War of the Arrows

The film begins with two children Nam-yi and Ja-in being chased by King Injo's guards and saved by their father Choi Pyeong-ryung, an officer of King Gwanghae and a skilled archer. He sends his own children to find a place of refuge with his best friend Kim Mu-seon. As they escape crying, Ja-in begs her brother to go back to their father but their father is killed in front of Nam-yi. Nam-yi, though bitten by the guard dogs, kills them and escapes with Ja-in.

Nam-yi becomes the only family Ja-in has. 13 years later Nam-yi (Park Hae-il) is now a skilled archer and hunter. He hunts with companions Gang-du, Gab-yong, and Seo-goon. He learns from Mu-seon's son Seo-goon (Kim Mu-yeol) that he and Ja-in (Moon Chae-won) plan to get married, with the approval of Mu-seon who is also Ja-in's godfather. He is very unhappy about this.

During the wedding, Nam-yi is up in the mountains hunting deer. He hears the rumble of the Manchu invading forces. When Nam-yi makes it back to the village, he finds his foster father slaughtered and his sister taken away. Nam-yi then sets out to find the Qing army and take out their army with his bow. He ambushes a scouting party, and the royal guard set out to find him.

Before being trapped in Manchuria, the prisoners rebel, with Nam-yi coming at the nick of time to save Seo-goon and free the rest of the prisoners. The Royal Guard again come to the field late, but see the distinctive red arrows. Nam-yi, Seo-goon, Gang-du, and Gab-yong, seek out the Manchu camp, finding it well guarded and Ja-in still alive. The great commander of the Qing army, Jyuushinta (Ryu Seung-ryong) rides with the Palace guard. Nam-yi captures the Manchu prince, douses him with alcohol, and holds him hostage until sun rise until his sister and Seo-goon can escape, promising to meet them at a hut. He then sets the prince and his tent on fire, sowing chaos in the camp.

Jyuushinta arrives at the camp at daybreak, to find it disarray, with the prince dead.

Jyuushinta then sets out to find Nam-yi.

Gang-du and Gab-yong both sacrifice themselves biding Nam-yi time. At a gorge, Nam-yi leaps across and is pinned down by the Manchu before they decide to cross. As they cross, he is able to kill three of them, but refuses to kill Jyuushinta, though the opportunity presents itself. At the rendezvous hut, two Manchu ambush Seo-goon and Ji-an, but are killed.

On the other side of the gorge, Nam-yi runes to the top of a ridge and as he does so, gets shot in the arm. Though Nam-yi is shot in the arm, he is able to lure a tiger to attack the Manchu in a canyon, and allude again them while taking a few of their dropped arrows.

After escaping, he fashions a tongah arrow guide to shoot a short arrow and uses it to wound the last member of the group. He then uses a broadtip arrow to dispatch the soldier that attempts to pick him. Finally, predicting where Jyuushinta is placed, he bends the trajectory of his last arrow. Jyuushinta is saved by his mute serviceman.

Nam-yi rides away to find Ja-in as he assumes that Jyuushinta is dead. Meanwhile, Nam-yi finds Ja-in in a field. They are about to reunite when Ja-in sees Jyuushinta aiming at Nam-yi from a cliff. But before the arrow hits, Ja-in shoots the horse and Nam-yi falls. As Nam-yi and Jyuushinta face off, Ja-in runs in between them. Nam-yi's arrow barely touches Ja-in's dress, but Jyuushinta's finds its mark. It goes through Ja-in, and into Nam-yi's heart. Despite Ja-in's protests, Nam-yi pulls it out, and shoots Jyuushinta with it. Jyuushinta falls to the ground and dies. Nam-yi falls down as well but Ja-in catches him on her lap. Nam-yi says that they should go back to their old home in Hanyang before dying.

Ja-in lays Nam-yi into a boat and she and Seo-goon cross back over the river into their homeland.

• Park Hae-il ... Choi Nam-yi
  • Lee David ... young Nam-yi
• Moon Chae-won ... Choi Ja-in
  • Jeon Min-seo ... young Ja-in
• Kim Mu-yeol ... Kim Seo-goon
• Ryu Seung-ryong ... Jyuushinta
• Park Ki-woong ... Dorgon, Prince of Qing Manchu-China
• Ryohei Otani ... Nogami
• Kim Ku-taek ... Gang-du
• Lee Han-wi ... Gab-yong
• Lee Geung-young ... Kim Mu-seon
• Kang Eun-jin ... Eun-yi
• Lee Seung-joon ... Wan-han
• Lee Jae-gu ... Hoo-man
• Park No-shik ... Jang-soon
• Yoon Dong-hwan ... Choi Pyeong-ryung

• War of the Arrows at Naver (in Korean)
• War of the Arrows on IMDb
• Arrow, The Ultimate Weapon at the Korean Movie Database
• Arrow, The Ultimate Weapon at HanCinema