The Royal Gambler (2016)

Una bella storia, molto ben recitata da ottimi attori

La recensione che segue l'ho recuperata in rete, è sintetica e spiega bene che cosa si sta per vedere, ne condivido i giudizi.
Ambientato nel periodo della dinastia Joseon, all’inizio del XVIII secolo, vede tra i protagonisti proprio i personaggi storici del re Sukchong (1661-1720) e i suoi figli re Kyongjong e re Yongjo che regnò per ben 52 anni (il più longevo regno della dinastia) dal 1724 al 1776 e ricordato come uno dei più grandi regnanti coreani, che perseguì realmente il benessere del popolo e della nazione con la sua iniziale politica della riappacificazione.
Tutti i personaggi descritti nel drama sono realmente esistiti, tranne Baek Dae-gil e la sua famiglia di gamblers, al centro della trama romanzata, che costituiscono l’elemento tipico di questi drama storici coreani che vedono come protagonista un principe che ha perduto ogni diritto e che il destino riporta sulla strada tracciata. Gli eventi in cui si muovono i personaggi sono quelli realmente avvenuti, descritti nei particolari e conferiscono alla narrazione uno spessore storico notevole.
Ottima la colonna sonora che riesce a sottolineare ogni momento della storia in maniera appropriata.

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Some dramas you watch because the story captivates you. However, this is not why I watched this. I simply watched this because Jang Geun Suk was in it and he was one of my first biases in kdrama land so, as a loyal fan I had to try this out.

The drama started off interesting as many awesome characters were introduced. For example, I have to talk about the actor Choi Min Soo as King SukJong. He played the character so well, I could literally feel the chills whenever he was on screen. One of my favourite aspect of the show was when his scenes came on.

Jang Geun Suk as Baek DaeGil, started off as a good for nothing young boy who eventually becomes a great swordsman as he takes revenge. I feel that he executed his character well and seeing him was a delight and definitely made it worth my while.

It was my first time seeing Yeo Jin Goo in a main role and I was pleasantly surprised. As a young actor, he acts very well and he definitely stole the limelight whenever he graced our screens with his presence.

Jun Kwang Ryul as Yi In Jwa was a menacing character that we as the audience were all meant to hate and I do feel that he did justice to the role and many times, his cunning ways made me dislike him so much.

Although there were all these interesting characters as well as amazing actors playing them, there were many pointless characters in this drama too. Characters that made me scream WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE. That aspect was a downer because it seemed that they were just inserted for filler scenes and had no connection to the story whatsoever.

As I mentioned earlier, this drama STARTED off well however, as episodes went on ,the story had just spiraled into a totally different direction. There were many times I got confused and bored. There was no character development in some parts.The character would be saying something and then doing completely different later on with no specific justification for what and why they changed their minds. Many pointless deaths that made no sense and didn't add to the story at all. Basically, the plot went haywire at some point.

The music was actually very enjoyable, I found a couple of the songs stuck in my head and had to go and download them.

Overall, I would say if you really like sageuks and would love to see Jang Geun Suk doing amazing sword fighting then go ahead and watch it but be prepared to question the justification for certain characters or scenes.

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