This HaBO is from Babs, who isn’t looking for a book this time, but a movie! Given the content and how we’ve featured several great reviews of Korean dramas, we thought we’d run it and switch things up:
I have HABO which is not a book or a romance but is very trope-tastic so I hope you’ll let it through.
It’s a Korean movie which I saw on a plane around five years ago. It’s set in a historical period, possibly Joseon. The plot centres on a king or prince who is both strong and good, but pretends to be weak and bad because he has enemies of some kind who he wants to underestimate him. He does things like wear ankle weights beneath his nerdy outfits and do topless sword-training in the dead of night. The only person who knows his secret is his loyal servant.
The servant seems very upstanding and a little uptight but is actually a now-grown-up member of a crack team who were trained as children to come together in adulthood to (I think) kill the prince. There is also a woman who was part of the gang who might be the lost love of the servant and maybe there is a princess for the prince?
I don’t remember what happens but there’s a big fight during which the prince manages to show off his secret skills and there’s a happy ending.
I did a lot of googling but couldn’t find anything. I’m hoping the Bitchery can help.
I’m also jealous that this was a selection on a plane! Every time I’ve flown the movie options are crap.
The Fatal Encounter! It has Hyun Bin and is very good!
OMG, this was my HABO and I think that’s it!!! I’m so impressed by the knowledge of the bitchery, I thought this would be a seriously long shot. Thank you!
That sounds awesome – does anyone know where/if it’s streaming? Doesn’t seem to be on Netflix, Viki, or Amazon.
That sounds interesting,is it solved?I would love to watch it.
I don’t have an answer but I want to see it! Thanks for the heads up, and I’ll look for it on streaming services.
Yes, I think it’s solved, I googled The Fatal Encounter and I think it’s the one. Sadly I can’t find it on streaming services at the moment either but at least I know what it’s called now and can look out for it.
I’m not sure if I’m allowed to link streaming sites on here but you can find the movie on Dramanice (just google Dramanice and then use the search bar on the website). You’ll find the movie at the end of the description page beneath an embedded video of the trailer (it’s another link that simply says “Ep 1 | SUB”).
An update in case anyone is interested: I watched A Fatal Encounter (thank you Lynn for the Dramanice tip!) and it’s definitely the one. I got a few plot details wrong, mainly that there is much less romance than I’d thought, but the film is still excellent and it looks incredible.