Kundo: Age Of The Rampant

Though it bogs down at times, Yoon Jong-bin's kimchi Western is a rousing, lavishly produced delight.

For all its gloss, "Kundo" fails to resonate. You appreciate the execution, but the film is hindered by its lack of novelty and metaphorical weight.

[A] sweeping, visually elegant picture ...

An often entertaining if overlong look at the last days of Korea's Joseon Dynasty.

Kundo is not the best film of its type, but it's an entertaining amalgam.

The filmmakers stage cast-of-dozens battle scenes and one-on-one showdowns with equal brio.

Precision action sequences sit alongside dazzling period colour, coarse, crazy comedy rides side-saddle with domestic pathos, genre & tone are switched with deft ease, and the pace never lets up. [But] when anything goes, everything seems throwaway.

It's not a classic you'll rave about for days, and at 138 minutes it does go on too long, but for fans of Asian period action, it will certainly serve.

Gorgeously photographed, edited with a crackle, lavishly populated and designed, this is a sheer non-mind-taxing crowd-pleaser

The film's attempt at political commentary amounts to a half-baked treatise on good governance in the face of tyranny and socioeconomic exploitation.

An interesting case of genre tropes shipping back and forth across the Pacific.