Yesterday morning my wife got a surprise email from one of her friends who works in CGV (Rivki) and it was an invitation to a special screening of a Korean movie officially premiering on 19 January 2019. It was an event in the new CGV theater in Jakarta, at FX to be exact. Registration started at 6.30 PM and by 7.05 PM we were able to enter the studio. After some brief introduction on the movie from Rivki, we were shown few trailers and finally the film started at around 7.35 PM. So let us get on with the movie now.
Brief Story Line
A group of military personnels led by a South Korean captain Ahab (Ha Jung-woo - Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days and its prequel, 1987: When the Day Comes etc) were sent by the US to infiltrate North Korea to "abduct" a general wanting to defect. Their point of contact in US was Agent MacKenzie (Jennifer Ehle - A Quiet Passion etc) who was also the one sanctioning Ahab's team on the mission. With the support of his team that included Markus (Kevin Durand - Robin Hood 2010 version etc), a rookie Logan (Spencer Daniels), the reliable Gerald (Malik Yoba - New York Undercover TV series etc) and few others, Ahab would go on to capture the target.
Ahab's plan would soon fell apart when the mission seemed to be compromised and another paramilitary group were assigned to capture and kill all of them, including their target who was being treated by a doctor named Dr. Yoon (Lee Sun-kyun - Paju, A Hard Day etc). As time was running out and with a personal problem of his own, Ahab had to take point & lead his team to avoid capture and be saved from the onslaught of the nonstop attacks of the enemy, not to mention failing would possibly start a world war.
How would the story conclude? Find them all in this almost nonstop action movie.
End of Brief Story Line
I caught a glimpse of the movie trailer on the large screen available at the cinema earlier and I had a feeling it would be an intense full action movie. So when I saw the movie for the first 20 minutes or so, I honestly felt it was having a bit too long conversations which was supposedly to give us intensity or background story on the mission. But to me personally it had an adverse effect as I felt it was a bit confusing and probably would have been more enjoyable had it been made straight to the point. Fortunately though, once the mission finally started, it was a really suspenseful and intense all the way till the end.
Yes, that was the reason why I said above the film was an almost nonstop action, since it only started after 20 (or probably 25 minutes). Anyway what came after that was something which I thought was very enjoyable. My wife and I were pretty entertained and strapped to our seats for the remainder of the movie as they were completely intense. Surprisingly also, there was brief dramatic moment here and there which did not feel out of place as it was inserted rather smoothly to my opinion. But there was no melodramatic scene which was a Korean movie trademark. And just when we thought we were relieved of the intensity, there would be something to make us feel the rush again.
The action sequence here were pretty good. I noticed that the director Kim Byung-woo loved to use the camera from the point of view of people in or around the location, which would bring the intensity closer to us. Though this kind of camera angle that always moved around might not be to everyone's liking as it could potentially create dizziness especially if you see the movie from too close. Fortunately though our seats were around the middle, but I could not help to think that it was probably a lot more enjoyable if seen farther from the screen. I honestly never saw Kim Byung-woo's prior works before, but he was famous for directing an action movie back in 2013 titled The Terror Live (also starring Ha Jung-woo) which was nominated and won numerous awards back then. So I guess he was no stranger to an action movie.
In term of story itself, I personally felt that it could be simplified a bit. As I said, the early part of the movie felt a bit overly long and a tad overly complicated, supposedly to add some sense of suspense which I thought was not that necessary, as the ongoing story later on would have given us that suspenseful feel anyway. Btw, the sound effects were good in the studio we saw with a Dolby 7.1 surround system that gave us the quite optimum feel of the explosions effects. The background music was amazing, as they really added the intensity of the movie. Special effects were pretty decent, with that "special balls" my favorite part. The ending was quite a surprise to me (I did not see that coming), which I thought was a nice addition to the movie.
Overall for a movie with duration of 125 minutes, it was an intense and quite full action movie which probably could feel too long for some (including myself in particular the first 20-25 minutes part). The plot could have been simplified a bit, but I actually quite enjoy the movie as a whole. I also loved Ha Jung-woo's performance in here as the leader who wanted to save everyone and his English was quite excellent. For a supposedly Korean movie, this one felt more like a Western film due to its main lead were only 2 Koreans while the rest were not, plus most of the conversation were done in English. (I gave my wife wrong impression on this as I told her it was the other way around).
Anyway, this film may not win the heart of critics and the camera angles might not be to everyone's liking, but if you are interested in looking at an intense Korean action movie where the main protagonist are Koreans leading a bunch of Westerners to "save the world", then this should be to your liking. But if you prefer a melodramatic Korean movie, then this one probably would not suit you. The choice is yours.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Few pictures from the event last night:
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