Iljimae

Iljimae…well..

I had never watched a period drama before, since I always found the wigs that the actors and actresses wore very odd and didn’t make the characters look very nice for me to look at or watch as I became very distracted by the fakeness of the costume. Then I found Iljimae, this is one drama I didn’t review, instead I just decided to watch it on a spur of the moment. I found Iljimae around a week ago at the start of my easter holidays…which is really bizarre. I was looking for a drama to watch as I was really bored, I had watched most of the romance, comedy sort dramas in Japanese and Taiwanese and some in Korean then I spotted…Period Drama. So I thought…why not give it a try? Okay so I finished Iljimae pretty quick, but not in a marathon. I watched Iljimae over a period of 3 days and I found it a very pleasant drama.

The basic outline of this drama is loosely over the Robin Hood legend, I loved as I watched it how it slowly created its own story, that was slightly separate to Robin Hood. It shows us how a young boy tries to cope with the murder of his father, unfortunately leading to losing his memory. As time passes he slowly remembers the pains of his childhood and takes on the mask of Iljimae to avenge his father. It takes us through his tribulations and happy moments as he travels towards his goal. People of his past resurface, a new found love takes its course, great friendships are made, people lost and enemies are made.

I loved the character Geum/Yong/Iljimae played by Lee Joon Ki. I liked how his character changed immensely between his humourous self (Yong) and then in his dark self (Iljimae). It was clever how he swapped between the two. Lee Joon Ki’s acting was something I did enjoy, I thought he was good at the two sided personalities he had to show, yet some parts he did lack that he could have made more meaningful. Eun Chae played by Han Hyo Joo was a really pure and innocent young girl, which is really sweet, falling for a stranger adds to the excitement between the twos relationship. I liked her spurts of fiery attitude that flared up either when she was being patronised or when she was with Iljimae. I liked how Yong as his humourous self really put Eun Chae off of him and a type of love/hate relationship boiled between them but when he became his dark side her heart seemed to stop when she saw him. It was really enjoyable watching the chemistry between the two and it almost made me wet myself in tears of laughter at some points of Yong’s most stupid attempts of being funny and Eun Chae just looked at him like a total idiot. The two other characters with an important role in Iljimae was Bong Soon played by Lee Young Ah, she is quite a new actress from what I can gather but from her acting in this drama she did it extremely well and I was pleased with it. I liked how care free Bong Soon may seem but infact shes quite caught up inside herself. Shi Hoo/Ja Dol played by Park Shi Hoo had a really mysterious character to play as well as Lee Joon Ki. It was interesting to watch the two develop as the series went on and just how serious their situations were. I liked how each of them were connected in one way or another and I like how the past caught up with them, it just adds to the excitement of the drama. The acting on the whole was really interesting and very good from my point of view though some parts could have been pulled up a notch. The only person in this drama I truly detested was the king he absolutely made me want to bang him on the head, not the acting just the actual character he was such a pompous ass I actually felt the need to spit roast him, he was just pure evil and absolutely heartless…arghh. Well put it this way the actor did a really good job of pulling him off xD!

I enjoyed the humour but also the past that was behind the four main characters and also the supporting roles involved also, made me all the more intrigued to watch this drama. I liked the cause of Yong becoming Iljimae and how everything slotted together over time. The suspense during the drama was quite on edge for me as I hated the fate of some of the really loved characters on the show. The romance wasn’t as prodominant as some romance dramas it was very low but it was all the same very nice and sweet. The love square was really vague but it was there and quite complicated at that. They were all chasing after something mainly to do with Iljimae and his three different forms, but they got really well tied up together in this story. The action was really good in this film, I enjoyed the different fight scenes and how the hero didn’t always get off scott free in his clashes with the enemy which was good, since its quite…boring and predictable to win all the time..I found it almost cringe worthy everytime Iljimae barely slips out of Ja Dol’s grasp…that’s what really glued me to the screen, the whole chemistry between these two enemies, was really well acted. All of the characters change as the drama goes on, which is really nice to see as it keeps things unexpectable to some of the audiences watching.

The ending I have to admit was a tad disappointing, yet I suppose the producer wants your imagination to think of what happens next rather there being a set in stone ending, shame though as the ending could have been better and I felt sorry for Eun Chae left there waiting…oops! said too much! 😮 I liked how everything pans out though and that there is finally peace for the other characters. I liked how Iljimae’s threat scared the king to insanity now that was something rather amusing (sorry ..spoiler again O.o) but altogether there should have been more to see than the ending we were left with.

But! All in All…I do recommend this drama for people who aren’t all up for the fluffy and sappy mush because there isn’t that much in this it’s a bit more psycological and the past has a lot to do with what the characters do. There is comedy and also a serious side, but all the same it is a pleasant drama to watch. I do like it even if it is a period drama, I found this a period drama that I really enjoyed and the first one I ever watched, so I would give it quite a good rating, just some of the acting could be better. So, for a period drama it has ended up as one of my favourites (: