I am an avid Asia-flick fan and have recently been watching more Korean stuff. And this one seemed like a decent history/action flick from the looks of it.There are some things that work in the that one, like the decent action and rather fancy costumes. But that's that, more or less it. The movie suffers from the same trend I've been observing in other more recent Korean movies: they try to be funny, no matter the genre (or the consequences)! I just watched "The Tower" (a disaster movie, more or less) and it had the same problem. Too hard the writers tried to weave in some funny parts, but all it did was diminish the movie.Here we have pretty much the same: It tries to borrow from "Pirates of the Caribbean" and falls short. So, it's not funny all through the movie, neither it delivers as a history/adventure. The characters are bland, the writing is partly awkward (sometimes even bad), bordering on the naive; same goes for the depiction of the characters. Especially the main protagonist strikes me, even though a charismatic leader and great fighter, as child in some instances. Some scenes: face-palm... And for a children's flick it's simply too brutal. So, neither pirate (fish) nor bandit (meat). It also has a Luke-warm environmental touch (the hunt for a whale vs. the greed of man).As far as the acting goes, it's okay. The sets and SFX are neat. All in all a very mediocre movie not as entertaining as it might have been ("Red Cliff" set a standard a few ears back). But since I know that Korean cinema can deliver much better results, I'll keep my eyes peeled.

So this really isn't just a copy of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies although it carries on a similar vibe. And when I say vibe, it's more of a slapstick comedy with Korean humor elements. When it comes to the story, it is actually similar to "On Stranger Tides" where multiple pirates and thieves are after the same thing. So yeah, this movie doesn't bring anything new except it takes place in Korea during Joseon Dynasty. Sure it's a movie that people with low expectations, especially when watched with the whole family can be a alright time. But the movie as a whole, when it comes to the story and direction it falls flat. The whole thing is more illogical then "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies minus the supernatural stuff. The humor falls flat as well, on a plus side it does have few moments when it comes to the silly action scenese. But besides that, everything else just seemed to drag and just wasn't interesting. I am not a big fan of Son Ye-jin but I thought she was pretty good in this one. It wasn't a super impressive role, but she was good. Overall, this is a pretty forgettable movie that isn't really worth the time to watch but isn't awful either.5.8/10

I won't add anything to the material Dare Devil Kid has already stated as I agree wholeheartedly with him. I will however look at this film from the point of view of a kung fu fan. (and why is there no category on IMDb for kung fu / martial arts? ) As an entry in the genre of martial arts oriental film making faithful to the traditions of Wong Fei-Hung and such classics as Project A, Pirates walks tall and proud and has no apologies to make. The timing and mixture of love, honour, tradition, comedy and drama are perfect throughout. These by the way make up the elements in the complex and near impossible to explain within the word limit here, concept of "face". As well, the sword work and fighting skills are nearly as good as anything Jet Li or Jackie Chan would be impressed with. Speaking of sword work, there is a lot of it and never comes off as anything but intense or bloody dangerous to the actors should they make a mistake. Based on the fight sequences and rope tricks alone, I would watch more of anything starring these guys.Having seen more hours of this kind of film from China over the years, I'm surprised I hadn't ventured into the Korean historic martial arts scene earlier. J pop may be both alien and compelling to me but this genre is like walking into a room full of 80's Shaw Brothers films I'd somehow missed. What a deliciously tasty feast Pirates is to someone like me, it assumes you are familiar with all the significant bits of the culture and story, so don't lumber the film with a lot of klunky exposition as in some films that aspire to being seen at some point in the west. While my Korean is non existent, the easy to read sub titles ( that's important too ) seem to allow the original script's concepts and plot points to come through without the usual over simplification and ham fisted translation into western ideas that haunt many other such films. Most recently I saw a Korean anime that I'm sure was brilliant in the original tongue but was so badly dubbed it went from funny for the first 15 minutes to too painful for my brain to process. I'm sure this may in fact be the principle reason I might have steered clear of the genre till now.Pirates deserves better distribution, a proper name in English and as mentioned somewhere else, is an object lesson for anybody considering making a film about pirates. There is more Errol Flynn 1940's fun factor here than the confused drive-by muggings of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels churned out for the sole purpose of parting gullible people from their money. I will go so far as to suggest that in the event a DVD of this comes available in near the future, fans of martial arts films add this to the must have list.

This is a mixed bag. Combining comedy with action and fantasy is not new, but I'm not sure everyone will be able to enjoy this as such. There are a few mood changes and changes in the tone of the movie, swinging from slapstick to "actual" violence (still a movie so obviously not real violence), that has consequences. The story might be confusing for some too, mixing actual history with some fictional stuff. But that's also what makes this entertaining.All if you let yourself into this. There are some nods to other movies, even if the scenes develop differently (see a big giant wheel). The acting is nice enough, the humor working, if you allow it too (mood/tone changes again). The action is nicely choreographed and helps the movie a lot. Entertaining and fun, while even at two hours it doesn't feel stretched