Book Review: Empire Of Lust

The Empire Of Lust movie’s story is set in the Joseon dynasty after successfully overthrowing the previous dynasty, which is the Goryeo dynasty.

It follows a story about a brilliant top-ranked army general named Kim Min-Jae, who has a close relationship with King Taejo, the current king of the Joseon dynasty, and also aims to protect the territories that the Joseon dynasty has established.

At the same time, Min-Jae of the Empire Of Lust movie pays close attention to Prince Yi Bang-won, the king’s fifth son who doesn’t inherit the throne, yet, it seems that he will stop at nothing to prevent Min-Jae from achieving his objectives. As the stories of Empire Of Lust progress, we also find other characters who oppose the Joseon army general in achieving his goals.

While he was on a task, Kim Min-Jae falls in love with Ka-hee, a beautiful gisaeng whom he marries afterward. The love between the two people is so full of lust and desire that most scenes in the Empire Of Lust movie involve Min-Jae and Ka-hee spending their time on a comfortable yet bewitchingly beautiful bed.

Min-Jae starts trusting Ka-hee more than he should, which annoys his wife. At the same time, in Empire Of Lust, Ka-hee also has a vengeful agenda that can put Min-jae at disadvantage.

• Part 1: The Characters Of Empire Of Lust
• Part 2: Interesting Things To Learn From The Empire Of Lust
• Part 3: Meet The Teams Behind Empire Of Lust
• Part 4: Alternative To Empire Of Lust

Part 1: Meet The Characters Of Empire Of Lust

Kim Min-Jae

Kim Min-Jae, the MC of Empire Of Lust, is considered a brilliant general in the Joseon era because he plays a significant part in overthrowing the Goryeo dynasty. His determination, focus, and battle intellects also result in his success in guarding the territory of the current dynasty, which is the Joseon dynasty.

Nothing and no one can stop Min-jae from achieving his goals until Min-Jae shows his soft spot for Ka-hee, a beautiful gisaeng whom he meets later on in the Empire Of Lust movie. Jin, his playboy son, also puts him in great trouble every time.

Ka-hee and Madam Jung

Madam Jung was Kim Min-jae’s wife, and their marriage seems to be okay in Empire Of Lust until Min-jae falls in love with Ka-hee, a beautiful gisaeng (a woman whose job is to provide sexual service for people in the kingdom). The romantic and lusty feelings between Ka-hee and Kim Min-Jae are getting stronger throughout the movie’s scenes.

Ka-hee hides her master’s vengeance plans behind her seemingly noble appearance. She could be using Min-Jae’s love to trap him into doing things that he doesn’t want to do and subtly overthrow him.

Part 2: Interesting Things To Learn From The Empire Of Lust

The Empire Of Lust movie’s time setting is around the 1300s, which belongs to the Joseon dynasty after the Goryeo dynasty. This movie’s genre also belongs to the historical war, in which the terminologies that each character speaks in the movie would educate us about South Korea’s history.

It is also through watching the Empire Of Lust movie that we learn to be thankful for what this year has to offer us, particularly women. There was nobody who could report the playboy and drunk Kim Jin for the terrible things he does for women and elders, especially women whose castes are below the kingdom people.

That’s what we learn from the villain a.k.a Kim Jin’s side. We also learn things from the MC’s side: In the past, becoming a gisaeng is the only thing to satisfy men, and people can snag married men from there. As for the morals we can take from Kim Min-Jae, the MC, is that we shouldn’t let anything or anyone intervene with our goals in life, or our lives will end miserably.

Overall, Empire Of Lust is a movie where the child becomes the villain, which is a minus point from this movie. In addition, the teams can dig deeper into each character’s background before moving to other scenes in the movie.

Part 3: Meet The Teams Behind Empire Of Lust

Kim Se-hee is the plot writer for the Empire Of Lust movie. Empire Of Lust seems to be the only movie that Kim Se-hee has ever written, and the movie itself first aired in 2015. Kim Se-hee is not alone in realizing the movie scripts that have been written; instead, there are production teams that are involved in the film-making processes.

The director of this movie is Ahn Sang-hoon. This 1975-born movie director has also directed other K-drama series, such as Blind in 2011 and Arang in 2006. Furthermore, Sang-hoon also becomes one of the screenwriters for his 2006 movie, Arang.

There are many Korean actors and actresses whom we can find in this K-drama. Jang Hyuk plays Yi Bang-won, Kang Ha-neul plays the lecherous and ruthless Kim Jin, son of Kim Min-Jae, and Kang Han-na plays Ka-hee, the gisaeng and the primary love interest in the Empire Of Lust movie.

Most casts are new in Empire Of Lust, with an exception of Jang Hyuk (we see him in almost all K-dramas from the latest decades).

Empire Of Lust may have been finished in 2015. However, now, we can enjoy watching it on many indie online movie platforms in Korean or with English subtitles.

Part 4: Alternative To Empire Of Lust

Empire Of Lust is an urban movie with old kingdom settings. However, at some points, books serve as better alternatives to movies. After all, it is from reading the novels that we get more vivid pictures of the storylines. At the same time, the books should have similar themes to what Empire Of Lust has to offer.

Dreame has The Alpha’s Emperor Courtesan. Dreame’s The Alpha’s Emperor Courtesan also has a kingdom as the story’s primary setting, with a classical werewolf touch that you will find in most Dreame novels. So, what if the empire is ruled by an Alpha werewolf from the classic Roman settings? This Dreame novel is your answer.

Summary of The Alpha’s Emperor Courtesan:

Talia, the 24-year-old MC of The Alpha’s Emperor Courtesan, has lost both of her parents since the main story of the novel hasn’t begun. Her father used to be a renowned Celtic chieftain, and her mother used to tell her that wolves may be the creatures that found Rome city. Roman soldiers are the groups of people that kill her father and capture her alive.

In a large and caged Roman camp, Talia is forced to choose her destiny of becoming a courtesan. Here, the courtesan is like the Italian version of gisaeng in Empire Of Lust. As a courtesan, Talia must dress up while satisfying Roman men’s desires. The courtesans are usually serving Roman barbarians or gladiators, but Talia has the privilege to serve the Alpha Emperor Caius.

Alpha Emperor Caius may look calm and calculated. However, he is a ruthless Alpha Emperor, and he takes Talia by force to become his Harem. Here, the relationship between Talia and Caius starts to bloom as the story progresses.