MovieChat Forums > Taegukgi hwinallimyeo (2004) Discussion > Failure as a war movie.

Failure as a war movie.

posted 15 years ago by blerga
18 replies | jump to latest

I'm going to criticize this movie because in a certain way it follows other war movies which have failed, movies such as Windtalkers, Pearl Harbor and We Were Soldiers. It's when the lead heroes are made into some kind of supermen which allows to literally plow the enemy down. They're thrown into life threatening situations one after the other, but always emerge with minor injuries (at least not to the point where they are unable to participate in the war effort]. The terror of war was lost within its own battle scenes, giving into the endless explosion scenes where a bomb of some sort is hurdled into a group of Koreans, sending them to their demise, usually really close to the main heroes. It's these fast paced action scenes which numb the audience, because it doesnt take long for the audience to realize that these bombs are used to for single purpose of making it appear like the character is in danger, but when overused, you simply get use to it, it becomes a normal thing. The movies focuses too hard on emphasizing the drama between the brothers that it loses sight on what a war really is like.

[–] generouspalmstroke 14 years ago

Well you need to suspend your disbelief and let the story and acting whisk you away to where you believe the determination of the brothers makes them bulletproof.

There's no movie that's 100% realistic.

[–] Dantès 14 years ago

The drama between the brothers is the entire point of the movie.

[–] facepaint 14 years ago

blerga- you my friend are an idiot

[–] vicky_lc2001-1 14 years ago

The OP responded articulately while you did not, now who here looks like the idiot?

I agree with the OP excepting the superhero quality of Tae, I've heard & read such amazing feats combined with even more amazing luck, so it seems it does happen.

OPEN YOUR EYES! dailymotion.com/video/xbi2hi_1993-chandler-molestation-extortion_news

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mav100000 14 years ago

Interesting thread. Here is why I didn't notice the Rambo-ism of this movie as much as, say, Windtalkers, which I also like, though not nearly as much as this, and for obvious reasons. Anyway, let us remember that, as was stated earlier, it is the point of the movie. Unlike Windtalkers or the Rambo series (excluding part 1, of course), Jin-Tae's badassery and domination of the battles actually advances the plot! The point of the movie is the wedge between Jin-Tae and Jin-Soek created by the former's attempts at heroism. Also realize that, unlike these other movies, he is actually, consciously trying to do this and for a purpose other than looking good, being a badass, or winning the war. He just wants to get his brother home and is nearly suicidal in his devotion.

Plus, like someone else stated, this stuff did happen in wars past and present. Read about SOG in Vietnam (seek out John Plaster's books) or read about some of the exploits of the Navy SEALs. Hell, read accounts of Medal of Honor winners. These things do happen in war. Hollywood just uses that fact a bit too much.

Cheers mate!

[–] surround_sound 14 years ago

Yes in part but I would argue that the emphasis of the movie IS the drama between the brothers, being representative of the conflict between North and South Korea... rather than being merely a 'war is hell' type movie.

John Woo was making a John Woo movie set against the backdrop of WW2. It was poor in so many ways. I don't think he was making a serious movie. It was an action movie set in a war zone.

Pearl Harbor was basically 'Titanic with guns', a big budget postcard floss with awesome action scenes with huge historical licence, setting up the 2 pilots who really DID get off the ground that day at Pearl Harbor as 2 friends fighting over the same woman. Add in a stuttering guy and some cheesy one-liners and you have one of the darkest day in american history successfully exploited into an entertaining 3 hour blockbuster.

[–] KenMishima 14 years ago

The film isn't even really a war film, it's mainly about the two brothers and how the war affected them, and how far they were willing to go to protect each other. Just because they can hop on an MG and mow down a whole platoon (which has been done numerous times in real life believe it or not, go look up various people who got the Medal of Honor or a respective country's equivalent of that) doesn't mean these guys are superhuman or anything.

And the film isn't meant to just show how anyone can die in war and how there's no real laws or morals in war. A lot of men did die, and the two brothers came very close to death many times. Even in the last battle scene, the older brother still died as he was mowed down by counter-MG fire himself.

Suspension of belief and a better understanding of the film's motif pretty much invalidates your criticism.

[–] CoSMiGoNoN 13 years ago

Thank you so much OP, you just summed up exactly my problem with this movie.

I can suspend my disbelief, but this was just too much. Add the incredibly cheesie story and scenes of self sacrifice over and over and over again and I just couldn't bear to watch anymore without cringing every time they were willing to die so the other brother would survive.

From the train scene, where one of them start beating up several soldiers so the brother could escape, I though to myself "I hope this is not how the whole movie is gonna be", but that's exactly how it turned out to be.

I see that several people are comparing this to Saving Private Ryan and saying is better. While I can't discuss their tastes, I will say that this movie had nothing on SPR, and like the OP said, so many bombs and so many people dying all around the brothers and nothing happening to them, you become numb and you know nothing bad is gonna happen to them, so all the action scenes, while well done, failed to transmit the agony of war.

In contrast in SPR, when you're with the soldiers facing what's coming up, you can sense their fear, and you actually become afraid of what might happen, like when the want to go around the machine gun nest, you sense something bad is gonna happen, and the final battle, you feel afraid when you start sensing the rumbling of the earth when the tanks are coming, and the chaos of the battle.

Ugh, I feel so dirty after watching this I think I'm gonna go watch SPR.

[–] hailstan 13 years ago

lol u scared of some rumbling in a bright and untense generic hollywood battle?

awwwwwwww, poor baby

[–] barbarossa4188 13 years ago

SPR failed, not this one. Oh, and the jew propaganda about the holohoax, Shindler's Crap.

"Stalingrad. . . The fall of Stalingrad was the end of Europe. There's been a cataclysm."

[–] eagletony 13 years ago

Yeah, I agree with you OP. I'd like to see a realistic and a more documentary-like Korean war movie that accurately depicts the insanity of war.

[–] joekinplaya 13 years ago

You realize this is actually a anti-war film?

[–] kidric3 12 years ago

It's not so much a war movie as it is about the human condition during a war and especially during a civil war. So when you say "the movie focuses too hard on emphasizing the drama between the brothers that it loses sight on what a war really is like." You're wrong. War tears people apart not just physically but emotionally. War rips people of their souls and moral integrity boils down to following commands and living to see the next day. This movie was never about the bombs and the bullets it's about the inner damnation of oneself when lost in the blood of your countryman.

So yeah you're probably right, this movie would fail if it was just a pure war movie but it isn't. It's a movie about the bonds between people and what happens to them during a war. The war isn't a main character in this movie, it's just a backdrop. Unlike a movie like Saving Private Ryan, SPR was a war movie. It had a bonding element as well but it was squad based and flimsy compared to this movie. Ryan's relation to Tom Hank's character is one based on just respect alone considering they don't meet until well into the movie.