Swiri (1999)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Je-gyu Kang

Writer:

Je-gyu Kang (writer)

Release Date:

13 February 1999 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

North Korea's 8th Special Forces hijacks a shipment of CTX, a potent new liquid explosive, and threatens...

Plot Keywords:

Korea | Terrorist | Special Agent | Agent | North Korea

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Suk-kyu Han	...	Jong Won Yu
Min-sik Choi	...	Mu-young Park
Yunjin Kim	...	Myung-hyun Lee / Bang-hee Lee (as Yoon-jin Kim)
Kang-ho Song	...	Jang-gil Lee
Johnny Kim	...	Dae-Ho Jung (as Derek Kim)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jeong-min Hwang
Hyeong-seong Jang
Su-ro Kim
Seung-Shin Lee
Yong-woo Park	...	Sik

Also Known As:

Shiri (Hong Kong: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and some language.

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:14 | South Korea:15 | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | Spain:18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) (cut) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

"The Hill of Shiri", Joongmoon-Dong, Seogwipo, Cheju Island, South Korea

Company:

Kang Je-Kyu Film Co. Ltd.

Trivia:

German film fans were astonished when this film passed the ratings board FSK (known for its extensive dislike of excessive violence) uncut with a "Not under 16" rating. It was expected that the film would not get a rating at all and had to go for a JK approval from SPIO (Head organization of German film business).

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Choi Min-sik (actor Mu-young Park) keeps using the term "Nam Han" (which translates to 'South Korea') instead of the term "Nam Chosun" (which translates to 'South Chosun' - a term used by North Koreans)

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Eodiseonga nugungae museunili saengkimyeon teulrimeobshi natananda Hong Ban-jang (2004)

Soundtrack:

When I Dream

Some plot holes but generally a really good thriller

Against the background of political tensions between north and south Korea, an elite group of soldiers (the 8th Special Forces) infiltrate the South with the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks. Most worrying of all is the reappearance of deadly assassin Hee in South Korea. Special agents Ryu and Lee are assigned to bring down Hee, however when the group get hold of a hi-tech new explosive they hold Seoul to ransom for $10million. Meanwhile Ryu and Lee realise that there is a mole inside their agency that keeps Hee one step ahead of them.

Other reviewers have said that this film is a good addition to the `heroic bloodshed' genre of Hong Kong cinema, with it's gory bloodshed and bullet ballets. However I personally feel that this is to do the film a disservice – the film doesn't just lift that style but rather delivers a solid thriller story line with plenty of well directed action. The plot is a detective story with the added boost of the terrorist attacks. It has a couple of nice twists along the way that work pretty well. The downside is that the plot occasionally makes minor jumps that are hard to follow, for example an action scene is immediately followed by a scene where the same characters are in a different situation, this happens twice and threw me a little. But these are minor problems. The political arguments are not too complex – one reviewed said to go and read up on Korean history before seeing Shiri, this is far from necessary. It is quite simple but doesn't get in the way of the bigger thriller story line.

The action is not of the slow-mo OTT type seen in The Killer or Hard Boiled but is more like the extended gun battles seen in Heat. Yes, they are a bit OTT but they aren't as heavily stylised as in many HK movies. Instead the tension comes from the excellent direction. Using a handheld camera really makes the gun battles feel intense and very close to where you're sitting. The action does have some HK clichés but these are still well delivered.

The cast are all well Han Suk-Kyu (Ryu) does well with the action as well as the romance subplot with Kim Yoon-jin. The rest of the cast are good – even the comedy odd-ball is good value, compared to the occasional Hollywood comedy character that can be grating.

I haven't seen too many Korean films but this was a particularly good thriller with intense action. Overall I enjoyed this film and fully expect America to pick up on the fact that it has action AND a workable story and commission a remake pretty soon. Wouldn't you rather see the original first?