MovieChat Forums > Taegukgi hwinallimyeo (2004) Discussion > Yikes!

Yikes!

posted 18 years ago by watedge
4 replies | jump to latest

I couldn't make it past an hour and thirty minutes. This has to be the most unrealistic contemporary war film I've seen. It tries and tries to be sentimental yet all I could get form it is some patriotic crap and an invisible man who can get shot, beat, cut, scraped, psychologically tormented and still take on a platoon of North Koreans on his own. Verisimilitude? Apparently not.

Technically I found this tries to play on the Band of Brothers, Thin Red Line, and Saving Private Ryan cinematography. While it's not bad, it's not original. The whole Bell & Howell shutter speed stuff is over done. Sound wise this was stunning. It was more raw than most Western war films, with the digitized battle sounds added in with plenty of mellow dramatic music.

However, this film could just simply not hold my attention long enough to even finish it. Now, by no means am I some sort of film newbie who should 'go back to watching Wind Talkers and leave the real movies for men', film making and cinematography is my life, as are foreign films, so I do in fact have a clue what I'm talking about. Nevertheless, this was nothing but interminable boredom that drags on just a wee bit too long.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] watedge 17 years ago

So instead of trying to have a mature discussion about a film you try to bash me? Nice try.

These forums are also open for criticizing you know. If I was glorifying the film would that make my post more valid?

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Dantès 17 years ago

If this is the most unrealistic contemporary war film you've ever seen, you haven't seen many war films. How about that piece of crap La Vita è bella, Kippur, Pearl Harbor, The Guns of Navarone, Windtalkers, Where Eagles Dare, Heartbreak Ridge, Flyboys, Behind Enemy Lines, The Devil's Brigade or any Rambo or Chuck Norris flicks? They're all less realistic and if you don't think so or haven't seen them, you're not speaking from a very strong position.

The "patriotic crap" is an important point. It's important in any war because you want people to support your country. It's a very elementary part of military propaganda and way to inspire your men. It's especially valid when it's your country being invaded. You're really missing the point here.

If you take issue with the sentimentality, you just don't know a lot about Korea or Korean drama. All Korean dramas seem overwrought, and it's a cliché for ignorant movie critics to harp on it when they need something to criticize. The Korean family is very different from most western nations. Koreans honor their ancestors all the time and family ties are very significant. That's why movies like this and Oldboy were so popular; the family aspect really spoke to people.

As for the cinematography, what's your point? You could do a lot worse than emulating stuff like Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers. Should originality take precedence over being good? If you find something that works for your movie, should you avoid using it just because it's not totally original? Sorry, lame argument.

As for not holding your attention, well that's your problem and it's a very subjective criticism. The movie was made for South Koreans first and foremost and they loved it. I saw this in a huge theater in Seoul and the audience was captivated and sobbing by the end. This movie does its job quite well and the fact that you didn't like it doesn't hold much water as far as criticism goes.