For me this was a movie of two halves. And I am well aware that the naval battle is at the center of the story but the first half was better. The battle itself was quite well done but it was too long and I got bored somewhat. I think in one of the Lord of the Rings DVD Extras, they were talking about how people can only focus on a fight scene up to 15 minutes. Then they lose interest and focus. I'd agree with that.Though people may think otherwise, this is not a reason why I put 5/10 at all.It seemed to be an over-stretched film in general. For whatever reason they stretched it like a pizza dough to be 2 hours long when in reality this could have been a slick flick 90 minutes long.Slick? Perhaps that's not quite the right word. The big issue for me was the acting. The actors playing the Japanese were dreadful. The weird pauses, the unconvincing expressions etc... not to mention that they are all Koreans. Why? Couldn't they get a few Japanese actors to speak proper Japanese? Was it a budget constraint?Having said that, the actor who played the Admiral's son was also equally dreadful. Whatever cred he built up in the first half of the film was destroyed by the regular and in my opinion useless cuts to him during the battle. It's always the same emotion and did we really need to see that at least 3 times? Just do it once if you have to, then show the crowd cheering at the end.I much prefer Red Cliff to this. While Admiral started out well, the awful acting and poor editing choices just killed it for me.

I loved this movie.The battle is epic! This remembers me the movie of 300 but with boats. Few ships against hundreds of them with a lot of violence , history , good performances , sea knowledge and battle experience. Is a must see and I never saw such an navy battle in a movie . Even American producers should learn with the koreans how to do such a good work. In the moment I was watching the movie , i wasn't believing what i was seeing . Such a masterpiece! I was always worried with the admiral and very curious about how the movie would end and i never expected such a close fight and that simple sea knowledge that was fatal to the battle procedure. See the movie and enjoy one of the best battles ever!

One of the best war films I've seen in years, The Admiral may take time to get going for those who love CGI crap like 300, but when the final battle kicks off, it's a certain victory! With the Japanese Prime Minister (or the equivalent) eager to conquer Korea before illness takes his life, scores of thousands of men seek to finally crush a nation kept alive almost solely by the genius of its naval Admiral, Yi Sun-Shin. The film begins after Korea's navy had suffered a massive defeat and the nation is on the verge of capture, with 12 ships all that stands in the way of 330 Japanese vessels sailing into the Korean capital of Joseon and wreaking havoc.Faced with an impossible task, the Emporor orders Yi Sun-Shin to disband what remains of the navy and make every man available for a last stand on dry land, but The Admiral knows that this is to invite defeat and devises a way to oppose their enemy...I mentioned that this film may seem slow, but I didn't find it so: with a ruthless villain quickly established, the plight of the nation portrayed dramatically and not via some cheap voice-over, spies building up the tension and facing a potential mutiny, Yi Sun-Shi is brilliantly acted by a Oldboy star, Min-sik Choi, who perfectly captures the stoic suffering of a man who carries the nation's only hope on his shoulders.The film effectively being in two parts: the build-up and the battle - which is edge-of-your-seat stuff full to the brim with emotion - there will be some who'll complain about the first hour, while still rating the film highly because the battle is so damn excellent! Those with more patience, however, will get the most out of the historical epic, and will almost doubtlessly look up Yi Sun-Shin afterwards, as it's just that much of an awe-inspiring flick.

The Admiral supposed to be a legendary historical war movie. But this could be accurate no way. It starts quite good but failed when decision making and thinking scenes starts. Those scenes took way to long time with close up character shoots and also glorious movie music. Music is one of the strongest part of a movie i believe. For example, in a well executed sad scene, if the music is right, it could make you cry maybe throws you to the pits of depression. Well, in The Admiral, they try to do this. He have to make a decision so let the world stop and big orchestra play like something happening. Music didn't worked for me in The Admiral. Eventually this makes hard to embrace the "good guys". I loved Japan side more. At least they they look more capable of doing something, which they fail miserably.Human kind always amazes me with its need of unbelievable, heroic and amazing features. We always imagine something and after a while worship it like it comes from heavens or some other unimaginable dimension. so it goes same with this movie. One group of people looks and says; He defends his land with 12 ship (actually more of the work was accomplished with only one ship, all other 11 ship just watch the river burn, according to movie.) versus 330 ships. Well if it really happened like in this movie it could be miracle. But i am living here on earth and i look and see that only 3 ship could be enough for whatever the number of enemy side, but apparently, with a perfect strategy. As i am sure, really happened somewhere in time. So if you want to watch a realistic feudal era, far east movie, do not bother with The Admiral. If you want to watch an action adventure, full of life struggles and lame experience quotes, The Admiral is the film.And i can't stop myself to tell this; vision of Japan & Korean marines at those times were epic. No matter how far their ship to the scene, no matter what's position of their ship to the point, they could watch everything like watching film at an imax theater. Awesome.