul into this production and it is visible. T.O.P as Oh Jung-beom was doing especially well in the beginning being the traumtised students. Since he has to take the lead later on it shows that his acting is strong in this movie, the transformation to a leader of the student-soldiers is portrayed well.
Kwon Sang-woo as Gu Kap-jo was really good in his rebellious acting and it seemed as if I saw him before in this role. I don't know if he often plays those rebel characters but it was really good. Kim Seung-woo as Kang Suk-dae was good, too. He seemed sincerely worried about the soldiers on a human basis much more like a father character that doesn't want to see his children die because he had to leave them alone.
Cha Seung-won as Park Mu-rang, the leader of the North Korean division, was a good antagonist. While I personally think his character was sometimes a little bit too careless about orders (I don't think the North Korean military would like that much) it still worked well with the story and totally was not a problem with his acting.
Of course as this is a movie about the Korean war there are lots and lots of actors and I can't name them all but other actors in this movie include Kim Yoon-sung as Poong-chun, Yoon Seung-hoon as Hwang Chang-woo, Kim Hye-seong as Yong-man, Kim Dong-bum as Jae-seon and Shin Hyeon-tak as Dal-yeong.


I personally loved this movie in its real and historic tragedy for portraying the reality of war. Especially the Korean war is a topic I know much about and that is therefore a special topic to me. It is one of the wars where brothers could have happened to fight against each other because of different ideologies or just living places. I had to rate this movie with a 10/10 and also added it to the list of my favorite movies (I'm not a movie person so there aren't that many though..)
I highly recommend this movie if you are interested in Korean history.

Blades of Blood

구르믈 버서난 달처럼 (Blades of Blood, literally Like The Moon Escaping From The Clouds) is a Korean movie that was released in April 2010.

Please notice that I might give some more spoilers than usually because - as far as I've read - some people don't quite understand the story which is why I feel that I should try to explain the historical context as well as my personal understanding/ maybe some interpretation. If you plan on watching this movie, I feel like you should stop reading right now and come back when you've seen it.

Story: The story is set in late 16th Century Korea. It's the reign of King Seonjo, at least officially, but the Korean monarchy is weakend and the King has to rely on the support of the yangban class, the gentry. Due to some internal strife, mostly between the West and the East parties, corruption and the pressure coming from the Japanese the State Joseon is even more endangered. That's why in this movie an alliance was formed, firstly to defend the population against the Japanese forces. But it becomes obvious throughout the movie that General Lee Mong-hak has other plans and wants to become the King himself. He therefore killed a man that was later condemned a traitor. Hwang Jeong-hak, a blind swordsman, knows about this. He's also there when the alliance attacks the house of the Han family. After saving the illegitimate son of the family that son, Han Kyun-Jja seeks for revenge and asks Hwang Jeong-hak to become his teacher. While searching for Lee Mong-hak they meet Baek-ji, Mong-hak's lover/ girlfriend, who simply starts following them to meet the man who left her shortly before again. It seems that Kyun-ja and Baek-ji develop feelings for each other but in the end it seems she still wants to see Mong-hak again at any cost. In the end of the movie the showdown appears to be in Seoul, called Hanyang or Hanseong in the Joseon Dynasty, at the royal palace but the King and his loyalty had already left when Mong-hak and Kyun-ja meet and the Japanese forces invade the palace later. The scene following that showdown is something I don't want to talk about too much. But the moon's playing an important role, that's why I think it's necessary to know about the literal title as well. Personally, I would guess it's something otherworldly we see mostly due to the color effects used but it all depends on how you want to interpret it.

Now I think that's a pretty detailed story summary for my standards. I honestly don't get why some people couldn't make any guesses about it. I'm not saying that they're stupid, I would never do that, but I guess they didn't pay attention because a) I think the internal strife between the political parties was obvious, b) they've been talking about the Japanese all the time, and they even mentioned a Japanese invasion and c) actually the context isn't even that important because I personally thing the movie mostly focusses on Kyun-ja's revenge.
There is one thing I have to add to those short summaries I've found though: I DO NOT think that the characters are fighting for social equality. In the Joseon dynasty, Confucianism was the main school of thought. Due to the system the people accepted their role in society, they accepted that they were born into the system. And there were two 'rules' everyone had to obey: Filial piety and loyalty towards the State. Everything that endangered the system and especially those two rules/laws was unacceptable (which led to various persecutions of Catholics about 200 years later but that's something totally different).

Cast: Let's be honest, how many of us watched that movie because of Baek Sung-hyun as Han Kyun-ja? I bet a few did, and if you do watch it because of him, you might love it. His acting in this movie shows many different emotions and shades, though I would characterize Kyun-ja actually as a mostly young and impulsive man who wants to be accepted though he doesn't belong to the yangban class (I forgot the name for illegitimate children of gentry men with their concubines, sorry).
Cha Seung-won appears as Lee Mong-hak. Though he's listed in the main cast and definitely is one of the key characters he doesn't have too much screentime compared to Baek Sung-hyun and Hwang Jung-min. Most of the time I thought his acting was emotionless and therefore a little empty - there wasn't really a cold feeling around him but simply nothing - but in the latter half of the movie there were some really good emotions included. So his acting itself was at least okay (I would need to rewatch the movie a few more times to see whether I missed out on something or not).
Hwang Jung-min appears as Hwang Jeong-hak, the blind swordman. If I didn't miss out on anything important, which I don't think happened, it was never really explained why he behaved the way he did. Why did he turn against the alliance? I mean, why exactly? Sure it's said that he somehow realized the alliance won't make the world a better place and that in the struggle for power the situation might turn out worse. Anyways, I liked his acting after all. His eyes were closed basically 95% of the time and I don't think it's that easy to film some scenes without opening ones eyes so he definitely deserves respect for that.
Lastly, we have Han Ji-hye as Baek-ji. She's beautiful and I think her acting actually fit her role well but then again I wouldn't want to discuss whether it's a major or minor role. We don't get to know that much about her after all, only that she was Lee Mong-hak's girl, he somehow left her and she wants to see him again. That's why she follows Kyun-ja and Hwang Jeong-hak later.

Soundtrack: Since this is a movie, there is basically no soundtrack like there would be for a drama. However, I did enjoy the somewhat traditional feeling of many songs included in the soundtrack, especially of those sang by Baek-ji and played on an instrument called gayageum if I remember right. The music after all did fit the scenes. Especially in the fighting scenes some people will argue it would've been better to use rock songs but please remember that this song is set in the last decade of the 16th Century and imagine a hard rock song playing. That doesn't work, guys, it's just a huge 'Nope'.


After all I've rated this movie as a 7.5/10 mainly because I felt they could've shortened some scenes and maybe used less effects in the fighting scenes. This movie focusses surely more on action than on the plot but I think it's not that bad since the main goal, the revenge, still remained and the story therefore developed. Though it is indeed a rather slow development that's being displayed.

I hope I was able to clear up some things about the setting and the plot above though, and if you have any questions about the Imjin Waeran or Hideyoshi invasions that basically start during the time where the movie is set, you can either ask me - or simply try to find the information on Google or Yahoo search.