The Swordsman
The movie we will read today is about a former swordsman, despite his blind eyes was forced to use the sword again to save his daughter who was kidnapped by barbarians. This movie is South Korean action drama film released in 2020 titled “THE SWORDSMAN” directed by Jae-Hoon Choi with a duration of 1 hour and 40 minutes starring Jang Huyk (Tae-Yool), Kim Hyun-soo Tae-ok), and Joe Taslim (Gurutai).
In 1623 in Joseon, King Gwanghae fled the place to avoid enemies. His best swordsman Tae-yool who serves the King as a bodyguard refuses to join the rebellion as the King’s high officials believe he is too weak to lead the country. One of the forefathers of the rebellion Min Seung-ho challenges him to a match as swordsmen where they both show off their sword skills.
Years later Tae-yool is now living alone with a daughter named Tae-ok in the mountains. He felt something now that his eyes were dimming as his daughter remembered his condition. When they looked at the monk’s eyes they were warned that if it was not cured immediately he could be permanently blind unless they could get a special medicinal plant for it.
They are sent to the center of the village to get it from the trade manager, even though Tae-yool is at risk of going blind. He is against going down the mountain because the world outside is too dangerous but the daughter decides to go alone of being forced to come too.
At the Palace meeting the Ching dynasty was extorting Joseon from their captives taken during the recent invasion. The minister Lee Mok-yo asked to personally meet with them to reconcile but the council members still feared that the day might come when even their own children would be made the King’s payment to the Ching nobility.
Despite this, Seung-ho plans to retire from serving the King. When the Tae-yool and Tae-ok arrive at the center of the village Tae-ok is very happy to see that they have just come down the mountain again but there is trouble after a traded slave wants his wife back who is sold at a high price. The villagers wanted to fight but the barbarians came with the captives and even the Palace soldiers could not do anything to them.
Tae-yool also just watched, not wanting to get involved in the mess then the minister met with the Ching envoy but Gurutai the emperor’s cousin also arrived there insulting their identity as being under the power of the dynasty. Seung-ho leaves after he doesn’t like what is being said about them.
When Gurutai recognizes him as a swordsman he and his men are faced with a duel Sueng-ho grants his wish and confronts his barbarian warrior to fight but when Seung-ho heats up he shows a true swordsmanship which almost killed the staff if not stopped. Gurutai was impressed by his shown as he was also good swordsman and happily left.
Meawhile, Tae-yool and Tae-ok went to the office of the trade manager Lady Hwa Sun and found out that it was not that easy to get the medicinal plant they were looking for because it was too expensive and only available to those with political connections. Tae-yool and Tae-ok just left after failing to get medicine. On their way out they met the merchants sent by Dynasty Ching who they remember causing trouble in the village.
Gurutai appeared to Lady Hwa Sun for her offer to sell the slave to him but she refused because they were not in line for such work which made Gurutai feel bad. Lady Hwa Sun did better to stay away and was warned by her companion that she would not get involved with them.
Tea-yool and Tae-ok went to yool’s old acquaintance who took care of the daughter before they returned to the mountain to spend the night there. Lady Hwa Sun was summoned by the minister to find the girl who would take care of his mother. She immediately thought of something she could get.
Despite this, yool had a dream about what happened in the fight that caused his eyes to blur. The next day while Seung-ho was busy handling out aid Gurutai’s men arrived. He sent him because of what he saw from the sword and offered to work for him but Seung-ho refused the offer and did not want to serve anymore.
Gurutai reminded him of his use of the sword before on his own serving King who insulted him but threatened him if he used his sword on him Joseon would be destroyed. When Tae-ok woke up the father was not there after he left early. Lady Hwa Sun comes there to pick her up and takes her to the minister’s house for the offer to adopt her and they will give the medicine for her father. The girl agreed and was overjoyed that her father would finally be cured.
When they left they met Seung-ho on the way who noticed something on the child’s clothes. At that time Tae-yool went to see his old acquaintance after he disappeared the boy greeted him who was sure to be grown up but he suddenly disappeared. When he returned to the lodging, yool daughter was not there and found out that the woman who oversees the village’s trade had picked her up.
When they got home, Lady Hwa Sun found Gurutai’s people rioting in the office, they stopped it but they got into a fight with one of the staff and both of them couldn’t stand the barbarian. Tae-ok tried to help them which only angered the barbarian before yool could get there and asked for forgiveness for what the girl had done but he said he would only forgive him if he knelt down.
Yool made the condition so that there would be no trouble but their leader noticed that he knew how to handle sword which surprised the daughter. When the two fought with only his cane while the sword was on the opponent but it didn’t work to yool’s skills. His teammate was about to draw his sword but they felt they couldn’t handle it so they stopped while watching nearby Seung-ho.
He remembers the past that after their fight then the King stopped him. The King chooses to surrender himself to them and tears off his clothes to give to yool the surrenders. Yool immediately runs away with the King’s daughter who is now Tae-ok. After the girl found out the truth about her true identity that she was a princess. She chose Tae-yool as her father and was ready to go everything to heal his eyes.
Yool did not agree with her plan to adopt a rich man just to see her but Tae-ok has decided because he also wants life to be comfortable even if he is not a princess but the truth is that he will do it for her father. In the secret meeting of the officials, they are taking an adoptive child to act as a substitute in case the King orders their children to be used as payment for the Ching.
When Seung-ho found out that he was listening outside he was angry that the ministers were only thinking about themselves. Then he remembered that the King’s decision was right and now regrets that he joined the rebellion. The next day Tae-ok was picked up early by the minister’s staff who regretted not seeing her father because he did not agreed with her decision.
Meanwhile, the minister wrote to the King for the proposal to to kill the envoy of Ching but Gurutai found out about it but he was more interested in the man who defeated the men while Yool was about to go home to the mountain suddenly he was attacked by Gurutai’s dispatch of assassin;s to end it. He was able to stop the attempt on his life where the old sword was hidden in his cane and immediately returned worried about his daughter.
At minister Lee’s home while they were preparing to evacuate the real daughter they were attacked by barbarians. The two children were captured and Tae-ok was the one wearing nice dress so the minister was brave. When it was decided to finish the child Gurutai’s staff Yool’s daughter recognized her.
Seung-ho also arrives the minister thought he would help them but because of his selfishness Seung-ho let him take the child. Gurutai’s men attacked the trading office to look for Yool there before Lady Hwa Sun killed he arrived there and faced the barbarian in battle. He stayed there and looked for the daughter but when they arrived at the minister’s house they found nothing.
Lady Hwa Sun apologizes because she knows that minister Lee will only adopt her. Yool is surprised to hear the name of the one who initiated the strike against the King and intends to find him alone. He went to the center of the village to find someone to teach her daughter.
He found a slave trader there and found out the whereabouts of their captive. After he got information he also killed him and immediately went to the said place but he did not find the daughter of the captives there. He was also seen by one of the guards who thought he was just a simple person. Yool ended it even with all his colleagues and frees their captives without actually having a daughter.
At that time minister Lee convinced the Royal guards to help him to save the daughter they refused because of the order that prevented them from any direct fighting with the Ching, but the minister offered a reward if they helped him now. The two children they plan to take home are now captive.
The emperor’s envoy is afraid that this might be a problem for them but Gurutai will be followed and the staff has been prepared for going home tomorrow. The next day the royal guards attacked the Ching envoy’s lodging. They face their soldier but when they rushed forward the Ching soldiers were carrying guns because of which all the royal guards were killed.
The minister is begging the barbarian to return his daughter just as Yool arrives looking for his daughter he faces the barbarians and shows his fighting prowess. The soldiers also rushed to hear the battle but Yool managed to avoid their guns and killed everyone. After the Ching killers arrived Yool had no choice but to fight them even though his vision was getiing blurry because there are so many.
He had a really hard time with them attacking at the same time and already felt weak with blurred eyes. Gurutai’s men also ran awaunable to believe what they had witnessed. Yool had killed all the minister came begging for help to save the daughter but Yool blamed him for what happening now because of he did during the King’s strike.
When Yool was about to leave his vision became even more blurred until he lost consciousness thinking about his daughter in jail. Tae-ok takes care of the minister’s daughter while Seung-ho watches it knowing that the child’s true identity. Gurutai remembers the past that the child they trained to be like a monster if killed he escaped.
His men arrived terrified of the murder of his colleagues because of the Gurutai killed him when he escaped. On the other hand Seung-ho also remembers the boy who was saved by the King where he is now. Yool who is a Ching race, Later when Yool woke up his eyes were healed before he could leave Lady Hwa Sun warned him that he could be permanently blind but Yool ignored it because it was important to him to save his daughter.
Seung-ho thinks about whose side he will take because Gurutai threatens him with the future of Joseon. Yoll also went to his friend for a sword to use and immediately wento to the port to save the daughter. When he got to the place where Seung-ho was waiting for him, he stopped him that the goal was prevent the nation from being destroyed but Yool nation was the child.
It was there that the two faced each other in battle as before while Gurutai watched them in awe of their skills. Yool continued to fight b hearing until the opponent was able to lose the fight,which means that he is still good because Seung-ho lost. Gurutai continued this and made Yool follow.
It turns out that the barbarian has prepared something for them to calculate that if he wins he will get his daughter back while Lady Hwa Sun also arrives there. The two swordsmen face each other in a fierce battle where Gurutai turns out to be very good beacuse Yoll has hits that he really takes. When he saw his daughter as if she had been made a slave that’s when he got the strength too continue to fight.
He tied the sword in his hand so that it wouldn’t let go then the two continue their duel and now Yool was able to injure the barbarian. He also intended to get close to the daughter then killed Gurutai’s mistress to save Tae-ok which everyone surprised. Gurutai is very angry at what he did and wants to get back at Yool but he can’t get close to his daughter. He also maanged to injure Gurutai a lot until he was finally killed.
The barbarian’s men wanted to intervene but the envoy stopped them. When Yool approaches the daughter he lost his sight even more until he was completely blind. It was shown in the past that Yool defeated the King in a duel before because the King made him a swordsman as his bodyguard.
Currently Tae-yool and Tae-ok are going down the mountain after they returned. Yool allows his daughter to see the world that he can no longer do.
This is where our movie ends. I hope you like it. Thank you very much.
Main Cast of The Swordsman
| Jang Hyuk Tae-yul |
| Kim Hyeon-soo Tae-ok |
| Joe Taslim Gurutai |
| Jeong Man-sik Seung-ho |
| Lee Na-kyung Hwa Sun |
| Choi Jin-ho Minister Lee |
| Jang Hyun-sung King Gwanghae |
| Angelina Danilova Gurutai’s mistress |
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- When was The Swordsman released?
- November 2020
- How long is The Swordsman?
- 1 hour and 40 minutes
- Who stars in The Swordsman?
- Jang Hyuk (Tae-yul)
- Kim Hyeon-soo (Tae-ok)
- Joe Taslim (Gurutai)
- Who directed The Swordsman?
- Jae-Hoon Choi
- What genre is The Swordsman?
- action
- drama
- historical
- Who was wrote of The Swordsman?
- Jae-Hoon Choi
- Who was the producer of The Swordsman?
- Ahyoung Park
- What is the Swordsman rated?
- TV-14
- Who was the cinematographer for The Swordsma?
- Won-ho Son
