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Heartbreaking and exciting all at once. The plot was quite well written and there was good acting all across, but to me, Lee Seo Jin and Kim Min Joon, the 2 male leads, stole the show with their heartfelt acting.
The only drawback was the shoddy action sequences. The aerial flying was a bit amateurish but the plot and the dialogue and the characters itself are all so riveting, that the action choreography doesn't matter.
Highly recommended.
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Like my Momma always said, "u can't have ur cake & ice cream too." It means that u don't always get what u want & this drama is a prime example.
Drama is like reading a book & not all stories end happy! The more realistic the ending the better I think the drama is. Loved this 1 & will put it in my top 10.
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Our story is quite modern, despite it's sageuk feel (It's considered one of the first fusion sageuks out there). Think fusion of detective drama, conspiracy-driven action adventure, with good guys and bad guys, sageuk-era cops and robbers (police and rebels) and they're not all necessarily evil. Sadly, there's no bromance, -- Just a lot of testosterone.
Uhm, what else should I say? It's very much a Kdrama, and the story is built with almost exactly similar tropes: love triangle, secrets, suspense, a love triangle, conspiracies, noble heroes fighting for some very vague cause.. did I mention there's something weird about that love triangle...? *ahem*
The story is fast-paced and exciting! Ha Ji Won is super badass, like she was always meant to be. The men are all bearded in old fashion style, but like all hot Korean actors, they make it look it good. The costumes are spectacular, and the cast doesn't always look all pristine and pretty. And oh - guerrilla warfare! Cool! I'm a sucker for bandit hideout stories and rebel leaders who make use the landscape to slaughter whole troops in a creative fashion making a big ole' bloody mess! Yeeaaaahhhhh!(Whaat? I never said I liked only romance stories...)
WHERE DAMO DELIVERS:
Ha Ji Won is really the best thing about this drama. If you're a fan, you'll like her. If you're not a fan, well you'll still probably like her, depending on your inclination for bloody sageuk detective dramas. Actress aside though, the rest of the cast wasn't too bad either. Every character held their own, and even the comic relief at the beginning will make your heart plunge into an emotion of feels by the end.
Did I mention this drama is fairly realistic in its approach to human life? Don't just assume everyone's gonna make it out of this alive... Joseon Korea in turmoil isn't exactly the most forgiving of places.
WHERE DAMO DISAPPOINTS:
As cool as Damo is for the most part, it requires a willing suspension of disbelief if you try to make sense of the plot. The premise is pinned on one of the flimsiest of causes. The number of times our naively heroic characters yell out righteously "for the people!" was too many times to count. Especially when one knows anything about Korean history, or Joseon Korea's lack of history featuring anything remotely successful "for the people." At least as far as political, anti-political revolts go. This was sort of a killing point for me. When clever characters are mired up in a lame excuse for plot-making, I check out. It's just too unfortunate.
Also ere's one episode that takes place in a cave. Like, the whole episode. In a cave. The whole time. In a cave.
Good luck.
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The ending is great, it doesn't matter how many times I watch it, I never get tired. I loved this drama so much that I forced myself to watch only one episode per day so it would take more time for me to finish it.
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First of all, I just have to say that Damo feels like a 14-hour film, from its fast-paced beginning to end, as well as its cinematography. On the outside, the plot might seem full of cliches, but once executed within the story of the drama, you are immersed inside the characters' lives. The setting in a different world like Joseon really makes such a tragic (and dramatic) story that much believable, therefore easier to be emotionally invested in each of the characters' struggles.
I give major props to the cast, where the main leads, Chae Ok (Ha Ji Won), Commander Yoon (Lee Seo Jin), and Jang Sung Baek (Kim Min Joon) put on the some of their best performances (and action sequences), so believable that it's hard to stop seeing them as their characters after this drama. Many of the side characters are very memorable and have their own charms, played impeccably by such veteran actors/actresses like Park Young Gyu.
The quality and techniques might not be as advanced and sleek as today, but you can really tell the painstaking effort it took the cast and staff to make each scene. Some elements of this drama require you to believe in somewhat superhuman-like abilities of the main characters, as they engage in literally, "flying martial arts" in air. Although some might be off-putted by that, I thought most of the scenes flowed pretty well, and some were actually breathtaking, in my opinion.
All in all, Damo stands to be the LEGENDARY sageuk/historical action drama that really predates most of the other well-known ones. It leaves such an impression on you that actually leads to withdrawal symptoms, AKA what was called "Damo Pain" back when it was broadcast to the Korean audience. Everything about this drama is above standard, incomparable to other dramas, including the OST (which only adds to the aforementioned Damo Pain)... :'(
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This review may contain spoilers
Beautiful period drama
DAMO was one of the most beautiful dramatic dramas, with the main actors, Ha Ji Won, Lee Seo Jin and Kim Min Jun, giving compelling acting performances. The story was very interesting and engrossing, and the emotions were high.This drama had continuity flaws with the adult Chae Ok never looking the same throughout the drama. It seemed as if four different actresses played the role. To date, that is the most perplexing aspect of the drama. Chae Ok, Hwangbo Yun and Jang Sung Baek were immortals of Joseon. They would be injured severely and almost fatally, but they revived by the next episode; another perplexing aspect. Despite the occasional inexperienced acting, the three actors used their charms on the viewer.
The final episode was nonstop heartbreaking, heart-wrenching and torturous for the viewer. I was crying like a banshee during Hwang Bo Yun and Chae Ok's final goodbye, and the Chae Ok and Jang Sung Baek's final goodbye in the very last scene.
The flashbacks and flashbacking were very distracting. Korean directors and writers have been falling back on filler and flashback and flashbacking in telling their stories, instead of making the story cohesive with events shown in chronological order. Despite the flaws in the martial arts sequences, DAMO was endearing.
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I did not feel inspired to watch older kdramas, but something about Damo drew me in and I do not regret watching it. Sure, my eyes have spent a years worth of tears, but it was honestly well done and I think it holds up despite being 16 years old (that is, if you can see past the exaggerating Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon combat and funny sound effects). I loved seeing familiar faces before they were well known, such as Ha Ji Won and Lee Seo Jin. Even Kwon Oh Jung!
Ha Ji Won and Lee Seo Jin did an amazing job and made me root for them. Oh gosh, that famous line, "Does it hurt? It hurts me as well." had me going crazy. Lee Seo Jin really pulled at my heart during this show. His love for Chae Ok was beyond measure; and his love confessions to her were probably some of the greatest in all kdrama, even compared to kdramas in recent years! Honestly, his love for her tore at my heart and you can't help root for them. To be fair, Kim Min Joon pulled at my emotions just as much, but without giving spoilers I will leave it at that.
The whole story is crazy and poetic. Man, I am in awe.
That is all I will say in case this review inspires people to watch it, but I just wanted to share my thoughts if others are not as inclined to watch older kdramas like I was. I think watching Damo has changed my perspective and I will be more open to watching classic kdramas.
Give it a chance. The worst thing that'll happen is you will decide it's not your cup of tea and move on.
P.S. The soundtrack is AMAZING.
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the series was really good. It was entertaining and most certainly upbeat. It was somewhat sentimental and heartfelt as well because of how things turned out. I can’t call this bitter sweet I can only call this a tragedy. Not that the movie was bad it’s just the story itself really turned sad. You kind of get the vibe that things may not really end well for all of our people once the big piece of information is revealed. Needless to say, I still watched it and I enjoyed it. Am I happy with the ending? no. Was it a bad ending.? No. This is coming from a hopeless romantic. So within this series you’ll get tons of action, police stuff, politics, and last but not least that love between two people that can never be.
I recommend this to anyone that’s into historical dramas and really enjoy detective and rebellion type things. If you are a hopeless romantic who is looking for a fairytale ending do not proceed. If you grow extremely attached to the people you like during the series you may want to proceed with caution.
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It had some solid parts...
This show had some solid parts and some great action scenes, but the story was way too drawn out. This could have easily been wrapped up in 12 episodes and it would have been much better. I also wasn't a big fan of the lead actress' constant emotional self doubt and back and forth. It got really old after a while. I get, that's what the story called for, but it just got old. Another bothersome aspect was the terrible English subtitles the Kocowa version had. The grammar was bad and even with my limited Korean skills I could make out the mis-translated parts. Overall, I think this show, if remade today on Netflix, would be absolutely awesome. It's still a worthwhile watch.Was this review helpful to you?
It was one of my first dramas at the beginning of the 2010s and I liked how the story was developed and how the characters wanted to reach their goals, sometimes the same "going again injustice" but they used different means.
It was the drama of Ha Ji Won where I liked her acting and wanted to get to know her more through other projects. The other actors in the drama are skilled as her. Their capacity on delivering the emotions of the characters allows the viewers to understand better the struggle of each of them.
Maybe the only flaw can be the slow development of some scenes. I think that some transition parts could be developed better. But we need to consider that it was a drama of 2003, and actually, it was constructed well.
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