It was a surprise for both of us when my wife got the invitation to the special screening of this movie few nights ago as I thought it would only be done in January 2020 prior to the scheduled release. However, we were obviously happy that we got the chance to see it before we went for our holiday. Anyway I will go straight to the movie now.
Brief Story Line
When a volcano erupted and threatened to damage the whole Korea, a bomb squad team led by Jo In-chang (Ha Jung-woo - Take Point, The Tunnel etc) was assigned by the South Korean president to prevent further eruption that could flatten both Korean countries. The method was based on theory created by professor Kang Bong-rae (Ma Dong-seok - The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos, Unstoppable etc) who was convinced by government official Yoo-Kyung (Jeon Hye-jin - The Throne TV series etc) to help with the extraordinary situation.
With the assistance from an unlikely ally of from North Korea, Lee Joon-pyeong (Lee Byung-hun - The Magnificent Seven 2016 version, Inside Men etc), they all tried their best to successfully complete the mission despite their different views. Things also got complicated for In-chang whose wife Ji-young (Bae Suzy - While You Were Sleeping TV series etc) always worrying his safety.
So how would the story ends? Find them all in this highly entertaining disaster movie.
With the assistance from an unlikely ally of from North Korea, Lee Joon-pyeong (Lee Byung-hun - The Magnificent Seven 2016 version, Inside Men etc), they all tried their best to successfully complete the mission despite their different views. Things also got complicated for In-chang whose wife Ji-young (Bae Suzy - While You Were Sleeping TV series etc) always worrying his safety.
So how would the story ends? Find them all in this highly entertaining disaster movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Well this was another great job from the South Korean movie makers who managed to create an interesting disaster movie with some high octane action sequence combined with the usual melodramatic scenes you would normally see in this genre plus some hilarious comedy at just the right moments. For a disaster movie which usually takes quite a long time to properly introduce the cast, this one to my surprise did not take too long to get to the interesting part.
And when I said about the interesting part, I meant it as really suspenseful and intense scene. It was done so convincingly aided by the great visual effects plus some well directed and wonderful camera angles taken scenes. It made me and my wife held our breath during those early intense moments. And the special effects were quite frequently shown in here which made me in awe as the movie did not have a huge budget like you would find in Hollywood movies of similar style.
What separates this from other disaster movies to me was the many humorous moments which I mentioned above. It was quite rare to see them in this type of films since they would normally be having serious or sad tone. I really like Ha Jung-woo's performance in here as I could see him showing his lighter side as opposed to the more serious roles I was accustomed to. MaDong-seok also had an unusually different personality than his more recent action movies. But best of it all was Lee Byung-hun (who I could not recognize at first due to his appearance) with his convincing performance in various situations.
There were also other minor roles with few that left me good impression, in particular several members of In-chang's squad who added more dimension to the cast. Oh there was a brief mid end credit scene which was quite funny to see. For a movie with 128 minutes duration, I felt it was just nice. It provided sufficient time to resolve the whole sub-plots. Btw, I personally think there was a bit of Michael Bay's Armageddon feel in this movie especially the similarity of impossible mission to be completed by unlikely heroes to save the world from imminent disaster.
Overall I thought this one was an entertaining disaster movie with some spectacularly done sequence, and enough light moments to brighten the mood but still managed to keep in line with the main purpose of the film, i.e. to save the whole Korea. Although the ending might be a little bit predictable, nevertheless the journey was kept interesting for audience to enjoy. I was not surprised to hear the movie became a huge success as it was easily enjoyed by general audience like me and my wife. So if you are interested in this kind of movie, then you should be able to enjoy it.
Mike's movie moments rating 4 out of 5 stars
And when I said about the interesting part, I meant it as really suspenseful and intense scene. It was done so convincingly aided by the great visual effects plus some well directed and wonderful camera angles taken scenes. It made me and my wife held our breath during those early intense moments. And the special effects were quite frequently shown in here which made me in awe as the movie did not have a huge budget like you would find in Hollywood movies of similar style.
What separates this from other disaster movies to me was the many humorous moments which I mentioned above. It was quite rare to see them in this type of films since they would normally be having serious or sad tone. I really like Ha Jung-woo's performance in here as I could see him showing his lighter side as opposed to the more serious roles I was accustomed to. MaDong-seok also had an unusually different personality than his more recent action movies. But best of it all was Lee Byung-hun (who I could not recognize at first due to his appearance) with his convincing performance in various situations.
There were also other minor roles with few that left me good impression, in particular several members of In-chang's squad who added more dimension to the cast. Oh there was a brief mid end credit scene which was quite funny to see. For a movie with 128 minutes duration, I felt it was just nice. It provided sufficient time to resolve the whole sub-plots. Btw, I personally think there was a bit of Michael Bay's Armageddon feel in this movie especially the similarity of impossible mission to be completed by unlikely heroes to save the world from imminent disaster.
Overall I thought this one was an entertaining disaster movie with some spectacularly done sequence, and enough light moments to brighten the mood but still managed to keep in line with the main purpose of the film, i.e. to save the whole Korea. Although the ending might be a little bit predictable, nevertheless the journey was kept interesting for audience to enjoy. I was not surprised to hear the movie became a huge success as it was easily enjoyed by general audience like me and my wife. So if you are interested in this kind of movie, then you should be able to enjoy it.
Mike's movie moments rating 4 out of 5 stars
Another big thank you from us to Rivki from CGV for the invitation to this event. We really appreciate it and look forward to future events.
Below are some pictures from the event:
There are kots of highlights for the near apocalyptic action genre lovers, but the story and plot are mostly undeveloped and pretty unhinged most of the time. the cataclysmic phases made on vfx and cgi are merely fine, but the way the human story is told its extremely mediocre and a very big nuclear wasted anti climax of a volcanic meltdown. Good production, average acting, terrible story and geopolitical disaster, thinks the grumpy old man, but its still a recommend Ashfall (2019).
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