Hapless and idealistic young police officer Sang-hwan is pursuing a purse snatcher when he is "helped" by a young woman called Wi-jin. Unbeknownst to Sang, Wi-jin is being trained by the masters ot Tao and has great skills – great skills she accidentally uses on him. When he comes to he is in the company of the masters and decides to train with them and help to be a better officer. As he trains though, the release of the evil Heuk-woon from his underground prison brings a reality to the training that previously had been lost on Sang.I saw this film after a recommendation on LoveFilm and others had said good things about it. Watching it for myself I found a film that has good bits and will appeal to martial arts fans but somehow doesn't really come together. The problem is in the delivery of the story and, to a point, where the story actually goes. At times it appears that this is a Jackie Chan style action comedy, with plenty of bumbling laughs mixed with the action. Then at others it feels like a full-on action film where the focus is on big sequences done without a hint of knowing humour. The again it seems to be a really self-important film about mysticism that takes it entirely seriously. Now, as a fan of cocktails and smoothies, I can get with the idea that things that don't naturally sit together can work great in the right mix – but it has to be the right mix. With Arahan the mix is never right and it feels fractured as if sections of the film were made by different people with different ideas of what the film is all about.As far as individual parts go, there is nothing specifically wrong with anything on its own, even if I personally found the more weighty material to be far too silly to support that tone. This is contributed to by the mix of tones though because it is hard to take the film too seriously when it has characters running vertically down tower blocks and the like. It is a shame because the tone affects the characters and they are uneven as well but the main impact is how much you are able to really enjoy the film. So, you're into the light fun but then suddenly people are dying bloody deaths. Then you get into the seriousness of the mysticism but just as you do then it changes it up again without much connection. The cast do their best with it but most of them are best with the lighter touch and action. Ryu is a likable lead who can "do" geeky as well as he does "muscled-arrogance" later on. Yoon works well with him and she is both pretty and cool, making for another likable lead. The older masters are best when they are allowed to work with the modern twist on their characters but are not so good when the plot makes them get serious and worthy.Overall Arahan is an OK film that has plenty of specific good bits in the comedy and the action sequences – certainly genre fans will like what they find. It is a real shame that the uneven tone breaks it up so much and prevents it really getting a constant flow that the viewer can get into.

As Eastern cinema grows more and more popular in the West, largely thanks to its being aped by such filmmakers as the Wachowskis and Quentin Tarantino, an increasing number of cinematic gems from across Eastern Asia are now arriving in the West. While films like Hero and House of Flying Daggers gain widespread theatrical releases, the more common place to find some of these films is on DVD and that's precisely where I found Arahan.Having never heard of it before I was struck by the synopsis on the back of the box that likened it to Stephen Chow's (he of Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer fame) manic output I took a chance on it and was mildly surprised by what I saw.Directed with confidence and occasional flare by Ryu Seung-Wan, Arahan tells the story of Sang (played Ryu Seung-Bum who you may recognise from Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), a somewhat goofy and ineffective cop who no one can seem to take seriously. After a disastrous attempt to ticket the local congressman's chauffeur for running a red light, Sang spies a purse-snatcher and promptly gives chase. Unknown to him the purse-snatcher is also being pursued by Eui-Jin (played by Yun Soy), a Tao master in training. When Sang is struck by her errant palm blast he finds himself in the care of the Seven Masters (oddly enough there are only five of them). Harbouring a crush on Eui-Jin and a strong desire to kick some ass, Sang begins training under the Masters in the hopes of Maruchi, or enlightened male master.One thing Arahan is not is slow. It moves at a brisk clip while at the same time managing to feel unhurried in reaching it's destination. It also boasts some fun characters. Seung-Bum is delightful to watch as Sang. The unusual combination of barrel bottom self esteem, stubborn pride and impatience is interesting to watch and Seung-Bum manages to carry it off wonderfully without ever letting the character descend into a mess of neuroses which could have so easily happened. Yun Soy makes a suitable foil and displays a lot of fire in her performance but her delivery sometimes falls a little flat. Admittedly she has less to work with as the slightly clichéd girl with great power and responsibility who just wants to lead a normal life has been a fairly common theme in recent years but all in all she acquits herself well. Jeong Doo-Hong is also well cast as the movies icy villain Heuk-Un, a former Tao Master with a neat line in martial arts moves and a PhD in not knowing when to call it quits.In terms of action (for Arahan is a Kung Fu movie so not to mention it would defeat a lot of the object in a review of the film) Arahan manages to pull out some neat scenes, using the full gamut of tricks currently employed in the genre including extensive wire work in some of the later battles, occasional use of CG and a nice mixture of sword and fist fights to lend the scenes some variety. It never truly raises the bar and on occasion the fights can be heavily edited, perhaps to cover some of the performers lack of skill. By and large though it gets the blood pumping and will make you wince at just the right moments, all the ingredients of some decent Kung Fu.Unfortunately Arahan does have one fairly large flaw. While billed as a comedy, Arahan can be surprisingly uneven in its tone. Much of the films humour tends to be slapstick although there are some knowing asides to Kung Fu genre in general particularly at the very beginning. The result of this somewhat broad humour combined with the manic performances will bring smiles to all but the most jaded. The downside to this however is when the film wants to get serious it pulls some nasty sucker punches that deaden the otherwise light and bouncy mood so suddenly you'll wonder if you're still watching the same film. Sang's ego destroying beating at the hands of a gang of thugs and any scene where Heuk-Un turns up are good examples of this and it's only toward the movies end that the two distinct tones of the movie begin to mesh any where close to successfully. It's a bit of a shame really. While the humour is welcome and largely on the nose (if a little broad at times), had it been reigned in slightly, perhaps been made a little more subtle, the films jarring changes of mood would have been less noticeable and the film itself doubtless would have been stronger for it.In the end Arahan overcomes its flaws to provide a largely entertaining and irreverent slice of Kung Fu with a sideline in unexpected brutality. It may not be able to go head to head with best of Chow's output, but that it can be mentioned in the same sentence is more than praise enough.

Being of Korean descent and a huge film buff (especially Harry Potter), but having no knowledge of Korean films (which my parents find is a disgrace), my father thought it would be good for me to watch "Arahan". It's set in a modern-time period, but takes martial arts and special effects to a whole new level with characters running down the side of buildings, jumping great distances and even having this power called "jangpung", which is blasting objects out of the way. Normally, I would have called this cheesy, but the director and writers actually made it funny. Now, the main character isn't a typical superhero. He's a deadbeat cop with no self-esteem whatsoever. You follow him as he's recruited by the Seven Masters and trained into shape. He falls in love with one of the Seven Masters, Eui-Jun. An evil spirit takes human form and looks for this legendary sword. It's your typical Asian action movie, but it's also extremely funny and fast-paced. I recommend this movie to fans of Asian action and/or comedy.

I had a chance to view this film during the NIFFF 2004 (Neuchatel International Fantasy Film Festival) in Switzerland. Far Eastern Films are very popular this days (at least in Europe) and offer a different way of telling stories than the big US-productions. The naive downtown policeman Sang Hwan helps the good and punishes the bad. He is discovered b a martial art master and trained to unleash the powers within him, in order to fight the ultimate evil Heung Un and save the world. This South-Korean film is combining humor, action and special effects a little bit in the tradition of Jackie Chan-films. "Arahan" is based on a Korean cartoon. 3 out of 5 *