MovieChat Forums > Taegukgi hwinallimyeo (2004) Discussion > 8.1/10

8.1/10

posted 15 years ago by chiliwaterboy
32 replies | jump to latest

What the hell. In no way is this film of that caliber. Sure, the action was decent and entertaining, but it's so contrived and corny that it's more deserving of a 5.5/10. My assumption on why this film is 8.1/10 is because it's a foreign film. While that argument sounds bogus, if the same film was released in Hollywood by someone like Michael Bay most people would not find it any good. Now, I'm not anti-foreign movies or Korean movies either. Oldboy happens to be my favourite movie, but this is just very sub-par as far as war movies go. An example of a good war movie would be Paths of Glory.

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.

[–] dogscaged 15 years ago

Some of the film is brilliant, but the story just didn't quite work.

[–] CuDiKiDuk 15 years ago

well i gave it a 10/10 because it was *beep* amazing

[–] chiliwaterboy 15 years ago

How did you find it amazing? Please explain.

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.

[–] duyharry 15 years ago

You didn't find it amazing? go watch it again then

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[–] chiliwaterboy 15 years ago

It was extremely cheesy although managed to hold its grit some of the time. Very forced scenes and while the action was decent, there's really no reason this should be an 8.1/10. This movie gets easily dominated by greats such as Letters from Iwo Jima and Paths of Glory, mostly because of the aforementioned reasons but also because it adds absolutely nothing to the genre.

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.

[–] clyde_ybanez 15 years ago

it ws a good movie. I wouldnt compare it to Saving Private Ryan though.
Yes there were parts of this movie that were cheesy. Like the start, when we're introduced to the brothers... seriously, are they always like that everyday? He's just coming home from school, yet they act like they're lovers who have finally been re-united after being apart for so long.

Then comes the scene where they attack the North Koreans before they get beaten. Were they really that well trained? Feel free to add your opinion, but they seemed to move like they were highly trained elite soldiers, like Rangers or something. Thats despite the fact they were starving. But who am I to say, I wasn't there, I dont know how it really was, but, judging by their circumstances, I thought they should be more rag tag, geurilla fighter like.

Then theres that scene where they capture the enemy captain. kinda felt like an action movie in that part in my opinion, rather than a gritty war movie.

etc etc.

It's a good movie, but when you watch it again and again, you start to pick up on these things...

Thats my opinion anyway. Feel free to go against it. Thats what the boards are for.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] JJLipton 15 years ago

Acting like lovers?You don't really seem to understand the importance of family in Korean culture. The brothers close relationship in the beginning was used with great dramatic effect in this movie, foreshadowing the tragic events that are soon to come. The Korean War tore families apart, and the brothers constantly tried to stick together. Taking a Korean perspective on the war, it was fought on Korean soil and proved devastating to every facet of everyday life. I praised Saving Private Ryan for its exciting action sequences but the movie seemed to fall short in the story category for me, lacking the kind of character relationships and depth that made this movie great. I am Korean though, so i suppose im a bit biased.

[–] mrtankini 15 years ago

i completely agree, this movie was contrived and cheesy almost all the way through. The flash backs to better times with the brother, the slow motion deaths, the tearful homecoming. These and many more things are just so cliche that it is hard to watch. The battle scenes seemed over the top, I must have watched 50 fist fights. I hardly doubt the war was that intense all of the time, I know every war has its intense battles, but some battles are a little more low key and I think a movie like saving private ryan was better at showing the true reality of war. The fact that the brother came home and five seconds later the girl was kidnapped is laughable (what timing!). There is a lot more wrong with this movie, but it had some good moments and some good cinematography, but overall subpar. One more thing flashing to the future then the past then back to the future then back to the past didnt work for me.

[–] swaquilino 12 years ago

This movie is absolutely brilliant. Saving private Ryan?? Come on.... that is a highly overrated movie with a very WEAK story.

[–] gtbarker 10 years ago

'Cheesy' ha ha where do you people get this nonsense from? The last thing this film is, is 'cheesy' or 'corny'.

[–] Professicchio 15 years ago

To see why your argument is bogus all you have to do is to look at IMDb Top 250 films of all time and tell me:

how many of the films you see that plainly don't deserve to be there where made in Hollywood?

You might have a point, though, in people being prejudged against someone like Michael Bay, I am totally against prejudice normally but, in his case, I'm very happy to make an exception.

[–] druss44121-1 15 years ago

"Like the start, when we're introduced to the brothers... seriously, are they always like that everyday? He's just coming home from school, yet they act like they're lovers who have finally been re-united after being apart for so long."

hahahaha... honestly, i borderline loved this movie, definitely liked it, my main problem was the music. it was overdone and cheesy. change it or take it out and the movie would have been much better. for example, the intense end scene on the hill - music just took me out of it.

Oldboy is amazing, though. Fact!

[–] pafster 15 years ago

I thought it was excellent, and my favourite war movie. I reviewed it and handed it a 9.5 http://pafster.com/2010/05/04/brotherhood-taegukgi-hwinalrimyeo/

[–] karloluffy 15 years ago

I rated it a 9. It is fantastic.

[–] mgkhantra 14 years ago

I rate this movie 9/10 a great war film and the story was great. I do agree the beginning was some what cheesy but o well those scenes really came together at the end of the film where he's trying to save his brother, and so far from what ive seen the Koreans are saying tis a good film so everyone saying they dont like it just dont understand it from the Korean side. ONe things for sure I rate this one up there with Saving Private Ryan and Platoon and many other great war films out there.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] TcH3rNo 14 years ago

I do agree that it's a bit cheesy and overly sentimental at times but for the most part, the two leads sell it and even managed to moved me a couple times. I thought it was a 7/10 and a very solid war movie.

http://www.anomalousmaterial.com/movies/

[–] generouspalmstroke 14 years ago

I usually hate cheesiness but I was invested enough in the story to give it no mind. I gave this movie a 9/10 and it's the best war movie I've ever seen. There's cheesiness if not all, in most war movies though.

[–] Mychosenamewastaken 9 years ago

Wow, best war movie you have ever seen?
Saving private ryan had an excellent intro (Normandy) but the rest of the story didnt really interest me that much.
I think Band of Brothers is by far the BEST war movie/doco/series ever made, i must have watched that mini-series 20-30 times, and i still want to watch it again, absolutely brilliant.
Shame the pacific sucked.
Ill watch this now, because you think its so good, i hope it does not piss me off!

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