The Tiger: An Old Hunter's Tale

This review may contain spoilers!

I didn't expect the first film I saw after Star Wars to be even remotely as good but I do so enjoy being proven wrong. I would give The Tiger: An Old Hunter's Tale a 9.5/10.

This Korean film takes a heavy stance upon big game hunting, using powerful storytelling to create a compelling argument against this sport as well as painting it as a horrific act. However beyond the themes the plot itself is an incredible exploration about the conflict between man and beast, this was probably the most emotional rollercoaster I've seen this year. The special effects for the CGI wolves and tigers looked amazing, especially the Mountain Lord; frankly the story of the Mountain Lord was done so well that he actually felt like a character in the main cast. The cinematography for this film was simply beautiful, hunts looked like immense battles and nature was captured perfectly. The editing was really well done, the dialogue scenes were cut at a steady pace while the hunts were incredibly quick to as to heighten the action. The score for the film was another powerful element, I suppose the best way to describe a sound like that is haunting; this really is a composition that rocks you to your core.

Choi Min-sik, who played Chun Man-duk, is an incredible lead protagonist in this film; his relationship to nature and the tiger is performed incredibly throughout. Kim Hong-fa, who played the Herbal Shop Owner, was a really charming performance; his chemistry with Min-sik was great. Jung Suk-won, who played Military Officer Ryu, was a really erratic character which I enjoyed; I loved how cowardly and weak he played himself against Osugi. Ren Osugi, who played Government Official Maezono, was a fantastic antagonist in this film; his indifference to the honour of hunting was really well explored I felt.

However the best performance came from Jeong Man-sik, who played Goo-gyeong. Man-sik's performance within this film was antagonistic in some areas but you really felt and understood the character's motivations. I loved his determination to bring down the Mountain Lord, he appeared almost manic at times. His best scene for me had to be when he abandoned Suk-yi to continue his hunt, that was when you really his insatiable drive to complete his objective.

Make no mistake this is a long film and you have to be ready for that, there are many scenes that could have been completely cut from the film. In saying that they really needed to pay better attention to detail when it came to the flashbacks, there was nowhere near enough content or focus upon backstory.

Kim Sang-ho, who played Chil-goo, felt like a sort of comedic sidekick in this film; to be honest there was no real necessity for a role of that type in the film. Lee Eun-woo, who played Mal-nyeon, was an incredibly underused character in this film; they should have had more flashback scenes with her. Hyun Seung-min, who played Sun-yi, was a character I was just simply annoyed by; his death was done well but I certainly didn't mourn the character. Sung Yoo-bin, who played Suk-yi, was such an unnecessary character/subplot in this film; the relationship between her and Seung-min felt awkwardly forced.