Title: Kingdom I / キングダム I
Rating: 7 / 10
Recommended for:
For those who like historical-action films, fans of the cast or the original manga
* Potential spoilers ahead!
* Disclaimer: I have not read the original manga.
* For the sake of easy reference, I have added a number to the title here to differentiate this from the sequels in the Kingdom real-life movie series.
* Currently available on Netflix (subject to geographical location)
Liked:
- While I may not have read the original manga, the fact that the story was based on the Warring States era in Chinese history helped to maintain a certain level of reality amid the fictitious elements that may come across as a bit exaggerated and far-fetched. For those who know about this turbulent period in Chinese history, be it a little or a lot, this pre-knowledge will almost certainly come in useful to understand the historical setting of the movie. As such, I was able to "get into" the story easily thanks to this prior knowledge I had about that era.
- As per a blockbuster production, there were so many cast members - many of whom should be pretty familiar and well-known faces even to international audiences. To be honest, Yamazaki Kento may be the lead but due to the fact that Shin had just barely evolved from a rash young man free from the shackles of being a slave to one fighting for a cause, it will probably take some time in the subsequent sequels for him to develop into a charismatic character in his journey to become a great general. In contrast, Yoshizawa Ryo probably had a bit more room in this movie to go deeper into the emotions of his characters since he played two characters of vastly different circumstances.
On the other hand, the supporting characters stood out way more despite limited screen time for some. For one, Oosawa Takao's acting as Ouki left such a strong impact on me, not just in terms of how he bulked up to project that menacing look with a lot of screen presence but also his aura as a military leader and his ability to make Ouki look like a fine blend of evil and righteousness.
Likewise, Nagasawa Masami's acting as Youtanwa was so eye-catching because of how she appeared credible as a leader of the Mountain Tribe and looked so charismatic. Her costume looked a bit too Western and out of place though in that era since it resembled more of something you might see in Western movies about European gladiators.
- The action sequences were better than I expected. Given that there was an element of fantasy in this historical story, I was a bit concerned about how the action scenes may seem comical and unrealistic if the characters all looked like they had supernatural powers. Fortunately, the action scenes were largely sleek and smooth to watch especially those where Yamazaki and Yoshizawa appeared in. That could be due to the fact that Shin and Hyou self-trained with the "wooden swords" and became skilled swordsmen through years of hard work. In contrast, there were scenes from people like Ouki who used his weapon and strength to send people literally flying - this might seem a bit too fantastical to some.
Disliked:
- Given that this movie functioned more like an introduction to the Kingdom series and had a lot of background explaining to do, there wasn't really much room for story developments that could surprise or wow the audience. As we already know by now, there are already 4 movies to date in the series so it's a given that Shin won't die no matter what happens and Eisei will live to unite China one day. In this sense, the predictability might be a bit boring for some but it's still necessary to sit through this for the sake of making sense of the sequels ahead.
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