The Admiral: Roaring Currents

The Admiral: Roaring Currents (Korean: 명량), or simply The Admiral, is a 2014 South Korean epic historical action-war film directed and co-written by Kim Han-min. Based on the historical Battle of Myeongnyang, it stars an ensemble cast led by Choi Min-sik as the Korean naval commander Yi Sun-sin. The film was released theatrically in South Korea on July 30, 2014.
The film recorded 10 million admissions only 12 days after its premiere and set a record in South Korea for achieving such a high number of viewers in the shortest amount of time. The movie also surpassed Avatar's record of 13 million viewers to become the most-watched and highest-grossing film of all time in South Korea with 17.6 million admissions and a worldwide gross of US$138.3 million.
The film revolves around the titular Battle of Myeongnyang around 1597, which is regarded as one of legendary Joseon Admiral Yi Sun-sin's most remarkable naval victories. He led only 12 ships under his command to a heroic victory against an invading Japanese fleet of 133 vessels.
At the onset of the battle at their base in Haenam, the Japanese invaders under Tōdō Takatora are confident that their planned expedition to Hansong to capture King Seonjo will be rather straight forward. However, they remain reserved over the news that Joseon's greatest admiral, Yi Sun-sin, has been restored to his former command after the disaster at Chilcheollyang, which has reduced the Korean navy to a mere dozen battle-ready ships. To ensure the success of the operation, Hideyoshi sends one of his finest naval war leaders to Joseon, Kurushima Michifusa, the commander of the Murakami Clan Navy who is an expert in naval combat but enjoys a shaky reputation among his fellow daimyō as a pirate. One of the admirals of the Japanese Left Army, Wakizaka, first meets Kurushima and his lieutenant, Kimura, while he finishes off the remnants of a group of Joseon soldiers. He especially distrusts Kurushima and draws his sword on him several times, especially after the latter insults him by shaming his defeat at Hansan Island. Later, Kurushima and Haru, his sharpshooter, drink sake as Kurushima elaborates on his personal vendetta against Yi Sun-sin, stating that his brother Michiyuki had been killed by the latter earlier in the war.
In the meantime, Yi Sun-sin is facing the despair mounting among his officers and troops. Facing an enemy force that far outnumbers them and seeing no reasonable chance of success in the inevitable clash even with one single turtle ship remaining, many consider the fight lost before it has even started. Despite his outwardly indifferent demeanor, Yi is hard-pressed to maintain morale among his men and desperate to find a solution for his problem. However, the breaking point seems reached when General Bae Seol, the deserter of Chilcheollyang, burns the turtle ship and has his men try to assassinate Yi. Although Yi escapes and Bae is killed for his act of treachery, the ship is lost, which boosts confidence among the Japanese and further dispirits Yi's troops. To seek an answer, Yi travels to the Myeongnyang Strait, an area notorious for its strong and treacherous currents, which the Japanese intend to cross on their way to Hansong. Later, he confides in his son Hoe that to win the fight, he must turn the fear paralyzing his men into courage.
Upon hearing that the departure of the Japanese attack fleet is imminent, Yi abandons his base and moves to Usuyeong after burning the naval facilities to the ground. The next morning, Yi's fleet arrives in the strait and is shortly met by the Japanese, who are using the morning tide to move into the channel, with Kurushima leading the vanguard. Yi engages Kurushima's fleet in battle, but as the other Korean commanders are still hesitant to involve themselves, Yi's flagship is quickly surrounded and attacked by boarding parties. In the apparently hopeless situation, Yi commands several cannons to be fired from the rower deck's port hatches in a concentrated volley, to use their recoil to blast the ship free of its encirclement. As Yi had hoped, this bold act of survival inspires the rest of his countrymen to take the fight to the enemy.
When the tide turns and forms a whirlpool in the middle of the channel, thus solidifying Yi's defensive position, Kurushima orders an all-out attack with the rest of his ships. Despite the efforts of Haru and a ship loaded with black powder charges, the renewed courage of the Koreans prevails, though heavy sacrifices are made. Kurushima's desperate situation is observed by Todo, who merely laughs at Katō's suggestion of reinforcing him. Kurushima, realizing that he is now on his own, boards the Korean flagship but is decapitated by Yi himself after he takes several arrows from Korean archers, and his head is hung from the tip of the ship's mast.
When Yi's ship itself is caught in the whirlpool, his civilian navy servants and local fishermen courageously drag the vessel back to safety. Joined by the rest of the fleet, Yi leads a counterattack which deals the Japanese forces a crushing blow, forces them into retreat, and leaves the Koreans triumphant. The film ends with the reminiscence to the first encounter of the Japanese with the turtle ship in 1592.
In the 16th century, General Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan, and the long civil war in Japan was ended. At that time, most Koreans did not think about any possibility of invasion from Japan and ignored its readiness for war. Therefore, the army and the navy except for Admiral Yi Sun Sin were not prepared for any invasion from Japan. Only Admiral Yi Sun Sin prepared for a war against Japan by building up ships and developing weapons. In 1592, the Imjin War broke out when Japan invaded Korea. From the beginning of the war, the Japanese army, which were well experienced as a result of their civil war, were easily defeating the Korean army and quickly advancing to the north. However, at sea, Admiral Yi Sun Sin's Joseon Navy destroyed the Japanese naval fleets in consecutive battles. This stifled the Japanese advance through the Korean Peninsula, and cut off the sea lines necessary for resupplying the army.
However, in 1597, due to a Japanese espionage plot and political conspiracy in the Korean royal court, Admiral Yi Sun Sin was imprisoned by the Korean government and another admiral (Won Gyun) was appointed to command the Korean navy. Admiral Won, in his first and only naval engagement, attacked the Japanese navy but was seriously defeated by Japan and lost most of the warships, more than 200 of them. Won was killed in action.
After that defeat, the Korean government released Yi and put him back in the position of admiral, but the fleet consisted of only 12 warships because of the prior defeat. The Korean government suggested that Yi forgo sea warfare and join any land-based battle. However, Yi believed that he should instead prevent the Japanese navy from advancing via the sea. He knew that not everything depends on the number of ships, but a correct strategy would give him the victory - although he did not count on the support of his men. He did not let himself be overcome and he overcame the fear.
In October 1597, a Japanese fleet of 330 ships tried to attack the small Korean fleet of 12 ships. As the Japanese moved toward the Korean fleet, Admiral Yi enticed the Japanese fleet to a long and narrow strait with a fast and strong current. He also hampered the Japanese fleet's navigation by blocking the strait with steel chains. (Whether that actually happened is uncertain.) Therefore, many Japanese ships were concentrated and stuck in the narrow strait, as the tide turned.
The cannons fired by Korean warships outside the strait bombarded the Japanese ships. The Japanese fleet, after losing more than 31 warships, retreated to the east, and it finally gave up advancing toward the west by sea.
The Admiral: Roaring Currents drew 682,882 viewers on its first day in theaters on July 30, 2014, grossing US$4.77 million. This was the all-time highest opening day box office in South Korea, for both a foreign and domestic film, breaking the previous record set by Kundo: Age of the Rampant. It went on to set other new records: highest opening weekend, with 3.35 million admissions (US$25.94 million), surpassing Transformers: Dark of the Moon's record of 2.37 million (set in 2011) by 41%; biggest single day for a film in South Korean history with 1.25 million admissions (US$9.71 million); the first time that a film generated over ₩10 billion in a single day; and the quickest film to reach 10 million admissions.
By August 15, The Admiral: Roaring Currents became the all-time most-watched film in South Korea, breaking the previous record held by Hollywood blockbuster Avatar (13.62 million). By August 17, it became the first film to sell more than 14 million tickets in South Korean theaters and the first domestic film to exceed the US$100 million mark. At 17,607,820 admissions, it has grossed US$132 million in South Korea.
It opened in limited release across 30 theaters in North America, beginning August 15, 2014. Due to favorable reviews from critics and moviegoers, it expanded to 42 theaters on its second week, and its first week gross of US$1.18 million surpassed the previous record held by Masquerade (US$923,442) as the highest-grossing film directly distributed by a South Korean distributor. The film has grossed CN¥26.53 million in China, US$2,589,811 in the United States, and US$138.3 million internationally.
While producing The Admiral: Roaring Currents in 2013, Big Stone Pictures announced plans to produce two more films related to Yi Sun-sin if the first film was successful. It was later confirmed that the rest of the trilogy would be produced with Kim Han-min directing.
The second film in the trilogy, Hansan: Rising Dragon, was released in 2022 to box office success. It is based on the Battle of Hansan Island, with Park Hae-il playing Yi Sun-sin.
The third film of the trilogy, Noryang: Deadly Sea, based on the Battle of Noryang, was released in December 2023.