A group of bandits, adrift at sea, are rescued by a group of pirates. The combined group becomes aware of a map that is supposed to lead to the treasure of a deceased, betrayed king and sets off to find it. At the same time, a ruthless former general is after the gold as well, as part of a plan to be named ruler of a particular kingdom. I actually appreciate the plan. Because he's a disgraced former general, he has no army of loyal followers. He can't take a kingdom, or the gold, on his own. But he can dangle that prospect in front of someone with ambition that outstrips his strength, get the muscle he needs as backup, and go get the gold.
The movie is pretty heavily action-adventure, with a fair amount of comedy thrown in. The bandit leader, Woo Moo-Chi (played by Kang Ha-neul) constantly refers to himself as the greatest swordsman of the land he came from. And when he's actually swordfighting, he might live up to the claim. But he's also an idiot who won't listen to the advice of the pirate captain Hae-Rang (played by Han Hyo-joo), and usually ends up with egg on his face. Such as when he sees a cow go charging into the far end of a cave tunnel and encourages his men to rush in the other end to kill and eat it. So he misses the entire herd that stampedes in on the first cow's heels and ends up being flung off a cliff.
It leans too far into comedy with the Mak-Yi character, who is a complete idiot who uses a little bit of useful information he possesses to make the crew name him Pirate King, then proceeds to abuse the crew and generally not have any clue what he's doing. It also does a whole romance angle between Hae-Rang and Woo Moo-Chi where they keep annoying each other and saving each other in alternating fashion. He can't stop trying to act like a big man, and she can't help giving him rope to make an ass of himself.
The film uses the hunt for the treasure to bring the crew to a variety of beautiful, CGI set pieces. Allowing themselves to be carried through an underwater current filled with colorful (and apparently harmless) jellyfish. An island with a burned out village at the peak where lightning strikes constantly, but also an ice cave.
The climax of the film splits into three parts. Hae-Rang leading her pirates to assault the enemy vessel and take it for their own. Woo Moo-Chi fighting the former general (they have some backstory I was never entirely clear about) in that aforementioned burned out village. Mak Yi following a penguin to the gold.
The swordfight got the least time, which is too bad, because the setting was pretty good. The village gets hit with lightning because the spears of 12 generals were placed points up in a ring. So the guys are fighting in and around all these lightning strikes. One guy shoots an arrow which is struck by lightning and simply gains destructive energy rather than being incinerated.
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