The Pirates (Korean: 해적: 바다로 간 산적; RR: Haejeok: Badaro Gan Sanjeok; lit. "Pirates: Bandits Going to the Sea") is a 2014 South Korean period adventure film starring Son Ye-jin and Kim Nam-gil. On the eve of the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, a whale swallows the Ming Emperor's Seal of State being brought to Joseon by envoys from China. With a big reward on whoever brings back the royal seal, mountain bandits led by Jang Sa-jung(Kim Nam-gil) go out to sea to hunt down the whale. But he soon clashes with Yeo-wol(Son Ye-jin), a female captain of pirates, and unexpected adventure unfolds
"The pirates provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Yeo-wol the second in command of a pirate crew at the beginning of the story. Heuk-myo, a rescued slave girl, who joins the crew also counts.
- Action Prologue: two of them
- The first one involves a mutiny where Jang Sa-Jung disagrees with the general YI Seong-gye choice to side with the Ming dynasty. He ends up fighting his commander Mo Hong-gab after the latter kills one of his friends. After emerging victorious Jang Sa-Jung's other friends ends up rescuing him from death, after the general decides to hav him killed.
- The second one involves the pirates raiding a ship with gold lead by Yeo-wol, along with discovering that the ship also has slaves. Heuk-myo is one of the rescued slaves. It also establishes the ruthlessness of Yeo-wol's Captain, So-ma.
- Bad Boss: Captain So-ma was prepared to offer up seven pirates, along with Heuk-myo to appease his military contact.
- Boxed Crook:
- The pirates newly led by Yeo-wol are coerced into finding the whale that swallowed the seal by Mo Hong-gab after the latter threatens to kill anybody remotely associated with the pirates.
- Mo Hong-gab also counts as he was imprisoned after his duel with Jang Sa-Jung and recruited to find the missing whale.
- Butt-Monkey: Chul-Bong, a constantly seasick pirate who defects to the bandits,. His fortunes don't really improve after joining the bandits.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Jang Sa-jung towards Yeo-wol. After Yeo-wol gets severely injured by her former captain during their second duel and thrown overboard with Jang, the whale that swallowed the seal carries them to shore. There Jang nurses Yeo back to health; this does not stop him from acting perverted toward Yeo.
- Cool Big Sis: Heuk-myo constantly calls Yeo-wol sis throughout the movie.
- Eye Scream: Mo Hong-gab is revealed to survive his fight with Jang Sa-Jung during the beginning of the story, sans an eye.
- False Flag Operation: When Mo Hong-gab discovers that Jang Sa-jung burned his ships and took the remaining vessel, he decided to have soldiers burn down a village and blame it on the pirates.
- From Camouflage to Criminal:A sympathetic example Jang Sa-jung is forced to banditry after his mutiny against his superior officers.
- Karma Houdini : Granted Jang Sa-jung could have killed YI Song-gye when he snuck into the latter's palace, he just lets him off with a warning about being under the influence of a foreign power. At the end YL Song-gye starts his own dynasty, getting no comeuppance from his betrayal at the beginning of the movie.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Yeo-wol decides to mutiny against her captain after his Bad Boss from above tendencies go too far.
- Mama Bear: The plot is kicked off when a group of soldier carry the seal injure an adult female whale, then decide to go after its calf. In the ensuing clash the mother whale knows the seal into the ocean and swallows it.
- The Mutiny: The first is Jang Sa-Jung against his superior officers. The other is Yeo-wol against So-ma.
- Pirate Girl: Yeo-wol the heroine is a lady pirate and second-in-command of her own legion of bucaneers.
- The Quisling: What General YI Seong-gye decision to side with the Ming dynasty is.
- Slobs Versus Snobs: The bandits led by Jang Sa-jung are barely snapping by are the slobs versus the pirates led by Yeo-wol carry out more successful raids are the snobs.
