Failure as a war movie.

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.

Eh, if you didn't like this film, you either don't pay attention, enjoy charecter development or hate the fact that you actually have to read te diologue. I cannot say that any nicer. This movie was totally unpredictable and compelling.

The unrealistic and over-the-top Rambo-style action scenes were not the main problem. To me, this is one of those war films which proves that long battle scenes with loud explosions and gunfire and a large body count could in fact be boring. Every few seconds you see soldiers firing their guns, throwing grenades, bayoneting one another, etc. However, no scene lasted more than a few seconds for you notice anything before moving on to the next and the process got repeated ad infinitum. No scene was long enough for you to feel anything, and often you couldn't even figure out who was killing whom.

The "emotional" scenes were over-the-top to the point of being mawkish. In this film, it appeared that the louder you cried and the longer you grabbed a dead body, the greater was supposed to be your grief. Subtlety is an asset but appears to be something that the filmmakers have yet to learn.

Lastly, the film lacked a good script or story, and certain parts were just ridiculous. I understand that the film was not mainly about the war but rather was a story about the two brothers. However, they and most of the other characters were underdeveloped, and their behaviors and actions for much of the time were unbelievable or made no sense. It was clear to everyone - except the younger brother - that the older brother was not aiming for glory but rather trying to stay close and protect him. Jin-seok's behaviors were so stupid that I don't care for him. As for Jin-tae, don't you think it was a most stupid idea for thim to volunteer for every risky mission to win a medal so that his younger brother could be released? Dude, if you want to protect your brother, you must stay alive first! Also, what was he thinking after his fiancé was killed? I can understand that he wanted to seek revenge on those officers responsible, but to defect to the North and start killing your former comrades? He even became a national hero for North Korea. So did he actually have sympathy for the North, or was he just deranged? Even moments before he met Jin-seok, he was killing South Koreans by the dozen, but then he suddenly turned the machine gun on the North Koreans so that Jin-seok could escape! Sorry, the script was quite asinine. 

Im not 100% sure, but i think you're basically referring to the Deus Ex Machina, which all writers/directors etc should be aware of and should always steer clear of.

It is no measure of health, to be well adjusted, to a profoundly sick society.