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Noryang: Deadly Sea (노량: 죽음의 바다)

Noryang: Deadly Sea (노량: 죽음의 바다) is a 2023 South Korean historical war film directed by Kim Han-min that dramatizes the Battle of Noryang, the final naval battle of the Imjin War and the last battle of Admiral Yi Sun-sin.1 It is the concluding installment of Kim's trilogy about the admiral, following The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014) and Hansan: Rising Dragon (2022).2 The film opened in South Korea on December 20, 2023, runs 152 minutes, and was rated 12 (suitable for viewers aged 12 and over).1

Key factDetail
Director / writerKim Han-min, the final film of his Yi Sun-sin trilogy2
ReleaseDecember 20, 2023 (South Korea); 152 minutes; rating 121
Lead castKim Yun-seok as Yi Sun-sin, Baek Yoon-sik as Shimazu, Jung Jae-young as Jin Lin, Huh Joon-ho as Deng Zilong3
Setting1598, the last winter of the seven-year Imjin War, at Noryang Strait4
Box office4,573,785 admissions and $33,507,894 gross in South Korea (as of Sep 11, 2026); passed 1 million admissions on its fourth day1 • 5
Production methodNaval battle built on full-size panokseon replicas in the Gangneung ice rink from the 2018 Winter Olympics, with VFX supplying the sea6
UK classificationBBFC 12, classified 22 December 2023, "strong violence, bloody images", 152m 32s7

Spoilers

Premise

The story is set in 1598, the final year of the seven-year Imjin War (the Japanese invasions of Korea, 1592–98). The Japanese warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the instigator of the invasions, has just died, and the Wae (Japanese) forces prepare to withdraw from Joseon. Admiral Yi Sun-shin leads an allied fleet of Joseon and Ming ships to annihilate the retreating army, and the Joseon, Ming, and Wae forces clash at Noryang Strait, where Yi fights his last battle.4 • 2

The film opens with Hideyoshi's death soon after he orders the Japanese withdrawal, and closes with the death of Yi Sun-sin, bookending the story with two figures who shaped East Asia's geopolitical landscape.2 The allied command is divided: the Ming admiral Jin Lin, swayed by Japanese bribes, wants to open an escape route for the Wae army, while the Japanese commander Shimazu near Noryang moves to support the retreat.8 Reviewers noted that the first hour lays out the war's politics in three languages, some in old dialects, before the battle begins.2 • 9

Cast

Kim Yun-seok plays Admiral Yi Sun-sin, taking over the role from Choi Min-sik in The Admiral: Roaring Currents and Park Hae-il in Hansan: Rising Dragon; how his portrayal would differ from the two predecessors was a focus of pre-release attention.10 Baek Yoon-sik plays the Japanese commander Shimazu, Jung Jae-young plays the Ming admiral Jin Lin, and Huh Joon-ho plays the Ming general Deng Zilong.3 The supporting cast includes Kim Sung-kyu, Lee Kyu-hyung, Lee Moo-saeng, Choi Duk-mun, Ahn Bo-hyun, Park Myeong-hoon, and Yeo Jin-goo.1

Production

As with Hansan, the naval battle was shot without a drop of real water. The production rebuilt full-size panokseon warships inside the Gangneung ice rink used for the 2018 Winter Olympics, and visual effects generated the sea and battle spectacle around the physical sets.6 • 11 The night battle is fought in near-darkness, lit mainly by cannon fire and flaming arrows, and the battle sequences run about 1 hour and 40 minutes of the film.2

Historical basis and dramatization

The film follows the historical record in its central facts. At the actual battle of November 1598, Yi Sun-sin was killed by a gunshot that pierced his left armpit, and he left the words "Do not announce my death to the enemy"; the fleet concealed his death and fought on.12 • 13 The film places Yi's famous last words not at the height of the battle but after the war's conclusion, delivered plainly and based on the records rather than staged for melodrama.9

One deliberate departure concerns the turtle ship (geobukseon). No record places a turtle ship at the Battle of Noryang, but the film includes one. Kim Han-min explained that although the record is silent, turtle ships were rebuilt repeatedly in later years, and that in the film the ship serves as a symbol on which the Joseon forces lean.14 As with the earlier entries in the trilogy, historical gaps were filled with the writer's imagination and some events were adapted for dramatic effect.14

Release and box office

The film opened in South Korean theaters on December 20, 2023.2 It passed 1 million cumulative admissions on its fourth day, when it held 42.3 percent of domestic ticket sales, ahead of 12.12: The Day.5 It went on to record 4,573,785 admissions and a gross of $33,507,894 in South Korea, on a peak of 2,196 screens.1 Well Go USA gave it a limited United States release on December 22, 2023, where it grossed $308.9K.4 The British Board of Film Classification certified the film on December 22, 2023 as "strong violence, bloody images" at 152m 32s, with a UK release on December 29, 2023 through Signal Pictures.7 A Japanese DVD edition was released on January 8, 2025.15 The film is available on streaming services including Netflix and Coupang Play.3

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film held a 91% Tomatometer score from three professional reviews.4 Critics treated it as a fitting close to the trilogy: one review said Kim Han-min had captured the mythic proportions of Yi Sun-sin's naval prowess, while another judged it somewhat below The Admiral: Roaring Currents but still a commercial success that fans of epic films would enjoy.4 Korean audiences scored it higher than critics: Naver recorded 8.2 from opening-week viewers and 8 from registered users, against a critics' average of 6.6, with paying audiences responding to the scale of the night-sea battle that critics found overlong.13 The SBS review placed the film between its predecessors, the box-office record holder Roaring Currents (17.61 million admissions) and the more critically praised Hansan, and argued that its significance as the trilogy's finale lies in carrying the audience to Yi's last battle and conveying the anti-war message behind his pursuit of complete victory.9

References

  1. Noryang: Deadly Sea (2023), Korean Film Council database
  2. Woo Jae-yeon (2023). "(Movie Review) NORYANG: DEADLY SEA: Requiem for legendary admiral who becomes myth", Yonhap via KOFIC
  3. 노량: 죽음의 바다, KinoLights
  4. Noryang: Deadly Sea, Rotten Tomatoes
  5. "Naval war film 'Noryang' surpasses 1 mln admissions", Yonhap News Agency (2023)
  6. "'노량: 죽음의 바다', 물 한방울 없이 격렬한 해전 촬영했다고?", Daum
  7. Noryang: Deadly Sea, British Board of Film Classification
  8. Noryang: Deadly Sea, Coupang Play
  9. ["[빅픽처] '노량', 김윤석이 완성한 최후의 이순신…유언보다 좋았던 건", SBS News](https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1007472952)
  10. KNF life, 2023년 11월호 (HD현대중공업 가족지)
  11. "'노량: 죽음의 바다', 장점도 단점도 분명한 마지막 출정", ize via Daum
  12. ["의심하지 마라..'노량' 김윤석, 10년을 기다린 마지막 이순신(종합)[Oh!쎈 리뷰]", The Chosun Daily](https://www.chosun.com/entertainments/movie/2023/12/13/XMYFPXV2V3D7D3DR57QTNWWBAU/)
  13. "노량: 죽음의 바다 (2023) 평점 관객수 출연진", R의 필름공장
  14. ["이건 알고 보자! 100만 돌파 '노량: 죽음의 바다'··· 관전포인트 셋 [시네마랑]", Daum](https://v.daum.net/v/20231224170802812)
  15. ノリャン ―死の海―, 株式会社twin catalog

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026

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