The Goddess of War

If you are following my blog, you would have read that I was watching a Korean drama when most others were counting down to 2012. So this is my review of that series. The title of the series is Athena : Goddess of War.

The cast are Jung Woo Sung, Cha Seung Won, Soo Ae, Lee Ji Ah, Kim Min Jong and Choi Si Won. If you asked me, I barely know any of them. All that I recognize are Jung Woo Sung and Choi Si Won because I had seen Jung previously in the movie Reign of Assassins playing Jiang Ah Shen opposite Michelle Yeoh. As for Choi Si Won, well I've seen him the Hoot music video by the Girls' Generation.

Speaking of music videos, I first came to know about this series through a Girls' Generation music video also. I saw TaeYon's performance for the series' theme. Got intrigued by the scenes from the series in the music video so I hunted for the series.

So what's the series about? It's a spy drama and it is quite watchable. I got to know that Athena was a spin off from an earlier series called IRIS. Some people on the net claimed that IRIS was way better. I don't know cause I've never seen IRIS.

What to expect? With spy dramas you get a lot of cat & mouse ploys plus gun fights, car chases and the norm. All these are present and well executed. I heard that Athena is the most expensive Korean drama ever produced but I can see that the money was spent well on special effects.

Also since it is a Korean drama, expect to see a sappy love story at its core. For me the love story adds a touch of humanity to the action and provides conflict to the leads. Interesting.

Apart from it's plus points, it also has its negative points. Being a Korean drama, it does tend to drag somewhat when the action dies down. Also expect to find many MTV moments halfway through episodes. Things that are typically Korean drama-ish, I would say. it's part of the charm I would say. Wouldn't be a Korean drama series otherwise, right?

So, what's the verdict? I would rate it 3.5 stars out of 5. Has enough plot and action to keep you from falling asleep. I would recommend it.