YO, do you still remember the big hit Korean drama "Kingdom", also called "Zombie Wars North Korea", which was launched for two consecutive years in 2019 and 2020.
This time, Jun Ji Hyun is back with this series! But it came back as a spin-off movie "Kingdom: Ashin in the North", and the whole story background and time are placed in front of the first two seasons of "Kingdom", which is tantamount to a legendary movie from its origin.
Why did a spin-off movie suddenly come out? The vernacular explanation is that "The Kingdom" is so popular that I want to make more money, so before the third season comes out, I will first come to a spin-off movie and open up a story, which will lead to death by the way. The ins and outs of grass spreading the source, and then three-dimensionally portray the role of Jun Ji-hyun as Yaxin. Yes, you can’t find Mayday’s Ashin in the film.
Next is the comment analysis time, which will help you to string together the content of the first two seasons, and also try to answer some hidden details in the film, and then expand the third season.
At the end of the second season of "The Kingdom", the protagonist team went to the North Korean border and the Yalu River to investigate the life and death of the grass. They found Jun Jihyun dressed as a corpse hunter. Little easter eggs.
The "Axin in the North" we talked about today is actually about the origin of the role of the easter egg.
The time background of the film is the same as that of the "Kingdom" series, which is set at the end of the Japanese invasion of the Joseon Dynasty at the end of the 16th century.
At this time, there are still various Pan-state and foreign races in the Yalu River area. The location of the story is on the border of North Korea on the Yalu River. The Jurchens often move and expand on the border.
Don’t feel unfamiliar with the Jurchens. They are the later Manchus, that is, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty. Of course, strictly speaking, the Jurchens in the film went through multiple evolutions and internal struggles before they unified into Manchus.
The Jurchens in the film have little to do with the subsequent Manchus. At that time, there were many Jurchen clans. The Jurchens in the film were recruited under the leadership of Po Zhuwei, who wanted to take the opportunity to invade the expansion of North Korea. .
The Phanhu tribe where Yaxin was a child was a tribe of the Jurchen tribe who had long been surrendered to the Joseon Dynasty. North Korea gave them a piece of land for them to live on, but the condition was to return to the Jurchen tribe through the Jurchen identity to inquire about the military situation. trend.
Originally, this tribe lived in the Fourth County, but it was later designated as a prohibited place by North Korea, and they were forced to relocate to another designated area.
The story also unfolds from here. One day, Jurchen people sneaked into the Fourth County to collect wild ginseng, but they were all killed. The North Korean general soon discovered that this was the work of the Haewon Cho family who was under house arrest, General. In order not to let the Jurchens invade North Korea for this reason, they decided to describe this incident as the work of a tiger.
He also appointed Yaxin’s father to return to the Jurchen clan to release false news that their Jurchen tribe was killed by a tiger. They wanted to resolve this crisis. As a result, the Jurchen tribe didn’t believe him at all, and Yaxin’s father was gone forever.
On the other hand, Yaxin’s mother had been bedridden. Yaxin ran to the dead four counties to look for grasses of life and death. She discovered in the cave paintings that the grasses of life and death can bring people back to life.
When Yaxin went to pick the grass of life and death, her tribe suffered a massacre by the Jurchen tribe, and none of the people who fell were spared.
For this reason, Yaxin could only go to the military camp on the border of North Korea and begged the general to avenge her. She was willing to give everything.
Yaxin's tears moved the general, and the general decided to take her in and let her live in the barracks’ pigpen as a laundry girl in the barracks.
But in Yaxin’s eyes, we can see that the fire of revenge is burning. She began to practice archery, exercise her physical stamina, and sailed across the Yalu River to the enemy Jurchen tribe to investigate the military situation. Know yourself and the enemy in a hundred battles.
In a blink of an eye (in fact, it has already passed 50 minutes of the movie), Yaxin has grown up, and the whole sister finally appeared on the scene. At this time, the lecherous soldiers in the barracks also made up Yaxin’s idea, but for the sake of his family and the tribe, Yaxin only Able to swallow.
At this time, the peace talks between North Korea and the Japanese pirates broke down, and the general could only lead his troops to fight against the Japanese pirates, leaving a small portion of his troops to stay in the barracks, and instructed Yaxin to sneak into the Jurchen tribe again to see what new trends they had.
During Yaxin’s night visit, she accidentally discovered that her father, whom she thought had been dead, was still alive! His limbs were cut off, his eyes were poked blind, and he was tied to a corner like a beast. Every day, he was filled with leftovers and cold, and life was better than death.
When Yaxin saw all this, his heart was cut. After his father regained some consciousness, he kept repeating asking Yaxin to kill him. Because Yaxin was unable to take his father away, he could only end his father's life with his own hands and set it on fire when he left. The tribe.
When Yaxin returned to the military camp in North Korea, he happened to encounter a large army of the military camp to fight against the Japanese pirates. At this time, Yaxin accidentally found the bow and arrow feathers of the Lord Jidu of the Zhao family in Haiyuan, and the Jurchen tribe who died in the Fourth County when she was a child. His bows and arrows are the same, it seems that all this is not as simple as Yaxin thought.
So Yaxin sneaked into the general's parliament room and found related secret files. It turned out that in order to calm the anger of the Jurchen tribe, the general blamed the murder of the Jurchen tribe in the Fourth County of Abandonment on the Fanhu tribe where Yaxin was located, causing the tribe to be bloodbathed.
The person Yaxin wanted to take revenge had waited for so many years, but the result was very close.
At this time Yaxin’s Three Views completely collapsed and blackened, and she no longer believed in anyone. She used the Grass of Life and Death to kill all the men who slept in her and the soldiers who were sleeping, and asked them to take the Grass of Life and Death and turned them into zombies. After waking up, he began to attack the living people wantonly like a virus, and finally, the zombie scene that had been long-lost in 65 minutes came!
During the spread of zombies, Yaxin, who was standing on the roof, was not idle. Years of archery skills could not be used in vain. He hit a hundred shots and hits the target of the living, helping the zombies reduce the fighting power of their prey. Yaxin is called the "mother of corpses" here. It's not an exaggeration.
Overnight, the barracks turned into a zombie concentration camp. After that, Yaxin dragged one of the soldiers back to the tribe. The zombies of the tribe were hungry and panic... Before, I was wondering why Yaxin didn’t save the tribe directly when he was young. People, in fact, Yaxin did this and "raised" his family.
One of the endings is also linked to the first season of the "Kingdom". His Royal Highness in danger of North Korea turned out to be a zombie under the life and death grass recommended by Yaxin, which led to the fall of the Kingdom of Korea.
Finally, Yaxin went to meet the leader of the Jurchen clan, released a suspenseful arrow, and the whole film ended.
Comments
Friends who have watched this movie should have similar perceptions. The film uses a traditional flat and straightforward timeline to introduce Yaxin’s growth path more completely, and it starts from childhood, so that the first 50 minutes of the film are tedious. Although I know that it plays a certain role in the emotional stimulation of the back, but the foreshadowing in the front is too long and boring.
For the first 50 minutes, there was no Quan Zhixian, no zombies, and it could have been a foreshadowing of a scene, but it had to be a plot line.
Fortunately, after Jun Ji-hyun appeared in the film, he began to hold the audience, the rhythm began to accelerate, and the period of revenge sweeping the barracks was a little rushed, but finally saw the long-lost zombie fight, the powerful and reversal ending, which is also impressive. .
The film actually has enough dramatic conflicts for the establishment of Yashin's role. A native of Jurchen tribe, who turned to the Joseon dynasty in disputes and separatism, but was always recognized as a barbarian, no different from Qiqi. Use it when it is useful. For one use, when there is tension between countries and regions, there is no feeling of taking it out to sacrifice.
Yaxin grew up in such an environment and did not have any sense of identification with himself as a Jurchen, only a sense of belonging to the tribe and family. Unfortunately, these were all lost in another wave of cruel killings by the Jurchens. He originally thought he could rely on The North Korean army ironically discovered that they were the culprits.
Revenge has become Yaxin's ultimate goal in life and survival. The process of blackening makes Yaxin lose his reason and kindness.
Although the film has solid character motives and logic, it is too mediocre in the weaving of the plot, resulting in the whole film being watched, failing to make more of the role of the clan, the self, and the life and death judgments of the fate of others.
When I saw Yaxin’s bloodbath barracks, I thought that the character was blackened to this point. The zombieization of His Royal Highness in the "Kingdom" series could have nothing to do with her. This setting can prevent Yaxin from being blackened so thoroughly. As a result, the Royal Highness of North Korea subdued the life and death grass, which was really caused by Yaxin. So the involvement of so many innocent lives should also be counted on Yaxin's head?
Is Yaxin really the ultimate villain in the third season? Let's talk about this later.
In addition, Yaxin's blackening in the second half of the shaping is also a bit weak. If possible, if you set up a young man in the barracks and have a good relationship with Yaxin, when Yaxin destroys the barracks in the end, you have to have a good relationship with the old man. Opposite, Yaxin has to make a dilemma between whether the little brother is alive or dead. In this case, Yaxin's personal design may be richer.
In short, as an extra part of the "Kingdom" series of cool films, there are many details that can be delved into. The film has been taken in a stroke, and it is obvious that the film production schedule and budget are tight. It is a film that really sees the popularity of IP and is temporarily derived. Of extra works.
Fortunately, Sister Quan's charm is still there, and her appearance and performance have added a lot to the film.
The key plot linkage of the series
If you are following the first and second seasons of the "Kingdom" series, you will also have more detailed linkages to this "Axin in the North".
I’m sure you’ve forgotten about it too. I will review the key plots that are worth talking about in the album in conjunction with this extra-female film here, or you can review the "Kingdom" series I made more than a year ago.
In the film, Yaxin introduces life and death grass to the imperial physician. The imperial physician is Lee Seung-hee, who was one of the doctors in charge of his Royal Highness in Korea at that time.
The imperial doctor used the grass of life and death to put His Royal Highness in a zombie state and maintain the status quo of the court.
However, we can also learn from the research on the life and death grass in the album that it is not the life and death grass that really makes the dead zombie, but the eggs of some kind of nematode, which only clings to the leaves of the life and death grass. People use these nematodes or The egg is controlled by the brain and enters zombieization.
And these zombies are not sleepy during the day and night activities, but because of the temperature caused the activities of the zombies. For example, in the second season, winter is here, zombies can move freely in winter regardless of whether it is day or night, and people resist zombies for 24 hours. All weather.
As the album continues to deepen, zombies have also changed and evolved. From the first season Dan'er was boiled, and the hungry villagers ate the delicious "meat" soup and then became zombies. After that, the zombies became more contagious. Infect quickly and become a zombie in a short time.
If the "Kingdom" series put aside the coat of zombie, the main line of the plot is the battle between powers. If you don't want to watch zombies and like to watch palace battles, the "Kingdom" series can also satisfy you.
At that time, the court was actually under the supervision of the Haiyuan Zhao family. The Haiyuan Zhao family was also the family of the brother-in-law in the film. They had a huge influence in the palace.
The Zhao Xuezhu in the film is the eldest of the Haewon Zhao family. He used his daughter as the princess of his Royal Highness and made the princess fake pregnancy to firmly hold the power.
At this time, a positive character, Lee Cang, appeared on the stage. He was the eldest son of the Joseon Dynasty. He was originally the heir in line. However, he was surrounded and framed by the Haewon Cho clan headed by Cho Haksu and turned into a treason. To make matters worse, under the planning of Zhao Xuezhu, Li Cang cut off the head of his zombie father. Even if the truth becomes clear, he still kills his father, laying a hidden danger for King Li Cangcheng in the future.
In the process of seizing power with each other, Zhao Xuezhu was poisoned to death by his daughter. Li Cang gained the hearts of the people, step by step, and finally hit the core of the palace. When the princess saw this, she died anyway, and directly released the zombies that had been raised for many years, and got a fish to death. .
In the melee, Li Cang finally won but not completely. He later chose to abandon the throne to the unrelated baby Yuanzi, and went into seclusion by himself, and Yuanzi had been bitten by a zombie when he was a baby. The doctor has promptly used water to expel the nematodes.
But at the end of the second season, as Yuanzi grows up, the wound is still with nematodes, and Yuanzi also got into his head in his sleep, presumably the North Korean court in the third season will be turbulent again.
Li Cang, who lived in seclusion on the other side, found that the folk life and death had come back and it had become a business in the Yalu River area. Li Cang and the others followed the clues to a stockade near the Yalu River in the north. The zombies there were tied with foot bells and seemed to have been It has been domesticated for a long time, and the "owner" there may be Yaxin played by Jun Jihyun.
The third season brain hole
The first thing to note here is that the so-called "Kingdom" universe is definitely not as closely connected as other Marvel or monster universes. Korean dramas were originally filmed and written. If you have watched the first two seasons, you will also find the second season. Some plot turns seem blunt.
Because the first season was originally 8 episodes, but because the internal response was so good, Netflix renewed the second season before it started. The creator directly made the first season into 6 episodes, and then wrote the continuation. second season.
So naturally, this "Axin in the North" is only added on the basis of the two seasons. Although the plot and timing are prequel, it is functionally an important bridge between the second and third seasons. .
At the beginning of the film, we can see that the deer in "Travel to Busan" ate the grass and turned into a zombie deer, and then the tiger bit the deer and became the zombie tiger in "Legion of the Living Dead".
These plots were all painted on the walls of the cave. It seems that they were discovered by the boy Yaxin after a long time. It shows that Yaxin is not the first person to discover the secret of life and death, but someone else.
When North Korea was fighting against the Japanese pirates in the album, it had already used the Grass of Life and Death to resurrect the dead soldiers of North Korea, and used a small amount of combat power to fight against the Japanese pirates. This time point occurred three years before the zombieization of His Royal Highness, which also shows that the Grass of Life and Death can be zombie. Human secrets have long been discovered and used.
Then maybe in the third season, there may be a more mysterious person or organization, they are the first people to use the grass of life and death.
Let's look at the end of the second season of "The Kingdom". Yaxin seemed to "control" a group of zombies in that stockade. These zombies should not have Korean hair styles, but people from the Jurchen tribe or other tribes.
Some people say that it was the group of zombies raised by the tribe when she was a child. Personally, she felt that Yaxin would not use her tribe’s family as weapons to be slaughtered, and the stockade where Yaxin was located was not her previous tribe.
In other words, if the seemingly blackened villain of Yaxin is to be turned into an anti-hero setting in Season 3, then it is possible that this stockade and those zombies have little to do with Yaxin, but when Li Cang arrives in the stockade Yaxin just happened to investigate here.
At the end of "Axin in the North", Yaxin still appeared in front of the Jurchen team. We don’t know how much time has passed, but in the film she first gave the imperial doctor the life and death grass, so the ending time should be There has been an epidemic of zombies in North Korea, but before the end of the second season of the "Kingdom" series.
This wave of people is the people who killed the Yaxin tribe. Presumably Yaxin will have a fierce battle with these people.
So the story of the third season, the direction of my mind is that Li Cang and Yaxin do not know each other first, and then they may form a group to fight zombies or villains for a certain purpose, and then Yaxin may use the memory method to describe her and the Jurchen tribe. The story between.
At the end of the film, Yaxin releases arrows. Judging from the number of arrows and the ratio of one person to many people, Yaxin has no chance of winning. Unless the arrow is empty, Yaxin may have other plans.
Or maybe the arrow of Yaxin had been wiped with the grass of life and death, and it was infected with the nematode virus. As long as the arrow injures one of them, that person will become zombie, thus increasing his chances of winning.
In any case, it is said that the third season will be the final season of "Kingdom"... Well, the more important secrets of life and death will be revealed. Yaxin, as a key role in the entire zombie epidemic, will finally be the final conclusion. The positive role or the negative role. In what direction the North Korean situation will develop, we will wait and see until the third season.
View more about Kingdom: Ashin of the North reviews
